Trainee Onboarding

Please refer to your Welcome Letter for the most accurate information regarding your fellowship stipends and tax implications. If you have any questions or need another copy of your letter sent to you, please email transcend@uconn.edu.

Fee Bills

  • Fall and Spring bills will be paid prior to the due date, please make sure to send a copy of your Fall 2024 final tuition and fee bill to transcend@uconn.edu by August 7th and your Spring 2025 final tuition and fee bill by December 29th. If any changes are made to fee bill or any late fees occur, please notify Melanie Stroud immediately and send pdf of updated bill.
  • In August, fee bills will show SHIP (Student Health Insurance Plan). This is the basic student insurance that you may waive in PeopleSoft Student Permissions. 

Health Insurance

      1. The Human Resources Benefits Specialist sends an email out to the fellows in August that includes CT Partnership Plan (CTPP) coverage information and instructions to submit their election to enroll/waive.
      2. Human Resources posts the insurance bill to the fellow’s account in September/October. 98% of the medical insurance will be covered by the grant, however, there may be a small balance (approximately $200) remaining for you to pay out of pocket as a premium if you choose to have the medical and dental coverage.
      3. CLAS Grant Management Services (francesca.dantonio@uconn.edu) then submits a grant advice for the total cost less the fellow’s premium.
      4. Health insurance will be active as of September 1st of the year in which you enroll.
      5. There is no need to re-enroll or re-apply annually if your appointment is continued, even if it changes from GA/TA to fellow or from fellow to GA/TA. Coverage will automatically continue with the elections you have from the previous semester, unless you submit a change during the annual Grad Open Enrollment period or submit changes due to a qualifying Life Event. If you have any questions regarding coverage or if you have any issues with coverage please contact Benefits@uconn.edu.
      6. Contact Anthem for temporary IDs until you receive yours in the mail by going to www.anthem.com/statect or by calling 1-800-922-2232.
      7. For additional information review the CT Partnership Plan FAQ and Medical And Dental Coverage through CTPP for Graduate Fellows
      8. Benefits specialist, Joanna Smith, Joanna.Smith@uconn.edu (P) 860-486-3034.

        Trainee, first month

        • Parking 
          • Student parking permits can be purchased by clicking on this link. All Fellows will have GA parking status, so their parking access and price will be the same as GA’s.
        • New trainees are required to attend the TRANSCEND Orientation, scheduled the Thursday before classes start for the Fall semester. 
        • Professional headshot (required) 
          • Click http://s.uconn.edu/portraits to schedule a time to have your free photo taken. Most weeks it is on a Wednesday afternoon and/or Thursday morning.
          • Email your research interests and headshot to transcend@uconn.edu
          • Check your profile to ensure all information is correct
        • Understand how to acknowledge program support in published papers and/or posters.
          In all publications, regardless of whether or not the research was directly supported by TRANSCEND
          "(Your name) was supported by National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) grant #2152202"
          In cases where the PI is supposed to be specified:
          “This work was supported in part by National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) grant #2152202, Fumiko Hoeft, PI.”
          If the research in the publication was directly funded by the grant:
          “This work was supported in part by National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) grant #2152202.”

        LISTSERVs

        Sign up for others to stay informed about events happening in and around your home program. We strongly urge you to sign up for the following LISTSERVs by; 

        1. Sending a “SUBSCRIBE FULL NAME OF LISTSERV firstname lastname ” command in the body of an email to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (do not add a subject in subject line), or
        2. Go to http://listserv.uconn.edu and click on the relevant link and follow the instructions to join. 
          • IBACS: CT_IBACS-L@listserv.uconn.edu 
          • CogSci: COGSCI-DL@LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU 
          • L&C: language_and_cognition-l@listserv.uconn.edu 
          • PsyGR-L@listserv.uconn.edu – for psych graduate students 
          • BIRC: mri_center-l@listserv.uconn.edu 
        • To unsubscribe from a LISTSERV
          • Send “UNSUB FULL NAME OF LISTSERV ” command in the body of an email to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (do not add a subject in subject line)

            TRANSCEND Trainee Benefits

            Financial

            • NSF fellows get one year of full support (~$35k stipend/ year)
            • Fellows & affiliates during the fellowship year and beyond, given your participation in TRANSCEND events, can apply for $1k of research funds and $1k of travel support per year. Please see this page for more information.

              Unique elements of graduate training

              • Training in team-science
              • “Challenge teams” – Interdisciplinary research and collaboration
              • Preparation for academic as well as non-academic career paths
                • Internship/summer rotations with industry and non-profit partners

              TRANSCEND Trainee Requirements

              During the year of traineeship:

              Fall 2024

              • PSYC 5470 PENS I Seminar (Mondays 1:30PM-4:30PM, Bousfield A105)
              • LING 5010 or PSYC 5500 Research Seminar in Language and Cognition, Rachel Theodore & William Snyder, TalkShop (Mondays 12:20PM-1:10PM, Arjona 143)

              Spring 2025

              • PSYC 5470 PENS II Seminar (date & time TBD)
              • LING 5010 or PSYC 5500 Research Seminar in Language and Cognition, Rachel Theodore & William Snyder,  TalkShop

                During the year of traineeship and beyond:

                • Attend Talk Shop every semester (or proactively notifying the executive committee via Melanie Stroud of a valid reason for not being able to attend, if you will miss more than a few weeks)
                • Attend J-Term Primers every year (or proactively notifying the executive committee via Melanie Stroud of a valid reason for not being able to attend)
                • Serve on at least one committee each year
                • Attend TRANSCEND-supported events (including diversity and work climate sessions)
                • Participate in semi-annual trainee check-ins.

                  Publications

                  Email a PDF of your publications and the citation in APA format to transcend@uconn.edu for display on the publication bulletin board next to Arjona 323

                  NSF NRT Annual Report

                  Each Spring you will be asked to submit citations in APA format of all your publications to date, any funding you have received related to the TRANSCEND program, and any interdisciplinary collaborations with faculty and students you have been a part of.

                  Questions/Suggestions

                  Contact the Program Coordinator (Melanie Stroud), transcend@uconn.edu