Things Graduate Students Need to Know

Common Hour
Common Hour is a regularly scheduled block of time during which no classes are held and members of the University community are, therefore, available to share in other activities. The goal is to promote involvement in the community life of the University.

ID Cards
Your St. John’s University StormCard is your primary means of identification on campus. Your StormCard must be carried at all times and presented to University personnel as requested.  Yet your StormCard is much more than an ID Card. It also serves as a handy debit card account you can use for purchases from our dining facilities, the University Bookstore, photocopiers, computer lab printers. The StormCard also gives authorized students access to the residence halls, computer labs, classrooms and parking facilities. You will need your StormCard to visit friends who live on campus.The University’s StormCards are issued in the StormCard Office.

Queens Campus
On the Queens campus the office is located in the ROTC building outside of Gate 6. For information on when this office is open, please call ext. 6257.

Staten Island
On the Staten Island campus the office is located in Spellman Hall room 116 and can be reached at ext. 4487.

Cards are only issued after you have been admitted and your information has been entered into UIS, the University’s administrative computing system. You will need to have a StormCard in order to log on to St. John's Central, to use your St. John’s email, and to exit campus in your car at off hours.

Computer Password and Email
Much of your University business can be accomplished using the self service features available on our Web sites.  Once your student information is/was entered into UIS (they will not enter you into UIS until you have been admitted) then a login and password will be automatically generated. This will allow you to log on to any academic computer on campus and also to access St. John’s Central, the University’s academic portal, from on and off campus computers. In addition, your email address will be automatically generated at the same time.

If you have submitted all of your paperwork and do not have network login access, please check with  If so, please call ext. 6402 on the Queens campus, or ext. 4599 on the Staten Island campus, for help with accessing your account.

St John's Central
St. John’s Central is the University’s academic portal. When you are given an email address, you will also be given a personal web page on St. John’s Central. To access it, go to http://www.stjohns.edu/central/ and enter your email user name and password. Click on the “My Courses” tab for a quick, at-a-glance information about your current class schedule.

You have a course home page for each of your classes; it is customizable by the instructor and viewable by the students. The course home page provides convenient and always up-to-date email access to students.  St. John's Central also provides convenient access to University information and announcements. Through the “Groups” tab, you can easily access pages to enable communication wihin student groups. The page can be restricted to group members or be available to the entire University community.

Login to UIS Web Self Service
UIS is the University’s administrative computing system and is the system you use to register for courses.  You may also access it through St. John's Central

Blackboard Campus Edition
St. John's Central has course tools that allow your instructors to post their syllabus, email students, create discussion groups for the class. Some instructors will substitute the Blackboard course management system for the St. John's Central course tools.  When you click on a course on your St. John's Central "My Courses" page, you will enter Blackboard if your instructor prefers to use that course management system.