Getting Set Up

To get your UC Berkeley ID Card, you need to go to the Cal 1 Card office in the Cesar Chavez Student Center in Lower Sproul Plaza. Here is their website. You will need your driver's license, and will need to have created a CalNet ID and know your student ID number.

You will also want to get a “Class Pass,” which is a sticker on your ID card that allows you to ride AC Transit (the bus system in the area) for free. You can get this sticker in the first week of the semester, as long as you have already registered for classes using Tele-BEARS.

For your UC Berkeley email (calmail), you should have received your student ID number and passphrase already. You may already have an account, otherwise you will need to create one. Just go to the calmail website and log in with your student ID and passphrase.

To register for classes, go here. You will need to sign in with your CalNet ID and passphrase. You can find the schedule of classes here. Also, check out this page for information on choosing courses.

You will need to see Bill Boyd to get an astronomy department account. This account will

• allow you to log onto department machines (i.e. for fast computing, try logging into lupus or beast)
• give you 5 GB of space in your home directory on /o/
• give you a directory on /pharlap1/ for more space if you need it
• give you astro.berkeley.edu email addresses, which will be forwarded to whatever email address you specify. By default you get username@astro.berkeley.edu as well as (first initial)(last name)@astro.berkeley.edu.

For printing, check out this page

To get your cubicle assignment, to get your key card (student ID) programmed, and to get any hard keys you might need, talk to Rayna Helgens (B101) and/or Nina Ruymaker (B109) in Building B.

If you have an outside source of funding (scholarship, fellowship, etc.) make sure to let Dexter Stewart know ASAP.

If you are teaching (which should be most of you), you should receive a Graduate Student Instructor (GSI) Contract via email from Dexter a few weeks before the semester starts. Once you have replied to Dexter saying you accept the contract, you should get an email from the staff member in charge of payroll. Make sure to inquire with said staff member about withholding for Federal and state taxes. Much of our pay (fellowships, in particular) do not have automatic withholding, and if you don't withhold extra during the year, you'll end up with a hefty penalty come tax time.

You'll also need to sign up for EFT (electronic funds transfer), which you can do by clicking here. The account you link to your EFT will receive all paychecks, reimbursements, and other Berkeley-related deposits. It is unclear at this time whether this covers everything. Dexter has been told by the university that students should sign up for direct deposit through blu.