Graduate Student Organization (GSO)GSO Guide to Student Life
Guide to the UConn Health Center
The Health Center will be your home for the next four to ? years. You'll learn here, work here, eat here, hang out here, and possibly even occasionally sleep here. The building's a circle, so you can't get completely, hopelessly lost (unless you go through the subbasement). Below are some ins and outs of the campus and what it has to offer.
Parking
Before you partake of the many gifts the Health Center has to offer, you've got to figure out where to leave your car (if you have one, you need to get a sticker for it at Public Safety, near the police station). As a general rule, if it's 8:55 a.m. and you have a 9 a.m. class, and you see dozens of parking spaces located close to the building, it's illegal to park there. Grad students can
park in lots J, K, and M, on the street, on all levels of the parking structure except the very top level, and in the three shuttle lots. However,
D lot is reserved for car pool vehicles after 8:30 a.m. (Public Safety is the place to go to get a car pool sticker), and not open to the general public until after
4:30 p.m. After 4:30 p.m. and on weekends, you can also park in lots A,
B, and C by the Academic Entrance. Below is a summary of where you'll most likely find a spot to park depending on when you arrive.
During the Academic Year
Before 8:20 a.m.: Any legal place except D lot (unless you have a car pool lot sticker)
8:20 to Lunch Time: Parking structure (all but top level) and shuttle lots 1, 2, and 3, though you'll probably end up in shuttle lot 3 (they don't call them shuttle lots for nothing).
It's a healthy walk from the bottom of the hill. There's a phone in shuttle lot 3 that you can use to call (x2143) a shuttle after
7 a.m. It may or may not be worth your while to make a quick round of the other lots before settling for parking there. (If you REALLY like driving round and round the Health Center, then you might get lucky and find a space.
Lunch Time through 4:30 p.m.: Scavenger parking. Check your favorite parking spot (this excludes the gated-lots); people often leave for lunch.
4:30 p.m. to 2 a.m.: Pretty much anywhere. The faculty lots open at 4:30
p.m. Note that the Academic Entrance is open according to the library
hours. After that, you will need to enter the Health Center through the Police entrance.
In the summer parking is much easier. The bottom level of the parking structure is usually the farthest you have to go to get a spot.
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Lyman Maynard Stowe Library
Regular Academic Year Hours:
Monday to Thursday: 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Friday: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Saturday: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sunday: Noon to 10 p.m.
Summer Hours:
Monday to Thursday: 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Friday: 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sunday: 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Library Card
Your Health Center ID (later a record of how much graduate school has aged you) also doubles as your library card with a UPC sticker attached to it. You can get the UPC sticker from the library’s Front Desk.
Books and Journals
The Stowe Library is a (bio)medical library containing over 150,000 volumes, and has current subscriptions to nearly 2,000 journals. If they don't have the reference that you're looking for, someone at the information desk can usually help you get it through interlibrary loan and many items can be found online.
Database Searches
Searches of computerized databases (biomedical journals) can be performed via Medline in the library. This is an extremely convenient system when you need to find information on a topic for class, journal club, research project, or just general interest. The computers hooked up to Medline are located on the B floor in the library at the windows facing the elevators. You have to sign up to
use the computers, but since this service has become available to any Health Center computer on the Net, you can go to ANY computer in the library or in many labs.
Computers
Macintosh computers and PC compatibles are available for use in the back of the library (due to renovation, they have been relocated to MDL). They are almost ALWAYS available unless there is a class. Students are also able to check out loaner laptops from the library for a 24 hour period. For more information on this program, visit
http://library.uchc.edu/laptops/loaner_laptops.html.
Photocopiers
There are about five of these available in the library. Only one takes coins, the rest use copy cards. Copy cards can be purchased at the main desk. Usually individual labs have copy cards.
Leisure Reading
If you've got the time, they've got the spot. The repertoire is limited in this field, but the ambiance makes up for it.
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Police Department
Emergency: x7777
Non-emergency: x2121
Radiation Safety: x2250
The emergency room is in the C building (CM313) on the main floor.
The Police Station is located on the ground floor near Public Safety and Radiation Safety. This is where they take the photo for your Health Center ID. Two of the services provided by the police department at the Health Center that you'll probably use the most are the rides to your car after 7 p.m., and unlocking of unrestricted rooms. For the latter service, you need to show your
Health Center ID, which, of course, is usually locked in the room with your keys, but they're pretty understanding. There have also been unconfirmed rumors that if you live across the street behind the Exchange, and it's late at night, they'll drive you home. Additionally, the Police can jumpstart your car or help if you lock your keys in the car. Lost and Found is also located at the
Police Department.
Please note that the officers on campus are State Police Officers. Traffic rules are enforced on campus and the police will ticket you if you park in the wrong places, fail to stop at a stop sign, etc. These are ‘real’ state police tickets and the fines double after 10 days if you do not pay them. Also, it is a state law in Connecticut to yield to pedestrians in a cross walk!
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Food Court
Hours
Weekdays: 6:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Weekends/Holidays: 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Noon is NOT the best time to go to lunch since everyone else goes then, making the lines long and seating difficult to find. The time to go is before noon or after 12:45 p.m., although the selection is usually better before noon.
What you'll like at the Food Court depends on your taste. There are a several different windows and each has a special for the day, which you can preview online. Check them all out before making your decision. The prices are fairly reasonable, and you can get a filling meal for around $5.00.
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Student Lounge
The student lounge (located next to the Bookstore near the Academic Entrance) has foosball, ping-pong, pool, vending machines, a microwave, refrigerator, TV, stereo, and couches/chairs. The combination for the door is 315.
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Where to Smoke
If you're a smoker, you're out of luck here. UConn is a smoke-free environment and you have to go outside to get your daily supply of nicotine. There's a courtyard outside of the Food Court. Also, the second floor has a patio where smoking is permitted.
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Building Codes
Finding offices and other locations at the Health Center can sometimes be a challenge. Here’s brief guide to what all those letters before the room numbers mean:
ARB-Academic Research Building (these rooms are also coded as ‘E’; a.k.a. ‘the new building’)
ASB-Academic Services Building (where HR is located; a.k.a. ‘down the hill’)
L-Laboratory building (a.k.a. ‘the old building’)
A-Academic Building
H-Hospital
C-Clinics
M-Main floor (level the Food Court is on)
G-Ground floor (level the Massey (previously Blue) and Patterson (previously Green) auditoriums are on)
MUNS-Munson Road Building (where all the Finance people are located)
Generally, the first number or letter (in the case of the Main and
Ground floors) indicates the floor and the numbers after that indicate
the room.
So if you were looking for L-4102, you’d go to the L building, 4th floor, room 102.
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Other Handy Health Center Information
There is a Peoples Bank ATM located near the entrance in the hospital lobby.
There are snack and soda machines outside the cafeteria across from the stamp machine as well as in the kitchenette by EG-013 and EG-052 (the Large/Small Conference rooms in the Academic Research Building (ARB)) and the main floor across from the Dental rooms.
There is a Hartford Courant newsstand outside the Academic entrance and the Hospital entrance.
The Connucopia gift shop off of the main hospital lobby carries many items, including t-shirts, greeting cards, candy, jewelry, stuffed animals, various UConn related items, small gifts, some OTC medications (like Tylenol, aspirin, cough drops, etc.), stamps, flowers, etc.
All hall phones can be used to make local calls. Just dial 9 to get an outside phone line, and then the phone number. To dial a number within the Health Center on these phones, just dial the last 4 digits of the phone number.
You can buy (or add copies to) a copy card in the library or at Reprographics copy center (located in the basement). Copy machines in the library take cards and cash, but most others in the Health Center only take cards. Copies are $.10 each with cash, $.07 each with copy card at general copy machines, $.045 at the copy center with a copy card and $.03 if you have the copy center make the
copies for you. The copy center also has a color copier available.
Wireless internet service is available throughout the main floor of the Health Center. Contact the IT department at x4400 for assistance in setting it up on your laptop.
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