| WELCOME FROM DIRECTOR OF GRADUATE STUDIES
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
HUMPHREY INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS
May 2008
Congratulations on this important step toward your career in public service. You have some exciting years ahead. Your graduate training at the Humphrey Institute will include challenging classes and work with outstanding faculty. You will interact with public policy practitioners, many of them Humphrey Institute alumni, in a wide variety of fields. In addition, you can participate in the research and conferences on crucial public policy issues sponsored by the Institute's policy centers.
Please note the following required dates on your calendars: the first day of new student orientation will be held all day Monday, August 25 at the Humphrey Institute. Each student will have a small group computer orientation, and MPP/MURP/MS students will have individual adviser appointments on either Tuesday, August 26 or Wednesday, August 27 (your date and time will be assigned by mid-July). Classes begin on Tuesday, September 2.
ALL INCOMING STUDENTS must attend the required Orientation activities on the 25th and 26th or 27th. These activities are specific to your Humphrey Institute degree program and computer/technology resources, and are necessary even for joint degree students who have already started their graduate studies at the University of Minnesota. You will also have the opportunity to participate in short refresher courses (math, writing, library/internet research, computer skills) August 18-22 and August 25-29. More information on these activities will be available in the near future.
We will be posting information about Orientation, degree requirements, prerequisites and other important topics on the Humphrey Institute Orientation 2008 web page. We realize this web page contains a lot of information, and we recommend you try not to digest it in one sitting. Please review the website (located at http://www.hhh.umn.edu/students/orientation/) for important dates and phone numbers, registration, financial aid, health services/hospitalization insurance, immunization requirements and housing. We will be posting a schedule of Orientation day events and refresher courses.
Some of you have already registered for classes. We recommend that you review the information in the Sample Registrations document and complete an initial registration by the end of June. You will be able to change your registration after meeting with your adviser at orientation.
- You are responsible for the information e-mailed to you and posted on our website. Please alert us as soon as you are able if you find you have difficulty accessing the e-mails or the information on the web page. Please inform us if your e-mail or mailing address changes this summer.
- You will find the answers to most, if not all, of your questions in any "e-mailings" that we send out and on the Humphrey and Graduate School websites. Please go over this information carefully, and sooner rather than later, so you have plenty of time to do everything you need to prepare for beginning your program September 2.
- If you will have limited web access for all or part of the summer, we can mail you hard copies of this information. Please let us know your current (i.e. summer) address, if that is necessary.
- Please be vigilant about checking and clearing out your e-mail account so you do not miss important information. We will be sending something out each month, so if you do not hear from us in more than a month, please check your "junk mail" email boxes, and contact us so that we can re-send any information you may have missed.
The general telephone number for the Graduate Student Services Office (which includes Admissions, Student Services, and Career Services Reception) is 612-624-3800. We will assist you as you enter the program and throughout your graduate work. MPA,and MS students with questions about prerequisites, orientation, registration or any other program-related issues should contact Katherine Murphy at k-murphy@umn.edu. MPP students should contact Rebecca Wienbar at rwienbar@umn.edu.
On behalf of the Institute, the faculty, and staff of the Graduate Programs Office, we warmly welcome and congratulate you on becoming a member of the Humphrey Institute's entering class of 2008.
Sincerely,
Maria Hanratty, hanra003@umn.edu
Professor and Director of Graduate Studies
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