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Visiting Scholars Program Resources

Banking
 
Calvin Guest Wireless Access

There are a few areas on campus where wireless access is available to campus guests. Please read Connecting Your Personally Owned Computer to Calvin's Internet. Wireless access in all other buildings is restricted to faculty, staff, and students.

 
University Amenities and Visiting Scholar Privileges

Obtaining a Calvin picture ID: The Calvin department contact will receive the visitor's assigned Calvin ID# from the Office of the Dean for Faculty Development. Pictures are taken in the Student Life office.

Calvin ID's have a myriad of uses around campus including:

  • Hekman Library: During orientation, the department contact should initially bring the visitor to the library's circulation desk and introduce them as a visiting scholar. The visitor's Calvin ID will allow them to check out 25 books at a time for a loan period of 2 weeks with unlimited renewals. The sponsoring department is expected to manage the accounts receivable process for overdue or lost items. For overdue items, there is a 3-day grace period and on the 4th day a $1.00 fine is assessed with additional days at $ .25/day. "Lost" books are billed at a flat fee of $50 each.
  • Spoelhof Fieldhouse access (Available for visitor and family. Visitor or spouse must accompany family member minors at all times while in the facilities.)
  • Free entry to most sporting events
  • Free or discounted tickets to concerts or theater productions
  • Use as a debit card at food locations on campus.
  • Card access entry to some buildings
  • A 15% discount at the campus store on all non-textbook and non-food items
 
Food
 
Grand Rapids Web Links
 
Health Insurance

Non-US visiting scholars are required to have health care coverage for the duration of your stay. Health insurance can be purchased through International Medical Group. Coverage is available to the applicant, the spouse and unmarried dependent children, ages 14 days to 18 years, while traveling to US. Terms of insurance ranges from a minimum of 15 days up to a maximum of 36 months. This plan is not renewable.

Please note this insurance does NOT cover the following: Expenses for a) pregnancy, childbirth or miscarriage; b) routine physicals; c) cosmetic or plastic surgery, except as the result of an accident; d) elective surgery; e) any mental and nervous disorders or rest cures; f) dental care, except as the result of injury to natural teeth caused by accident; g) eye refractions or eye examinations for the purpose of prescribing corrective lenses for eye glasses or for the fitting thereof, unless caused by accidental bodily injury incurred while insured; h) alcoholism or drug addiction or use of any drug or narcotic agent; or i) treatment by a family member.

 
Housing
  • Calvin-owned housing: Please contact Financial Services.
  • Local Rental Listings:
    • Search Homes for Rent in newspaper classifieds
    • rentGR.com is the PREMIER on-line rental living resource of West Michigan where renters find Cool Places to Live™ by searching for what they need and contacting property owners directly.
    • Calvin Deals is an internal site where faculty and staff can list homes for rent. Often faculty that are on sabbatical use this site to advertise their home for rent.
 
Local Schools & Childcare

if the visitor is bringing school-aged children, please discuss school options in the Grand Rapids area with the department contact. If the visitor is able to afford private, Christian school tuition, then choosing housing near the school would be to their advantage. If they would prefer to enroll their child(ren) in the public school system, Forest Hills Public Schools and East Grand Rapids Public Schools are close to Calvin.

 
Obtaining a Social Security Number
 
Transportation
 
Worship
Calvin IT Visiting Status Codes

VTF:  Visiting Scholars - For those scholars that have been invited officially by PSC for a semester or year. They will be assigned an office, phone, possibly an email account, and will be allowed Novell status with an account in the host department drive IF requested by the chair of that host department. CIT will put the actual XPNT status and/or description in the heat workorder, so they are identified as people who need restricted access.  This means they do not get email, novell departmental drives or other access by default, only when specifically requested.

NTG: Seminar attendees - this would allow access to the recreational facilities, library, and "Guest wireless" access in a few places on campus such as Johnny's, Spoelhof Cafe, DeVos Communication building first floor, floors two & three of Hekman Library, and DeVries Hall atrium. Wireless access in all other buildings is restricted to faculty, staff, and students. Currently, the Helpdesk supplies the Seminars office a list of generic usernames and passwords for Novell accounts. This only allows the visiting seminar attendees the ability to login to a campus computer.  The Seminars office is responsible for supporting the end users as far as providing and tracking usernames and passwords.  The Office of the Dean for Faculty Development is responsible for sending the information of who is using each account to the Helpdesk, so IT is aware of who is using our network.

GST: Guests of the Meeter Center, CCCS, and other Centers and Institutes - This group of guests is normally here for a slightly longer period of time, e.g., most of the summer or a semester. This status allows the "supervisor" to request Novell access and other services as needed. Normally neither NTG nor GST accounts get an email account. 

The webpage that refers to technology access for visitors is here.

NOTE: Visitors can use "Guest wireless" access in a few places on campus such as Johnny's, Spoelhof Cafe, DeVos Communication building first floor, floors 2 & 3 of Hekman Library, and DeVries Hall atrium. Wireless access in all other buildings is restricted to faculty, staff, and students.

Questions? Please contact the Office of the Dean for Faculty Development.

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