Hello CCE Grad Students,

Please read over the reminders below:

New students:

• Be sure that you have met any conditions imposed on your admission by the Graduate School. You can return to your admission letter and find any conditions on the second page. Typical conditions include submitting final transcripts from all institutions listed on your application, showing that all courses have been completed and presenting your official bachelor’s diploma, showing that your degree has been awarded, to the Graduate School. You can have your final transcripts emailed to the Graduate School directly from your undergraduate institution (send them to gradadm@purdue.edu) or you can have hardcopies mailed to:

Purdue Graduate School

155 S Grant Street

West Lafayette, IN 47907

• The registrar and bursar may also have placed holds on your account for financial responsibility and emergency contact information. If you have these holds, here is some information on how to get them removed. Please note that these are added once a year by the Registrar – so you will have to update the information repeatedly during your program.
• Emergency contact help: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrOEx1Ihf00
• Financial responsibility help: https://www.purdue.edu/treasurer/finance/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/1.Financial-Responsibility.pdf

• Also, please remember that all new graduate students must enroll in CE 69100 – Grad Student Orientation seminar in their first semester unless they have a time conflict with another course.   In that case, please take CE 691 in your second semester.

All students:

• Please be sure that you have updated your current address on your myPurdue account to reflect your local address.

• If you have an update to your initial advisor – please let me know so that I can make the change to your myPurdue account.

• As a Purdue Graduate student in the Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering, there are certain certifications that we require you to complete. Some of these are coordinated by university-wide offices, others are tracked by the CCE Grad Office and some are certified through Brightspace/WebCert. Here is a list of the certifications that the Civil Grad Office would like to ensure that you are aware of and completing in a timely manner:

• Equal Access/Equal Opportunity (EA/EO) – Harassment and Discrimination: Prevention and Response Training. This training is offered by the Office of the Vice President for Ethics & Compliance (OVPEC) and links to more information can be found at: http://www.purdue.edu/ethics/ed-training/gradsessions.html.

• Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR). There is an in-person workshop requirement and an online module requirement for RCR. We make the RCR requirement a part of the CE 691 – Grad Student Orientation, so most students will have met the requirement with completion of CE 691. Instructions for completing the online portion are available at: https://engineering.purdue.edu/CE/Academics/Graduate/Current/Forms/Responsible-Conduct-Research.  The online portion should be renewed every five years. If you were not able to attend the in-person component of the requirement during CE 691 – you should attend an RCR workshop offered by the Graduate School. Schedules are available at: https://www.purdue.edu/gradschool/professional-development/workshops/index.php.   

• Safety Training – A general training presentation is offered as a session of CE 691. We also offer the Lyles School of Civil Engineering/Right to Know Training online at: https://www.eventreg.purdue.edu/WebCert/Heading.aspx, that must be updated annually.  Area labs will also have specific training requirements.

• Other certifications not coordinated through the CE Grad Office:

• Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)/Gramm Leach Bliley Act (GLBA) – Students with TA assignments will need to complete these certifications, as required to comply with Federal Law. Completed on Brightspace/WebCert. Must be renewed annually.

• Respecting Boundaries. The Campus Sexual Violence Elimination (SaVE) Act, a federal law, requires all new incoming students to receive primary prevention and awareness education about sexual violence. The OVPEC office coordinates the completion of this online program at admission/during a students’ first semester. If it’s not completed by the deadline, a hold will be placed on your registration. Continuing students should not have to worry about this program, it would have been completed in your first semester and at this time it’s not required to renew, however I wanted to include it on this list as a reminder.

• Please check your transcripts/grades at least once a semester to ensure that you are registered correctly, and all grades have been posted.  The registrar allows one year from the original date of enrolling in a course/research hours to update a grade.  It is your responsibility to make sure things are updated in a timely fashion.  Incomplete or failing grades can affect your graduation and for international students, can cause you to be out of compliance with immigration.

• Master’s students should have their plan of study on file by the end of their second semester.  Students in the 4+1 program and those MSCE students planning to graduate in two semesters, need to complete their plan in their first MSCE semester. PhD students should have their plan done by the end of their third semester.  You can find the link to the Plan of Study Workshop presentation at: https://engineering.purdue.edu/CE/Academics/Graduate/Current.  Once the plan has been approved, you can make changes to coursework, committee members and thesis vs non-thesis.

• Graduation procedures and deadlines can be found at: https://engineering.purdue.edu/CE/Academics/Graduate/Current/Graduating_Students.

• If you have legal questions – there is an office on campus that may be able to help you: https://www.purdue.edu/odos/sls/.

• If you need some information on how the Purdue medical insurance plan works – or how the medical system works in general, you can find some information at www.purdue.edu/push.  You can also stop by the Student Insurance office in PUSH 338 or 340.  The office is open M-F 8:30 am to 4:30 pm.

Lastly, we encourage all students (especially thesis option master’s and PhD students) to work with their advisor on a career development plan.

• You can find the Student Mentoring Handbook and Individual Development Planning (IDP) Worksheet at: https://engineering.purdue.edu/Engr/Academics/Graduate/ProfessionalDevelopment/MentoringGradSchoolStudentVersion
• Think about what you expect of your advisor
• Find out what your advisor expects of you
• Plans will evolve overtime, make sure you meet with your committee regularly (at least once a year). PhD students: Once you have an approved plan of study, its required that you hold an Annual Meeting with your committee.
• Be intentional about your career planning

Regards,
Jenny

Jenny Ricksy

Burke Graduate Program Administrator

Ph: 765-494-2436 Fax: 765-494-0395

Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering, Purdue University

550 Stadium Mall Drive

Delon and Elizabeth Hampton Hall of Civil Engineering-Room 1141

West Lafayette, IN 47907-2051