Office & Desk Assignments

A committee of Allen School faculty and graduate students determined the following policy by which students are assigned or may select desks in the grad student offices.

Office Assignment Policy

When a vacancy in an office arises, the office/desk assignment is made on a priority system based on funding and on student progress. (The University allocates space for students funded through the University and allocates no space for students funded from non-University sources or for unfunded students, though the department attempts to assign desks to these students if desks are available.)

The ranking for assignment of a desk and for re-allocation of desks is:

  • Supported post-generals
  • Supported post-quals
  • Supported project or thesis grad
  • Supported other grads
  • Unsupported post-generals
  • Unsupported post-quals
  • Unsupported project or thesis grad
  • Unsupported other grads

Current residents of an office have priority over new residents for moving to a vacant desk.

Procedure for Changing Desks and Offices

Each summer, in preparation for the arrival of new graduate students in September, the Graduate Advising Team will send an email asking whether office denizens wish to change desks within their office. Once intentions are clear about internal office moves, a second email will be sent asking whether students wish to move to a different office. During the academic year, anyone wishing to move within or between offices must contact the Graduate Advising Team. Whenever a desk or office change has been approved, notify Support of the move so that they can move machines and keep track of equipment. When the move has been completed, contact the Graduate Advising Team so that directory information can be updated.

On-leave Policies (Desks and Machines)

These policies apply to students who have petitioned for and been granted official leave time by the Graduate School.

Desk Policy: The priority for maintaining desk space will be the following, in descending order:

  • Students on official on-leave status: filling out and submitting the Graduate School Petition for On-Leave Status with $25 processing fee for one or two quarters.
  • Students on official on-leave status for one year (maximum allowed without renewal).
  • Students on official on-leave status for second, third, etc. years, in descending order.

Students whose on-leave status lapses relinquish all desk, machine, and account privileges.

Students who leave the program without a degree or without notice relinquish all desk, machine, and account privileges.

Students who earn a degree may take advantage of Allen School Alumni Services to forward email.

Machine Policy: On-leave students give up all rights to their personal desktop machine and its data contents when they go on leave. The CSE Lab reclaims machines of students who go on leave, so students have the responsibility of archiving any valuable content before leaving. Returning students will receive a desktop machine of equal or better capabilities to the one they relinquished when they went on leave. Students should contact the Graduate Program Adviser and CSE Support before leaving.

On-leave students should: (1) read CSE Lab email, especially with regard to disk usage, and (2) reduce their home directory disk storage to below one gigabyte before leaving to keep space available for other users.

NOTE: On-leave students who wish to maintain a desktop machine during the time they are gone must arrange this with a faculty member who must support the fees accompanying the student's account.

Business Cards

To request buisness cards, please fill out the Business Card Request Form. Turnaround is typically one week, although this could be longer, especially at the beginning of the school year. If you need business cards by a certain date, indicate this on the form. These requests will usually be fulfilled by the indicated date, even within the typical one week timeframe.

Questions? Ask Elle Brown (ellean@cs.washington.edu)

Student Forms

Below is a list of common forms used by Allen School Ph.D. students:

Health Insurance

The UW Benefits Office maintains information about health insurance eligibility and coverage for graduate appointees at the university. Visit the website to learn more.

Academic Misconduct

Any form of deception by which a student claims as his or her own work that which actually belongs to another, or otherwise gains unfair advantage over other students is considered Academic Misconduct. This includes cheating on class assignments or examinations and plagiarism, as well as more severe offenses, such as theft or alteration of other academic materials for purposes of acquiring academic credit or enhancing grades. All incidents of alleged Academic Misconduct are reported to the Office of Academic Affairs. The Office of Academic Affairs will then refer the matter to the appropriate College for Student Conduct investigation and adjudication. In all considerations of academic misconduct, the Allen School will carefully follow the letter and the spirit of the University’s Student Conduct Code. More information is available from the UW Community Standards & Student Conduct Office and the Allen School's Academic Misconduct page. Also visit the College of Engineering's detailed overview of the Academic Misconduct Process for more information.

Student Privacy

Instructors and TAs are reminded that the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 requires that the University treat student records in a confidential manner. Student records include examinations and papers submitted by students. Faculty who plan on distributing grades, papers, and exams through departmental mailboxes or in hallways must first have the permission of their students or be prepared to distribute such papers in ways that safeguard the students' personal information. Visit the university's FERPA page and view the complete university policy governing student education records as put forth in the Washington State Administrative Code WAC 478-140.

On-Leave Status

Students in good standing who desire to take a quarter or quarters off from their program of study without having to go through the reinstatement process must apply for on-leave status for each quarter they do not register. For complete details on eligibility and the procedure for requesting leave, see the UW Graduate School's website on Graduate On-Leave Status. The above policies governing desk and machine allocations to students on leave will apply.

Maintaining GAIP During Leave

You are entitled to continued GAIP coverage under Article 17 of your union contract. There are two ways to obtain continued health care coverage during your leave:

  1. If you are taking both an academic leave as well as a leave from your employment for the entire quarter:

    1. Request leave from the UW Graduate School using the MyGrad Program.

    2. Submit a copy of your Graduate Leave Approval Confirmation to the UW benefits office (uwgaip@uw.edu) which you will receive after your leave request is approved and you have paid the fee.

  2. If you are not taking an academic leave and do not plan to take an entire quarter away from your employment:

    1. Send grad-advising@cs the following information:

      • Your employee ID number (EID) from Workday

      • The dates for which you intend to take leave.

      • Your employment status (RA, TA, fellowship) for the period of time you are taking leave.

    2. The Graduate Advising team will send an email to the benefits office approving of your leave of absence from employment outside of the quarterly schedule.

In either case, you may qualify for Paid Family Medical Leave (PFML) through the state of Washington. You apply for this separately through the Employment Security Department of Washington State. Refer to the WA State Employment Security Department website for eligibity, but ASEs are generally eligible after the first year of employment.

It’s important to take one of these steps as soon as you’re aware of your plans to allow enough time for the paperwork to be processed. Email the grad advising team if you have any questions.

Saying Goodbye to the Allen School

Whether you are preparing to graduate, going on leave, or simply leaving, there are some tasks that you must complete to facilitate the process. View our handy checklist of what needs to be done as you get ready to say goodbye to the Allen School.