Graduate Incoming Students

Your academic advisor will be Kevin Strickland and is available to answer questions you may have about program requirements, course planning, school resources, navigating personal issues in relation to graduate school, etc. Brian Anderson (ID) and Cheryl Towler Weese (GD) are the Directors of Graduate Studies. They provide oversight of the graduate programs and become involved in student-specific issues as necessary.

One-on-one advising meetings are not required for graduate students, but Kevin is available over email, on Zoom, or in person. If you want to chat, please request an appointment via email.

Kevin’s office is located within the main School of Design administrative offices on the first floor of the ADS building, in Room 1300.

It is recommended that all students have a personal laptop but some students have successfully used a desktop computer in the past. A laptop is advisable because students use them to present work from a variety of locations throughout their studies, including at midterms and final reviews.

The School of Design and UIC’s Academic Computing and Communications Center have a very limited number of laptops for undergrad and grad students to check out short-term.

LAPTOP
Apple MacBook Pro or PC: Dell, HP, Lenovo, Microsoft. Some educational discounts are available through the UIC Webstore.

SOFTWARE
Adobe Creative Cloud is required for all School of Design students. The subscription may be accessed via the UIC Webstore and will need to be renewed yearly. Please note students who are experiencing financial hardship may request a discounted license.

Office 365 is available for free to students.

Tutorials: UIC students have free access to LinkedIn Learning, which has tutorials for Adobe programs, Maya, Rhino, AutoCAD, etc.

Anti-Virus: UIC provides the latest version of Symantec Endpoint Protection to all students at no cost from UIC Information Technology.

SOFTWARE, HARDWARE, AND STUDENT ACCOUNT ISSUESIf you have software/hardware/email/student account issues, UIC Help Center is available to assist you. Walk-in support is available in the IDEA Commons in the UIC Library.

All official communications will come to you via your UIC email address so it is important that you set up your account and get in the habit of checking it as often as you can. You do have the option to access your UIC email via Gmail if you prefer.

UIC’s student ID cards are called i-cards. You will be able to obtain one from the university ID Center after you have registered for at least 9 credits for the fall semester. To get your i-card, visit the UIC ID Center page for more information.

All full-time students also receive a U-Pass which grants free access to all CTA transportation in the city. U-Passes are typically available from the ID Center in the week before classes begin. You must already have a valid i-card to pick up your U-Pass, and you must be registered for a minimum of 12 credit hours. U-Passes become active the Wednesday before the semester begins and is only active while classes are in session. More information about U-Passes can be found at this link.

You are responsible for obtaining both your i-card and U-Pass on your own. We encourage you to get your i-card before the start of the semester as an i-card is necessary to gain 24-hour swipe access to the School of Design building and graduate studios.

Fall semester tuition is typically due on/before September 28th. The University offers a variety of tuition payment plans for graduate students. We encourage you to explore these options if they may be helpful.

All UIC students are required to have health insurance. Registered students are automatically enrolled in CampusCare health insurance through UIC. See CampusCare for details about cost and coverage.

If you have health insurance through another source (e.g. through a parent, spouse, military benefits, etc.), you may waive the CampusCare health plan. To do so, you must submit a waiver form with proof of sufficient health insurance.

Graduate design students are governed by the policies of the University; Graduate College; College of Architecture, Design, and the Arts; and School of Design. Students are expected to become familiar with these policies. Some of this information can be found through the Student Resources page of the College of Architecture, Design, and the Arts website.

Many graduate-specific resources and forms may be found on the UIC Graduate College website. Below are some links to pages of note.

GRADUATE STUDENTS
Academic Probation Procedures
Graduate Catalog
Assistantships

COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY
Academic Center for Excellence (ACE)
Counseling Center
Office of Student Financial Aid
Schedule of Classes
Tuition Information

We will discuss other relevant resources during New Student orientation in August, but you are also encouraged to review these pages on your own in advance.