Academic Services

Academic Calendar
Students with Disabilities
Libraries
Computer Facilities and Services
Copy Center
Education Technology Center
Classroom Technology
Graduate Registrar for Arts, Sciences and Engineering

Academic Calendar

Website: http://www.rochester.edu/College/gradstudies/gcalendar.html

This calendar is a listing of dates of special interest to graduate students. You should check with the appropriate office to make sure that these dates are correct and that they haven’t changed. A missed deadline can delay your graduation by a semester or more.

Students with Disabilities

Coordinator: Kathy Sweetland
Location: 36 Wallis
Phone: (585) 275-9125
Email: ksweet@admin.rochester.edu
Website: http://www.rochester.edu/ada/index.html

The University is committed to providing reasonable classroom accommodations to students with disabilities, including access to University facilities. The University has added many ramps and automatic door openers along pathways and to many academic buildings on campus to facilitate access for students with disabilities. A Snow Removal Hotline (275-0000) operates from November through April each year to assist students with mobility problems who may encounter problems as they navigate the campus during inclement weather. All of the shuttle buses on campus are handicap accessible as well.

Disability Service Coordinators in each school are available to assist students who are eligible to receive reasonable classroom accommodations. Students with questions about services for students with disabilities should con- tact the University Coordinator of Disability Resources (contact information above).

Libraries

Website: http://rochester.edu/libraries/
Hours: http://www.library.rochester.edu/hours

The University library system houses nearly 3 million volumes and subscribes to about 9,000 journals in several different libraries both on the River Campus and off. Most of the library information is available online, including hours and locations. What follows here is what you really need to know. The libraries subscribe to several on-line research databases. Along with the Voyager system which allows searches of the University collection itself, many of these additional databases are searchable from home. Some, however, must be accessed from a University location or through VPN (see Computer Services). The database webpages tell you which is which. Many of the databases include online versions of journal articles.

For journals/books that the University does not subscribe to, there is Inter-Library Loan. Depending on the type of item requested, it may be delivered to a library of your choice or a scanned copy made available for you to download from the library website.

The most important thing for you to know about the library isn’t a fact — it’s a person. Each department has a specialized reference librarian, or bibliographer, assigned to it. These bibliographers work to shape the library collection to the benefit of his or her assigned departments. The bibliographers have another important function, however. They are experts in research techniques. The reference librarians know an incredible amount about searching the research databases and about the reference materials available in the collection itself. For example, they can introduce you to the Citation Index, which links journal articles with other articles that cite them. So, if you are writing about a particular article by Prof. X, you can search for other essays that have been written about that article. Alternately, you can easily search for items written about the articles that Prof. X. cites.

To find your reference librarian, check out http://www.library.rochester. edu/subject-librarians.

In several of the libraries, you can check out laptop computer locks from the Circulation Desk. These locks allow students to leave their computers in place while they work in the library. If you need to step away from your computer occasionally, the lock makes it impossible for anyone but you (the key-holder) to use or remove the laptop.

Rush Rhees Libraries

  • The Rush Rhees Library is the main campus library.
  • The Art & Music Library: extensive coverage for art, architecture, music, photography, and visual studies, located on the lower level of Rush Rhees, accessed from the tunnel system.
  • The Business & Government Information Library: reference sources and services for business and economics research.
  • The Robbins Library: a noted collection on medieval literature and life: the library of the late Rossell Hope Robbins, Middle English literature specialist.
  • The Koller-Collins Graduate English Center: a core collection in British and American literature, housed in the same facility as the Robbins Library.
  • Rare Books and Special Collections (http://www.lib.rochester.edu/index.cfm?page=169)
  • The Multimedia Center (MMC): collection of multimedia items, including VHS and DVD films for research and entertainment, film-viewing stations, and international DVD players, located on the lower level of Rush Rhees, accessed from the tunnel system.
  • Messinger Graduate Studies: dedicated in 2010 as quiet study spaces for graduate students, located at either end of the Messinger Periodical Reading Room and are thus separate from the often noisy general library open to undergraduates.

Science and Engineering Libraries

  • Carlson Library: specializes in the information needs of students and faculty in biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering, geology, mathematics, and statistics.
  • The Physics-Optics-Astronomy (POA) Library: for research in these sciences.
  • The Laboratory for Laser Energetics Library: the library that services this major government-funded research lab.

Other University Libraries

Tips

  • You can use your Flex account for photocopying in all the libraries and the IT Center.
  • UR’s Interlibrary Loan system is fast, easy and reliable. Few universities can match it. ILL is housed in Rush Rhees Library, off the corridor located behind the main circulation desk. Requests can also be placed through the library website.

Computer Facilities and Services

IT Center

Location: Rush Rhees Library (Ground level, near buses)
Phone: (585) 275-2000
Website: http://www.rochester.edu/it/itscenter/
Email: UnivITHelp@rochester.edu

Check the website for the latest hours of operation The largest computer lab on campus is the IT Center, located in the back of the lower level of Rush Rhees library. The IT Center provides first-level technology support to faculty, staff, students, and visitors of the University of Rochester. Support is available for software installations, operating system upgrades, wireless network configurations, virus detection/disinfecting, and general troubleshooting. This lab tends to be very popular with undergraduates.

Digital video cameras and tripods can be checked out from the IT desk for 24-hours by graduate students and undergrads.

Other Labs

University Information Technology maintains many other computer labs with both Windows and Macintosh computers. The locations and hours of these labs are available online at http://www.rochester.edu/ITS/cts/Internal/itsfacilityhours.html. Some of them are also used as classrooms so make sure you check their schedule before planning to use them.

Mac: Hylan 307
PC: Hylan 303, Gavett 244, Goergen 102, Harkness 114
Library Labs: Rush Rhees (Reference, MMC, Art/Music library), Physics-Optics-Astronomy Library, Carlson libraries

A list of computer lab configurations is available at: http://www.rochester.edu/it/cts/ctscomputinglabs.html.

Site Licenses

Website: http://www.rochester.edu/its/sitelicenses/index.php

Certain software is available to all students for free from University IT (Mathematica, Sophos Antivirus, etc). Visit the site license website for the most updated list and details for downloading. You will need a NetID and password to login.

Electronic Journals and Remote Access

The University subscribes to a large number of online electronic journals that cover many research fields. While on campus, you can access these journals from their websites directly. These are also accessible from the library website, at http://www.lib.rochester.edu/index.cfm?page=ejournals.

Remote access is required if you want to access these journals from an off-campus computer. For this, you will have to obtain a VPN (Virtual Private Network) connection. More details on how to do this can be found at http://www.rochester.edu/its/vpn/.

Blackboard

The University maintains a blackboard website (http://my.rochester.edu) where you can do the following after you log in with your NetID: access class information, documents, announcements, etc.; use Access Plus for class registration, grades, etc.; and access UR ePAY for playing university bills.

Copy Center

Location: Meliora 210
Hours: M-F 8:00am – 4:45pm
Phone: (585) 275-2360
Website: http://www.rochester.edu/services/copycenter/locations.html

The Copy Center offers double-sided copying, full-color copying, full-color digital printing, collating, stapling, binding, laminating, drilling, and folding. They carry several paper colors and weights, and generally have a 24-hour turnaround (though this time frame varies greatly, and some orders can take up to 2 weeks).

Education Technology Center

Location: Rush Rhees Library G-138
Hours: M-F 9:00am-5:00pm
Phone: (585) 275-9162
Website: http://www.rochester.edu/its/edtech/

The Ed Tech Center offers faculty and graduate student instructors a computer lab with flatbed and negative scanners, and video editing equipment and software. The staff also helps faculty and instructors with their course-related multimedia materials and needs, such as Blackboard, Powerpoint, Adobe programs, audio and video materias, and web pages.

Classroom Technology

Location: Lower Hoyt Hall
Phone: (585) 275-1438
Hours: M-Th 8:00am – 10:00pm, F 8:00am – 5:00pm, Weekends and additional hours can be arranged
Website: http://www.rochester.edu/its/cts/

When you need to borrow equipment for a classroom like VCRs, DVD players, projectors, CD players, or “dongle” cords to connect your laptop to a classroom projector, visit the Classroom Technology center or call them. You should also call them if the projector or stationary equipment in your classroom is not functioning properly — they will send out a student assistant right away to fix problems.

Graduate Registrar for Arts, Sciences and Engineering

Registrar: Donna Derks
Location: 218 Lattimore
Phone: (585) 273-5193
Email: donna.derks@rochester.edu

The staff in the office is well equipped to help with any problems you have concerning your registration. Make sure to register by the deadline. Failing to do so results in a $150 penalty, and they are notoriously strict on enforcing this policy.