Dear Sir/Madam,

My name is Prince Oluguwefola Naragaraska and I am writing to inform you that you have been designated as heir to a fortune in the amount of $380,000,000.00 from the late Dr. Karlasto Morenara.

Just kidding! But you did get a chunk of cash for your graduate student community-building initiative! Congratulations!

If only we were lucky enough to have funding for student events materialize from nowhere. Unfortunately, no deceased foreign millionaires seem to want to fund MIT grad student events. So, instead, the Office of the Dean for Graduate Education (ODGE) does a large part of it. Dean for Graduate Education Steven Lerman maintains a funding opportunity, called the Graduate Student Life Grants (GSLGs), which can be used to support graduate student community-building initiatives. All you need is a good idea and a plan. Past grants have run the gamut of community-building activities, from very visible events to ones focused on small groups. Ever been to a brunch at Sidney-Pacific or Ashdown?

Funded by the GSLGs. How about Muddy Mondays or Weekly Wednesdays at the Muddy Charles Pub? GSLGs also. But there have been other events, such as an international reconciliation series, interdepartmental research seminars, and cultural outings, which have also been funded by the grants. And it doesn’t have to be grad students who apply – anybody in the MIT community can write a proposal, as long as it focuses on enhancing the grad community.

The grants fund events that range in budget from a few hundred to several thousand dollars. If you have something you’d like to try, the GSLG staff wants to hear from you. Check out the GSLG web page at http://web.mit.edu/odge/community/grants.html, where you can get more information and find the guidelines for writing a proposal.

The deadline for proposal submissions is a long way off (January 22nd, 2010), but proposals are accepted any time until then, and it’s never a bad idea to get an early start.