A message from Tami Kinzer-Ursem:

Welcome to a new semester!  With the start of the 2022-2023 Academic year upon us it is a good time to reflect on strong growth of the Weldon School. We are welcoming an incoming Sophomore class of 170 students. These new BME’s join record numbers of Juniors (~160) and Seniors (~120) that have made the Weldon School their academic home. A record 80 graduate - PhD and Masters -  students are also joining the Weldon School this year.  Welcome All!  With this growth in class sizes comes increased growth in instructional support. We have more Graduate Teaching Assistants and Undergraduate Tutors (list attached) than ever, who along with Instructors, support the learning and professional growth of our students. A list of BME courses and instructors for Fall 2023 is also attached.  

There are a few operational things to share that TAs and Instructors might find useful; including some information on course management in Brightspace, a new Medically Excused Absence Policy (MEAPS), and a reminder of Classroom Courtesy guidelines. 

A message from Mike Heinz:

• Research-Credit Expectations Discussions and Documentation.  A BME-developed form is attached to facilitate the documentation of research-credit expectations for any students taking 59800, 59900, 69800 or 69900, which is required by the Grad School (and is best practice!).  This form is intended to be student-initiated since these are the student’s research credits, but then must be discussed with the faculty mentor and refined and then signed by both. Faculty must then document completion for each student they are mentoring (see instructions from Registrar’s office –simply CHECK THE BOX in myPurdue). This is required, so thank you for checking the box to document your efforts!  DUE DATE: Fri Sept 2nd.  Note: Any form of documentation will do – our form is just a helpful template.
• Individual Development Plans (IDPs). IDPs are now required for all BME PhD students.  Please find attached IDP forms for BME.  These forms are intended to be student initiated and then reviewed AND DISCUSSED with faculty mentors and mentoring/thesis committees.  Again, our forms are just helpful templates – any forms you find that you like are OK to use as an IDP.

We are sending these items separately as a special issue, as they are key to a successful start of the semester, and we didn’t want them getting lost in the tome of a standard Monday Roundtable.

Jo