September 2025 Student Newsletter

Dear CCAS Graduate Students,

We hope your first couple weeks of fall classes have gone smoothly!

Click the button below to check out the full Student Newsletter - this month's edition will include our important fall reminders, a rundown on student health and wellbeing services, the launch of our Career Services YouTube channel, and more!

As a side note, due to some technical difficulties with the website, this month's newsletter is currently in a PDF format. We will plan to post the newsletter on our website once the technical difficulties are resolved.

The last day to add a course on GWeb will be this Sunday, September 7.

GW offers numerous resources to support student health and wellbeing, including Disability Support Services (DSS), medical and counseling services. There are also resources available to students who may be facing financial hardship and/ or food insecurity.

GW is committed to providing equal access for all students. That access is often facilitated through the implementation of formal disability accommodations. Please register with DSS to ensure that your accommodations are appropriately and efficiently communicated to the faculty and other necessary parties. More information can be found on the Disability Support Services website.

Students who are enrolled for at least 1 credit hour, as well as students on approved Leaves of Absence or Continuous Enrollment, are eligible to receive services from the Student Health Center. The Student Health Center offers a wide array of services, including medical services and primary care, psychological services and counseling, and psychiatric services. For more information on the Student Health Center, including hours and a full range of services offered, please visit the Student Health Center website.

CAPS serves GW students and engages the entire GW community, working to build a culture of support and connection with student well-being. They support mental health and personal development by collaborating directly with students to overcome challenges and difficulties that may interfere with academic, emotional, and personal success. In addition to traditional counseling, CAPS also offers walk-in hours for which no appointment is needed, as well as workshops and group sessions. More information on services available can be found on the CAPS website.

To help our students access medical and/or counseling services at times and from places that may be more convenient to them – during the day, at night or the weekend – GW has partnered with TimelyCare, a leading virtual telehealth provider to provide telehealth services at no cost to GW students. For more information, please visit the GW TimelyCare web page. 

At GW, we aim to create a community that cares for each other. The CARE Team fosters this goal by creating a pathway through which students who may need additional support can be identified and referred to the most appropriate services. If you are worried about one of your peers and think they may need some extra support, please consider submitting a CARE referral. You can submit this form anonymously, and a member of the CARE team will reach out to the listed student to see what sort of support they need and help provide them with the resources to help. More information and a link to the CARE referral form can be found on the CARE Team website.

GW’s Student Assistance Funds are managed by the Division for Student Affairs and can be used to help assist students with unanticipated expenses that are creating a financial hardship. The funds were created to assist students in situations that may impede academic progress, and for those who cannot reasonably resolve their financial difficulty through fellowships, loans, or personal resources. Both the GW Cares and Ronald W. Howard Student Assistance Funds are open to graduate students. For more information on applying for these funds and how they can be used, please visit the Student Assistance Funds site.

The Store is the George Washington University’s on-campus food pantry, providing students free access to fresh food, dry goods, and hygiene items. The Store aims to create a safe, inclusive, and welcoming environment for all shoppers. They believe every student deserves access to nutritious, delicious, and culturally appropriate food to thrive. The Store is open to all GW students who are enrolled in at least one credit per semester, do not have another staff/ faculty designation, and are experiencing food insecurity. Check out The Store’s website for more information on accessing their services.

Welcome back! Career counselors Erin Ahart and Dr. Ruffner-Ceaser are available to meet with you throughout the year. Schedule an appointment on Handshake! Visit our website or email CCAS_careers@gwu.edu for more information.

The Career Readiness Workshop Series is our signature workshop series where career counselors cover essential career topics for CCAS graduate students and alumni. This semester, Erin Ahart and Dr. Ruffner-Ceaser will address the current job market and skills our graduate students need to thrive in an AI-driven world. Register today!

We are excited to share our new CCAS Career Services YouTube channel! You can now search for and watch our Career Readiness Workshop recordings directly on YouTube. Check your email for featured videos, podcast episodes, and upcoming workshops. Past workshop topics include resumes, cover letters, interviews, networking, and more.

 

If you will be completing your thesis or dissertation in Fall 2025, please continue to be mindful of ETD clearance deadlines for both Ph.D. students and for Master’s students completing a thesis. Ph.D. students should visit our Ph.D. Clearance Deadlines page, and Master’s students completing a thesis should review our Master’s Thesis ETD Submission page.

Check out the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs website for guidelines on CCAS formatting requirements, GW formatting requirements, and MS Word & LaTeX resources!

If you are a Ph.D. student planning to defend your dissertation in Fall 2025 or Spring 2026, we encourage you to mark your calendars for the following ETD workshops. These workshops will be held virtually via Zoom, and registration is required to attend.

Please feel free to reach out to us at ccasgradserv@gwu.edu if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

The Student Services Team
Office of Graduate Studies
Columbian College of Arts and Sciences