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 2025 final tuition and fee bill to transcend@uconn.edu by August 7th and your Spring 2026 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 (Christine Blake) 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, typically scheduled the Thursday before classes start for the Fall semester. Exact date TBA.
        • 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
        • Complete CITI Training (see below section titled NSF RCR Training)
        • Understand how to acknowledge program support in published papers and/or posters (see Publications section below).

        LISTSERVs

        You will be added to the TRANSCEND and TalkShop LISTSERVs by the Program Coordinator. 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)

              NSF Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Training

              Who needs RCR training per NSF policy?  All faculty, principal investigators, co-principal investigators, senior personnel, post-doctoral researchers, graduate students, and undergraduate students supported by an NSF grant awarded to UConn/UConn Health directly, or as a sub-recipient, are required to complete Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) training.

              How can the requirement be met?  The RCR Basic Course offered online through the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) covers all essential RCR topics and will satisfy the NSF requirement for RCR training. For instructions on how to access CITI’s RCR training course and which option to complete, please visit our RCR CITI webpage.

              When must training be completed?  NSF RCR Training should be completed within the first 3 months of the NSF-funded project.

              Are there alternative options to CITI training?  Yes, annual RCR training workshops (offered each February; 8 total hours are required) will also satisfy NSF’s RCR training requirement.

              For questions, please contact Research Compliance Monitor, Ellen Ciesielski, in the RCR Office.

              Publications

              Please see below for publication acknowledgement:

              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.”​

              NSF NRT Annual Report

              Each Spring you will be asked to submit a personnel report including 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. Please see below for publication acknowledgement:

              Questions/Suggestions

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