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College of Technology Graduate Student Orientation Packet Abstract

Through research and studies it has been found that when a graduate student first arrives at Purdue University’s campus, oftentimes they feel they lack the resources needed to successfully integrate with the student body. Furthermore, graduate students find it difficult to establish a home and to find a community to operate within. The purpose of this graduate student orientation packet is to provide recently admitted graduated students with some perspective as well as tools and resources in order to get acclimated with the West Lafayette community. This document was created to act in conjunction with a variety of tools provided by Purdue University to attract and retain a qualified and diverse graduate student body. To encourage diversity, the College of Technology has taken a creative approach to display the various forms of cultural inclusion that the Purdue University and its surrounding communities can provide in the form of the inclusive orientation package. Equipped with this document, students are able to contact resources respective to their needs. When students initially arrive to the campus, this packet will aid them in the fundamental process of finding a home by providing them with information pertaining to basic housing needs such as locations, geographical distances from Purdue University campus, rates, and contact information. When students are searching for a respective community, this document will assist by identifying a variety of cultural communities and organizations at the university. It is understood that stress can be considered an inevitable consequence of undertaking continuing education; this document describes the resources of psychological services offered by the university. The packet also presents to the potential student academic class registration information. The intended audiences are the students that are unfamiliar with Purdue University’s resources that are specifically for their use and present to the potential student a centralized document that of information. The totality of this packet acts as an attractive source for recruitment and retention of qualified candidates.

Introduction

Purdue University has always taken pride in its graduate student enrollment numbers. As the emphasis has moved away from sheer enrollment size classification and towards quality graduate student work, Purdue University has been able to keep abreast with the changing needs of the incoming graduate student class. One method that Purdue University, more specifically the College of Technology uses is a newly revised Graduate Student Orientation Packet. The purpose of this graduate student orientation packet is to provide graduate students with tools and resources to enable them to get acclimated with the West Lafayette community and the inclusive culture fostered at Purdue.

The packet information addresses the major categories of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs11. For the purpose of this article, the headings (physiological, safety, belonging, esteem) will be addressed accordingly. The information being judged as “valuable” will be decided as it addresses tangible as well as intangible aspects that will facilitate a smooth transition to a foreign community. The end goal of the packet is to assist students in realizing their full potential as graduate students at Purdue University.

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Weir, E., & Schmidt, E., & Davis, J. (2009, June), College Of Technology Graduate Student Orientation Packet Paper presented at 2009 Annual Conference & Exposition, Austin, Texas. 10.18260/1-2--5052