Graduate School Bulletin – April 16, 2025

GRADUATE SCHOOL BULLETIN 

A publication of the Graduate School for Graduate Program Directors and Coordinators   

Postings are distributed on the Graduate Program Directors and Coordinators listservs on the 1st and the 16th of the month and are also available in a blog for public viewing here: https://monthlymemo.graduateschool.vt.edu/   

April 16th, 2025 

IN THIS BULLETIN:    

Meetings, Workshops, & Events  

1. Mentorship Workshop on April 29th 

Deadlines & Dates to Remember 

None at this time. 

Policy Updates  

None at this time.  

Administrative Announcements  

2. 2025-26 Graduate Catalog Update Process   

3. Doctoral Candidacy Status Tuition Discount Process Update   

4. Call For Nominations for CGS ProQuest Dissertation Award 

Announcements for Distribution to Students

 None at this time.  

Meetings, Workshops, & Events

____________________________________________

1. Mentorship Workshop on April 29th  

Mentorship training is invaluable to VT faculty members and postdocs, and the Graduate School is committed to enhancing mentorship training opportunities at VT. Towards that end, we are presenting a mentorship workshop on April 29th from 10:30am to 12:00 pm in Room C of the Graduate Life Center (GLC); lunch will be provided. We encourage interested early career faculty members and postdocs, especially, to sign up: https://gs.vt.edu/1o 

Administrative Announcements

____________________________________________ 

2. 2025-26 Graduate Catalog Update Process  

The update process for the 2025-26 edition of the Graduate Catalog is now under way. GPDs and faculty members responsible for certificate programs (or their designees) are asked to review their current catalog listings at https://catalog.vt.edu/graduate/ and complete this survey to either confirm the accuracy of the current content or provide the details about necessary updates: https://gs.vt.edu/2025catalog.   

Submissions are due by June 30. If you have any difficulty completing the survey or have any questions about the process, please contact Bill Huckle at wrhuckle@vt.edu or Monika Gibson at gibsonm@vt.edu

3. Doctoral candidacy status tuition discount process update 

Effective Fall 2025, the doctoral candidacy status tuition discount request will become an opt-out process. The Graduate School will automatically add the doctoral candidacy status tuition discount for any doctoral student who has passed their preliminary examination and meets all qualifications for the status as well as remove the discount for any doctoral student not meeting all qualifications for the status. Any doctoral student qualifying who does not wish to utilize the tuition discount may submit the Candidacy Status Tuition Discount Opt-Out form no later than the last day to add course registration for the semester. Questions regarding this change in process can be directed to the Graduate School at grads@vt.edu. 

4. Call for nominations for CGS ProQuest Dissertation Award 

The ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Awards are made annually to individuals nominated by a member institution, who have completed dissertations representing original work that makes an unusually significant contribution to the discipline.  The fields of competition in 2025 are:  

  • Biological Sciences 
  • Humanities and Fine Arts 

Deadline for submissions: July 3, 2025. Send nominations for the distinguished dissertation awards to Monika Gibson, gibsonm@vt.edu. One nomination can be submitted for each category. 

Graduate School Bulletin – April 1st, 2025

GRADUATE SCHOOL BULLETIN 

A publication of the Graduate School for Graduate Program Directors and Coordinators   

Postings are distributed on the Graduate Program Directors and Coordinators listservs on the 1st and the 16th of the month and are also available in a blog for public viewing here: https://monthlymemo.graduateschool.vt.edu/

April 1st, 2025 

IN THIS BULLETIN:    

Meetings, Workshops, & Events  

1. Mentorship Workshop on April 29th

Deadlines & Dates to Remember 

None at this time. 

Policy Updates  

None at this time.  

Administrative Announcements  

2. Process and timeline for 2025-26 Graduate Catalog Updates   

3. Call for nominations for CGS ProQuest Dissertation Award 

4. CO-OP Application Process Changes 

Announcements for Distribution to Students

 None at this time.  

Meetings, Workshops, & Events

___________________________________________

1. Mentorship Workshop on April 29th  

Mentorship training is invaluable to VT faculty members and postdocs, and the Graduate School is committed to enhancing mentorship training opportunities at VT. Towards that end, we are presenting a mentorship workshop on April 29th from 10:30am to 12:00 pm in Room C of the Graduate Life Center (GLC); lunch will be provided. We encourage interested early career faculty members and postdocs, especially, to sign up: https://gs.vt.edu/1o 

Administrative Announcements

____________________________________________ 

2. Process and timeline for 2025-26 Graduate Catalog updates 

The Graduate School will provide an online questionnaire again through which programs can either indicate that they have no updates to make or request updates to the program listings as they appear in the current catalog.  

The questionnaire will be distributed to GPDs currently listed in the Graduate Catalog and to those who completed the questionnaire last year on behalf of their program. The survey will be open to anyone, so it’s up to each program to decide whom they wish to designate to complete it.  

Timeline for update requests:  from mid-April through mid-July 

3. Call for nominations for CGS ProQuest Dissertation Award 

The ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Awards are made annually to individuals nominated by a member institution, who have completed dissertations representing original work that makes an unusually significant contribution to the discipline.  The fields of competition in 2025 are:  

  • Biological Sciences 
  • Humanities and Fine Arts 

Deadline for submissions: July 3, 2025. Send nominations for the distinguished dissertation awards to Monika Gibson, gibsonm@vt.edu. One nomination can be submitted for each category. 

4. CO-OP Application Process Changes 

The Graduate School is updating the co-op application form and process, which will go live on April 9th.What this means for students is that they will apply using a Microsoft form instead of a Google form. Advisors that approve co-op submissions will be able to approve the request in an email, as opposed to clicking a link that goes to another form. Note that the advisor request email will look like it is coming from Microsoft Power Automate (at this time there is no way to change that). The new process shouldn’t affect students and advisors too greatly but will be a much quicker and simpler process overall.  Any students who have applied in the previous Google form system will still be assisted and processed after the application form change. Please contact grads@vt.edu with ‘CO-OP’ in the title if you experience any issues with the new system or have any questions. Co-op website: https://graduateschool.vt.edu/student-services/GradCoop.html