September 16, 2024

GRADUATE SCHOOL BULLETIN
A publication of the Graduate School for Graduate Program Directors and Coordinators

The Graduate School communicates through semi-monthly postings distributed on the Graduate Program Directors and Coordinators listservs. Postings are distributed on the 1st and the 16th of the month and are posted to a blog for public viewing here: https://monthlymemo.graduateschool.vt.edu/ 

September 16th, 2024

IN THIS BULLETIN: 

Meetings, Workshops, & Events

  1. GRADUATE AND PROFESSIONAL SCHOOL FAIR – OCTOBER 7 
  2. FACULTY PANELISTS SOUGHT FOR GRADUATE HONOR SYSTEM (Tuesday, September 17, 4-5pm, Zoom) 

Deadlines & Dates to Remember

 None at this time. 

Policy Updates

None at this time.  

Administrative Announcements

  1. Nominate a Graduate Student for the K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders Award 
  2. Recommendations and Resources for Faculty/GTAs in Establishing Class “Norm of Inclusion” 
  3. Inclusion and Diversity Requirement 
  4. CGPS&P’s Degrees and Academic Progress (DAP) Committee Call for Members 
  5. CGPS&P’s Course-based Master’s Committee Call for Members 
  6. Graduate Program Directors Resources Teams Page 

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Meetings, Workshops, & Events

1. GRADUATE AND PROFESSIONAL SCHOOL FAIR – OCTOBER 7 

The Graduate and Professional Student Senate is hosting a Graduate and Professional School Fair on Monday, October 7, 9am-2pm, in Commonwealth Ballroom, Squires. This year nearly 100 programs will be participating, covering areas such as business, STEM, social sciences and humanities, medicine and health professions, law and more. Please share with your master’s students who are interested in pursuing a doctoral degree, as well as with undergraduate advisors/students in your departments. More information about the fair can be found here: https://gpss.vt.edu/events/gpsf.html

2. FACULTY PANELISTS SOUGHT FOR GRADUATE HONOR SYSTEM

The Graduate Honor System relies on trained faculty and graduate students to hear academic integrity violation cases. It takes a one-hour training to become a panelist, and after that faculty and graduate students can serve on preliminary review and review panels. All faculty are invited to become panelists to help hear cases and actively contribute to the ongoing conversation about standards of academic integrity. Please register for Tuesday, September 17, 4-5pm, Zoom here:   https://virginiatech.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUrdeCgqjwjHNWASzkvv7dEcR6EqzYUat_p

Administrative Announcements

3. Nominate a Graduate Student for the K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders Award

Nominations are now open for the K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders Award. This award recognizes graduate students planning a career in higher education who demonstrate exemplary promise as future leaders and are committed to academic innovation in equity, community engagement, and teaching and learning. All nomination materials must be submitted electronically no later than 11:59 pm ET on October 1, 2024, via this form: https://aacu.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_09t62IeQ2wM35c2

4.  Recommendations and Resources for Faculty/GTAs in Establishing Class “Norm of Inclusion”

Virginia Tech’s Office of Inclusion and Diversity (OID) has developed a resource document with recommendations for instructional faculty and GTAs to assist them in establishing a ‘norm of inclusion’ in their classes beginning with the course syllabus and the first class meeting. These include: Guidelines for a community of learners; Community guidelines that make a difference; and Communicating welcome, safety, and inclusion. Faculty and graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) may also enroll in one of OID’s inclusive pedagogy courses offered through the Professional Development Network.  For more information on these norms of inclusion resources and recommendations, email InclusiveVT or visit the InclusiveVT website. https://www.inclusive.vt.edu/

5. Inclusion and Diversity Requirement 

Please remember that all graduate students who began their programs from Spring 2022 to present need to complete the Inclusion and Diversity Requirement before they graduate. There are multiple ways they may do so, please visit this website to learn more: https://graduateschool.vt.edu/academics/programs/inclusion-diversity-req.html 

6. CGPS&P’s Degrees and Academic Progress (DAP) Committee Call for Members  CGPS&P’s Degrees and Academic Progress (DAP) committee is looking for members. DAP is a working committee charged with examining matters of policy and practice broadly relevant to graduate and professional education at VT, including the development of draft documents, for the purpose of reporting and making recommendations for the consideration of University governance through the CGPSP. For this academic year, we will be working on the following issues, among others:  

– PhD candidacy policy and tuition discount  

– Policy on retaking courses Admission requirements for international students with master’s but without bachelor’s degrees

If interested, please contact the chair, Jerald Walz, jhwalz74@vt.edu. You do not to be a member of CGPS&P to serve. 

7. CGPS&P’s Course-based Master’s Committee Call for Members 

CGPS&P’s Course-based Master’s committee is looking for members. This ad-hoc committee is charged with streamlining GraduateSchool processes and procedures for course-based master’s programs. They will be tackling issues such as application requirements, admission processes, progress through degree and degree awarding. If interested, please contact the chair, Barbara Hoopes, bhoopes@vt.edu. You do not to be a member of CGPS&P to serve.  

8. Graduate Program Director Resources Teams Page

The Graduate School will start sharing GPD meeting notes, mentoring resources, and annual progress review templates and other materials useful to GPDs and graduate coordinators in the newly created Graduate Program Directors Teams. Access here:  https://gs.vt.edu/gpdresources