March 2005

Announcements/Deadlines

  • Brochures for the Graduate Life Center at Donaldson Brown are available to share with current and prospective students. Please contact Monika Gibson if you want brochures to distribute.
  • April 29 — All doctoral candidates who wish to participate in Graduate Commencement must complete all requirements including approval of the ETD.
  • The training sessions for the Online Admissions Analysis (AA) form will be announced to Deans, Department Heads, and Directors early next week. These sessions will cover overall process information, as well as technical information on how to utilize the form to indicate departmental admissions recommendations.
  • Please remind your faculty and students that final examinations should be scheduled at least two week prior to the examination date. This allows enough time to review the student’s file for degree completion requirements and prepare the examination cards. Thank you.

Graduate Education Week
NCR: The National Capital Region hosted its second annual Graduate Education Week (March 14-18). The week’s activities consisted of job networking, informational sessions on balancing a career, family and education, graduate student research exposition, library resources, online tutorials (e-recruiting-career services, element K, Atomic Learning, VT Online Wellness Resource Center) and movie night.

Blacksburg : The 5th Annual Graduate Education Week, held March 21–25, featured events that celebrated the achievements of graduate students and brought attention to developments in graduate education. The week was centered around the theme "Celebrate, Explore, Envision", and the events coordinated by the Graduate School offered students fun celebrations, resources for personal and professional development, and an opportunity to learn about the future of graduate life and scholarship. Photographs, listings of award winners, materials, and schedules of Graduate Education Week are available here.

15th Annual GTA Workshop
The 15th Annual GTA Workshop (Phase I) will be held August 15–17, 2005 . The workshop will consist of Plenary sessions 1:00 to 5:00 on Monday August 15, concurrent sessions on teaching and learning 9:00 to12:00 on Tuesday and sessions on eResources 9:00 to 12:00 on Wednesday. Phase II offerings will be in September. All new GTAs are expected to attend the Workshop and enroll in GRAD 5004 (P/F; 1 cr) (CRN 92944). Please share this information with your incoming graduate students.

Copyright Information and ETDs
ETDs are reviewed for format and checked for compliance with applicable university, state and federal guidelines, including the Federal Copyright Law (Title 17 in the U.S. Code). Figures, tables, images and other items reproduced or adapted from third party sources must meet the criteria established by the Copyright Law to be included in the published ETD. Items must be clearly cited and documented as specified by the Copyright Owner. It is the responsibility of the author to obtain the permissions from the Copyright Owner. The Graduate School reserves the right to request the written documentation of the permission before the formal ETD approval and the completion of one’s graduate degree.

Annual Progress Review
It is important that departments conduct an annual progress review of graduate students as outlined in Presidential Policy.

Please utilize this policy in developing and implementing departmental guidelines for conducting annual progress reviews for your graduate students. I also encourage you to incorporate the opportunity for graduate students to read, review and respond to these reviews. These reviews should be conducted during the spring semester and shared with your graduate students in preparation for the next academic year. Please share the results of your review with the Graduate School . We also request a copy of the departmental guidelines for our files. Please send a copy to Roger Avery by July 1, 2005

Alpha Epsilon Lambda (AEL)
In March, Virginia Tech established a chapter of Alpha Epsilon Lambda, a honorary society that recognizes academic excellence and leadership among high achieving graduate students at Virginia Tech. The society was founded in 1990 with the objective of providing an honor society to recognize leadership and scholarship of outstanding graduate and professional students. The ceremony was held on March 22nd and nine graduate students were initiated as charter members.

ACC Traveling Scholars Program
Now that Virginia Tech has joined the ACC, our graduate students are eligible to participate in the Inter–Institutional Academic Collaborative (IAC) Traveling Scholars Program. This program enables doctoral–level students to take advantage of distinctive educational opportunities at any other participating ACC university. Visits may be as short as two weeks or as long as two semesters. A limited number of relocation stipends of up to $1000 per individual are available upon application. Further details are available in the Graduate School Deans Office.

News from the National Capital Region
Virginia Tech’s Northern Virginia Center in the National Capital Region was one of the first stops recently for 12 university administrators from the Near East and North Africa on a 21-day International Leadership Program tour sponsored by the Bureau of International and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State and key contact, Marcie Boucouvalas, professor and program director, Adult Learning/Human Resource Development, Virginia Tech. The visitors hailed from Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Tunisia, West Bank and Yemen . While the discussion spanned a wide variety of topics related to the U.S. system of higher education, Virginia Tech programs related to adult learners and adult education and the use of technology for academic purposes were of primary interest to the visitors.

Upcoming Open Houses in the National Capital Region:
The Northern Virginia Engineering Department will have an Open House April 20, 2005 , 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM , Northern Virginia Center . If you would like more information, please contact Sarah Channing at 703/535-3440.

The Public Management & Public Policy Department will have an information session, Wednesday, April 6, 2005 in Old Town Alexandria 6:30 pm – Master of Public Administration (MPA) 7:30 pm – Ph.D. in Public Administration . If you would like more information, please contact Irene Jung at 703/706-8123.