Announcements & Deadlines
Spring admission deadline for international students
The Spring 2006 deadline to accept international students residing outside the United States is November 1. Since the visa application process may take 2-3 months, we must allow sufficient time for students to make all their arrangements. International students are expected to arrive no later than January 13 and participate in the mandatory international student orientation. Departments may request an exception for specific individuals by contacting our immigration advisors, Zelma Harris and Ruth Athanson at
International Graduate Student Services or by phone at 540/231-9549.
Automation of assistantship agreement issuance
The automation of the Assistantship Agreement Issuance process has entered its first phase of usage. This phase of functionality allows users to select the academic year of the appointment, hours (or percentage) of the appointment and what pay step will be offered. The monthly rate will be calculated based the entered hours or percentage and step. The in-state tuition and academic fee information will be automatically populated. Once all information is confirmed, the assistantship agreement contract will be generated in a pdf format, ready to print. The program will ensure that departments use the most up to date and correct information in the assistantship agreements issued to students.
The next phase will add functionality to save the entered data so that users can return and make edits as well as the ability to track agreements by term, allowing users to see the list of assistantship agreements that have been issued. Departments may provide feedback by e-mail to
gradweb@vt.edu.
As of January 1, 2006, all assistantship agreements must be submitted through the online process. An electronic copy will be retained by the Graduate School, and a paper copy will not have to be sent to the Graduate School .
Nominations for Cunningham Doctoral Scholars
As an integral part of our recruitment efforts to attract outstanding doctoral students to Virginia Tech, I am pleased to open the competition for the 2006 Cunningham Doctoral Scholars Program. Please review the guidelines and timelines available on the Graduate School web site.
Health Insurance for Graduate Assistants
For Fall 2005, graduate students on assistantships received 70% of the health insurance premium as part of their assistantships. Virginia Tech will continue this commitment for Fall ’06 and beyond. Although we have not yet finalized the exact percentage of health insurance premium coverage, it will be at least 70% if not higher. Departments can share this information with prospective students. Details are forthcoming.
PhD2010 Assistantships
In our business plan for increasing PhD enrollment through 2010, we were successful in meeting our enrollment goal of 100 new PhD students for Fall 2005. The details of the second year of the PhD2010 assistantship program will be available shortly.
Institutional Plan for Graduate Degrees (IPGD) — Call for Proposals
The Institutional Plan for Graduate Degrees (IPGD) provides the overview of our academic plans for graduate education at Virginia Tech. The IPGD is updated annually and in this regard, I’ve included the call for proposals below.
CGS&P activities
The Commission on Graduate Studies and Polices has approved two new doctoral degree proposals: (1) Geospatial and Environmental Analysis and (2) English PhD in Rhetoric and Writing. The proposals will be presented to the University Council at an upcoming meeting for a first reading.
Policies & Procedures Reminders/Updates
According to the Graduate School Policies and Procedures, “requests to schedule examinations should be received at least two weeks before the date requested” and the “cards should be returned to the Graduate School office as soon as possible.” In the past, the Graduate School has not always held departments to this policy. Effective Fall 2005, we are following the policy and therefore, requiring departments to schedule the examination two weeks prior to the date of the examination. Exceptions to this policy must be directed to Associate Dean Anne McNabb. Examinations should not be held without being officially scheduled and the exam card received; such examinations will not be considered official and will need to be rescheduled.
We’ve also modified the procedures for the examination cards effective November 1, 2005 . The official examination cards and official examination announcement will be sent to the advisor. Students, committee members and departmental administration will also be sent a copy of the official announcement. In the short term, these announcements will be sent via mail and where possible, email. In the long term, these documents will be issued electronically. The faculty advisor is responsible for the conduct of the examination, completion of the official cards and returning the cards immediately after the examination. Please do not hold the exam cards for any reason; the results of the examination should be shared with the student immediately following the discussion and faculty vote and then returned to the Graduate School .
Final master’s and doctoral final oral examinations are open to the university community. Discussions among the faculty members about the student’s performance will be conducted in private. In the near future, all final doctoral oral examinations will be posted on the Graduate School web page.
National Capital Region
Graduate Student Services new employee: Luisa Suarez
National Capital Region Open House
Information Sessions for masters and doctoral graduate programs in Public Management and Policy, Science and Technology Studies and Public and International Affairs, November 10 and December 5, Old Town Alexandria, 1021 Prince Street at Prince and Henry Streets; 10-minute walk from King Street Metro, Tel: 703/706-8123; e-mail:
cpapnov@vt.edu
Deadline to accept international students for Spring 2006 – November 1
The Spring 2006 deadline to accept international students residing outside the United States is November 1. Since the visa application process may take 2-3 months, we must allow sufficient time for students to make all their arrangements. International students are expected to arrive no later than January 14 and participate in the mandatory international student orientation. Departments may request an exception for specific individuals by contacting the National Capital Region international student advisor
Marija Telbis-Forster, Northern Virginia Ctr., 7054 Haycock Road, Room 203, Falls Church, VA 22043 or at 703/538-3743.
Reminder: Banner report, SYRB601, allows departments to review and sort the list of applications that are still waiting for a decision. The report provides a data file that you can pull into an Excel file so that you can sort the data by student name, ID, campus, application status and citizenship status. If you need assistance with how to run the report, please contact the GSSO office.
Annual Call for Proposals: Institutional Plan for Graduate Degrees (IPGD)
The Graduate School calls for new degree proposal for inclusion on the Institutional Plan for Graduate Degrees (IPGD). The IPGD is comprised of a list of degree programs that are approved for development to begin during the 06/07 academic year. The intention is that these programs would be implemented no later than Fall 2009.
We anticipate that colleges will review and select from proposals generated by their academic units. We would like to receive the college-approved proposals by February 1st so that we can finalize the ‘06-‘07 update to the IPGD by the end of the Spring 2006 semester.
Please provide the following information (in two pages or less) for degree programs you wish to have considered for inclusion on the plan:
- Need and Demand for the degree
- Target audience
- Faculty resources to be utilized
- Graduate courses (existing and proposed) underpinning the degree
- Conformity with the VT Strategic Plan particularly with regard to research emphasis and interdisciplinary nature
- Source of financial support
- Anticipated implementation date
The proposed degrees currently listed on the wish list will be considered for pre-approval in this review cycle. Please review the current IPGD "wish list" and indicate those proposals that should be removed from consideration. The current IPGD is attached.
Please send proposals to Karen P. DePauw in the Graduate School by February 15, 2006.