Brazil didn’t do very well in the last World Cup, but it scored big time with admissions to the UCSB Department of Geography this fall. Not counting the joint PhD program with SDSU, 5 of the new international grads are from Brazil – outscoring China which only accounted for 4.
The Geography Department’s Fall 2014 Graduate Orientation was held on Monday, September 29, 9:00 to 5:00, and our new grad cohort only had two 15 minute breaks and a working lunch during their hectic schedule. Needless to say, a 7:00 pm happy hour arranged by “senior” grads was welcomed. Tuesday’s activities consisted of a campus-wide Teaching Assistant orientation for graduate students and a TA workshop for those in the Department. That was followed by a campus-wide new grad student orientation and another Geography TA workshop on Wednesday, all leading up to the first day of UCSB instruction on Thursday, October 2.
Mug shots of most of our 19 new grads were taken during orientation, and staff will post them on the Graduate Student bulletin board when they’ve caught their breath. Meanwhile, give a warm welcome to any newcomers you meet.
