IN THIS BULLETIN:
Meetings/Workshops/Events:
1. SPRING GRADUATE PROGRAM DIRECTORS MEETING
Policy Updates:
2. REMINDER FOR ADMISSION APPLICATION DECISIONS
3. REMINDER: TOEFL MINIMUM REQUIREMENT INCREASED BEGINNING FALL 2018
4. THE NEW CONTRACT CREATION AND APPROVAL SYSTEM
5. ASSISTANTSHIP ACCEPTANCE DEADLINE FOR NEW STUDENTS
Administrative Announcements:
6. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS
7. GRADUATE EDUCATION WEEK 2018
8. GRADUATE SCHOOL COMMUNICATION TO GRADUATE STUDENTS
9. DISRUPTING ACADEMIC BULLYING
Deadlines:
FEBRUARY 2: Last day to submit the start-of-semester defense exception form for spring.
MARCH 1: Last day to submit application for degree form for spring for name to appear in commencement bulletin.
APRIL 15: Assistantship Acceptance deadline (See #5 for details).
Meetings/Workshops/Events:
1. SPRING GRADUATE PROGRAM DIRECTORS MEETING
Thursday, Feb 22, 10:00-11:30am, GLC Room F
Please hold this date and time. The agenda items will include updates and general information, discussion of plagiarism detection software implementation (iThenticate, Feedback Studio), disrupting academic bullying, diversity requirement, graduate program faculty and more.
Policy Updates:
2. REMINDER FOR ADMISSION APPLICATION DECISIONS:
The Office of Export and Secure Research Compliance (OESRC) and the Graduate School developed procedures to identify graduate students with a high risk of export control, sanctions, or security concerns and provide guidance to the departments for compliance with these regulations. An automated screening method identifies international graduate students who intersect with three high risk areas: sanctioned country citizenship, prior or current foreign military affiliation, and affiliation with restricted parties or embargoed organizations. These applicants are reviewed by OESRC and guidance will be provided to the departments, if necessary. In most cases, OESRC will complete the review within 3 business days. In rare circumstances, additional time will be required to adjudicate cases, and departments will be notified within 3 business days if additional processing time is needed.
In order to ensure that the automated screening process occurs for all applicants recommended for admission, it is imperative that departments mark students recommended for admission in HokieSpa as Accept in GSAPP as well. To note the recommendation for admission in GSAPP, go to Actions O Department Recommend O Accept & Save O.
This will set the application in GSAPP as Accept in your status list which initiates the OESRC review process. You must still submit the Online Admissions Analysis form in HokieSpa as the official decision. Admission recommendations in HokieSpa will not be processed by the Graduate School until the OESRC screening process in GSAPP has been completed. Questions regarding setting the application status to Accept in GSAPP may be addressed to Janice Austin at jema@vt.edu.
3. REMINDER: TOEFL MINIMUM REQUIREMENT INCREASED BEGINNING FALL 2018
The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) scores are required of all international students whose first language is not English, except for those applicants who have graduated from an accredited university where English is the language of instruction. The university-wide minimum requirements for the Fall 2018 and semesters after are:
* 90 for the internet-based test
* 233 for the computer-based test
* 577 for the paper-based test
4. THE NEW CONTRACT CREATION AND APPROVAL SYSTEM
The Graduate School, in conjunction with the Bursar’s Office, has been working on developing a fully integrated centralized process to create and authorize assistantship contracts and manage PAF and tuition remission entries. We will be rolling out the first phase of this project — a contract creation and approval system — in February 2018. At that time, the current online contract tool will be retired and all departments will be required to use the new tool for creating new contracts. Training sessions have been completed; however, a link to the slideshow and a training manual can be found at: https://graduateschool.vt.edu/funding/funding-information-for-departments/NewContractManagementTool.html. A video tutorial will be coming soon.
5. ASSISTANTSHIP ACCEPTANCE DEADLINE FOR NEW STUDENTS
The Council of Graduate Schools established April 15 as the earliest deadline schools may set for the acceptance of an offer of financial support (such as assistantship or fellowship) for the next academic year by a prospective graduate student. You may encourage but not require newly accepted students to respond to an assistantship or fellowship/scholarship offer before April 15. Our International Graduate Student Support office will start issuing immigration documents to new international students in February to allow students sufficient time for the visa application process.
Administrative Announcements:
6. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS
The Graduate School organizes or co-sponsors a series of professional development workshops in the GLC for graduate students. These workshops are advertised to students through our weekly listserv posting and on our website at https://graduateschool.vt.edu/student-life/professional-development/professional-development-series.html. Feel free to refer students to particular workshops you think they might benefit from.
7. GRADUATE EDUCATION WEEK 2018
Mark your calendar for Graduate Education Week 2018, celebrated March 26-30 to highlight the contributions and achievements of graduate students and the importance of graduate education to Virginia Tech. We invite and encourage all departments and graduate programs to host their own GEW events as well. The Graduate Student Assembly Research Symposium and Exposition will be held during this week on March 28. We encourage departments to support this important academic event. Be on the lookout for a sponsorship solicitation letter from the GSA. If your department is interested in setting any form of pre/post-conference activity or would be willing to make a financial contribution, please contact Lehi Dowell at ldowell@vt.edu for more information.
8. GRADUATE SCHOOL COMMUNICATION TO GRADUATE STUDENTS
We send a weekly listserv posting to all graduate students enrolled in Blacksburg with a listing of events, administrative announcements, job openings, and volunteer/research participation opportunities. Messages are posted on Mondays year round. Graduate students and departments may submit items for posting by Friday before the Monday on which the posting is to appear by emailing it to grads@vt.edu. If you would like to receive these postings, we can add you to the listserv (email to grads@vt.edu if you wish to be added), or you can follow postings online at https://webapps.graduateschool.vt.edu/glcweekly/.
9. DISRUPTING ACADEMIC BULLYING
The Graduate School has been raising awareness about academic bullying and about improving the dynamics within our offices, classrooms, and labs. Some of our next steps include the development of workshops on key topics that will help create environments that limit the potential for academic bullying to occur: understanding academic bullying; the role of the bystander; respectful communication; and taking action as a target or bystander. Workshops can be modified to meet the needs and interests of departments. To request workshops at the departmental or programmatic level, contact Bryan Hanson at bryanh76@vt.edu to set up a time to discuss what might best meet your needs.