Advising is important. If you missed orientation, please schedule a time to meet with Rachel Carr early in the semester.

Advising is important. If you missed orientation, please schedule a time to meet with Rachel Carr early in the semester.

For all specialized masters programs, Rachel Carr is the administrative or academic advisor. Rachel is your contact for questions related to administrative procedures, forms, policies and procedures, etc. If you don t know who to go to with your question or concerns, Rachel should be your first point of contact. It s best to contact Rachel at foxms@temple.edu. If Rachel is out of the office, then one of the other advisors will be monitoring the Foxms email. It will help Rachel and any other advisor you might be contacting if you get in to the habit of always including your full name, Temple ID number (TUID #, the 9- digit number on your ID card) and your program in your messages. Typically, 24-48 hours is what you should allow for someone to get back to you. As you have probably experienced, Rachel is usually back in touch with you much quicker than that. If more than 3-4 days goes by, don t hesitate to follow up. It is always best to make an appointment if you need to see an advisor. Rachel is happy to see students on a walk in basis, but walk-ins can t always be accommodated.

Each Masters program has a faculty advisor. The faculty advisor is your resource for curriculum related questions. If you are unsure about who your faculty advisor is, please refer to the handout in your folder or contact foxms. The faculty advisor is an expert in your field of study. Questions that involve specific aspects of your particular field are best answered by the faculty director.

There are a number of University policies in expectation for graduation that you need to be aware of. These are important for your time here. You can find the policies at the link on the screen. The Graduate Programs in the Fox School of Business are governed by the Graduate School at Temple University.

There are just a couple of policies that I will emphasize today. These doesn t come up often and we certainly don t anticipate that any of you will have problems obviously we wouldn t have admitted you to our programs if we didn t think you were the best and brightest and would be successful! But occasionally these do come up, so you need to be aware that if you get more than two grades below B- or more than one F you will be dismissed. This is not a Fox rule, this is a University policy. If you re taking care of getting good grades, you won t have to worry about your overall GPA. But the other thing to be conscious of is that a cumulative GPA of 3.0 is required for graduation. If you have a 2.99, it will be a very difficult conversation! Let s keep a positive note we have every faith that you ll be successful! I m here to help, your faculty advisor is here to help! Please, if you have questions or concerns, make an appointment to meet with us we want you to be successful!

The Student Handbook is posted on the Specialized Masters welcome site. If you haven t looked it over already, please be sure to do so. I m happy to answer any questions about the handbook you might have. If you re not able to catch me this week to answer your questions, please reach out to Foxms with your questions or to schedule a time when we can meet.

Please complete and submit the student code of conduct form and the photo consent form. If you didn t complete these at orientation, Rachel will be in touch with you.

If you haven t already gotten your Temple ID card, also known a the OwlCard, please make sure you do that this week. The OWLcard is Temple University's ID card. You will need your OWLcard on campus to access buildings on campus, residence halls, meal plan, recreation services, the library system, the TECH Center, Diamond Dollars, Parking and just about everything else on campus. You ll see that many buildings, including ours, have swipe access so if you re going to be here late or on the weekends, you ll need your ID card to be able to get in the building.

Students can visit the Diamond Dollars / OWLcard Office located at 1910 Liacouras Walk, Suite 202 to obtain their OWLcard. They are open M-F from 8:30-5:00. You will need your TUid# (9 digits beginning with a 9), and a government issued photo ID (driver's license, passport, military ID, etc.).

Using Diamond dollars eliminates the need for you to carry cash. You can add funds to your diamond dollars account and then use your ID card to make purchases. There is no charge for this service and no minimum balance is required. You re not required to use diamond dollars, but many students find it convenient since lots of places around campus take diamond dollars, as well as photocopiers in the library. Please refer to the frequently asked questions site on the diamond dollars website to review the benefits of this program and for a list of the places around campus that take diamond dollars.

For those of you with classes at Main Campus, you ll likely be in Alter Hall. The 7 th Floor of Alter Hall will be the primary location for you. This is where you ll find the graduate programs office, the Business Center, Breakout rooms. We are in the 7 th floor commons right now. You ll find a map of Main Campus and a directory of Alter Hall in your folder. You should have received information via email regarding the Business Center and the Breakout Rooms. Access to these spaces is restricted. The Business Center requires you to swipe your card to enter. The Breakout Rooms have a code which I ll include in the email along with instructions on how to reserve a breakout room. If you do not recall receiving the information about these resources, please contact Foxms and Rachel will send this information to you. Please keep in mind that we host lots of events in our buildings. Much like our orientation sessions this week, there are sessions this week and the following week for MBA students. Most of the time you ll find the MBA Commons set up with chairs/tables and it makes a nice study area. But when there are events taking place here, you may see signs posted asking you to use the back stairs or elevator. We just ask that you conduct yourself accordingly to not interrupt the events. You may see food set up for these events. Do not assume this is free to anyone. If there is left over food, someone will definitely let you know.

Many of you will have classes at the Center City campus, which we refer to as TUCC. You ll find a map of the area around the Center City campus in your folder. This is located on Market Street in Center City right across from City Hall and easily accessible from SEPTA s suburban station for regional rail or the Broad Street line. You will find the business office on the 6 th floor. I hold hours at TUCC on Wednesdays from 9am to 6pm. If you would like to meet with Rachel at TUCC, please schedule an appointment and she ll be happy to see you there!

Other resources at Temple: all of these are covered in your student handbook. The main library at Temple is the Paley Library. It is just to the northeast of our building across 13 th Street. You ll find many resources there. The TECH center is another great resource that you should take advantage of while at Temple. You ll find computer labs, breakout space and the very important Help Desk. You are eligible to use the Campus Recreation facilities. You ll have access to a walking/running track, fitness equipment, the pool. Independent Blue Cross Recreation Center (IBC) corner of 15 th and Cecil B Moore. Student Health Services is located directly across the Liacouras Walk from the front of Alter Hall at 1810 Liacouras Walk on the 4 th floor. Please check out their website for information on their hours and how to schedule an appointment.

Questions? Please email foxms@temple.edu. Welcome to Temple!