Author: chameleo

Welcome back to the start of a new semester and a new year!

Announcements/Deadlines

• Proposals for the 05-06 Institutional Plan for Graduate Degrees (IPGD) is due March 1, 2005
• Graduate Education Week is scheduled for March 21-25
• New Graduate Student Of The Year Award Announced — application deadline Feb 4, 2005. Virginia Tech will select two graduate students (one male, one female) to be honored for their outstanding achievements and contributions to professional and campus organizations, involvement in the graduate community, and their commitment to diversity. These graduate students will be named the 2005 Graduate Students of the Year. Recipients will be recognized at the USLA ceremony and the Graduate Student Awards Banquet during Graduate Education Week.
• Spring 2005 Defending Student Status Jan 17-Feb 13
• Spring 2005 Application for Degrees and Certificate Conferrals due by March 1 in order to have names printed in commencement bulletin.

Personnel changes in the Graduate School
On January 17th, Dr. Anne McNabb, Professor in the Department of Biology, joined the Graduate School as half time Associate Dean. Her responsibilities will include Teaching Assistantship Training, Interdisciplinary graduate programs, and working with Transformative Graduate Education initiatives.

After over 30 years of service to Virginia Tech, Dr. Don McKeon retired effective December 31, 2004. Dr. McKeon will continue to assist the Graduate School with English language training for international Teaching Assistants (ITA) during the spring semester. Questions regarding international students should be directed to

Ruth Athanson , phone: 231-9561,

Zelma Harris , phone 231-9561, or

Marija Telbis-Forster , phone: 703-538-3743 in northern Virignia. Questions regarding GTA Workshop, please contact

Dr. Anne McNabb , phone: 231-5645.

Effective January 2, 2005

Marija Telbis-Forster was appointed as the NVC/NCR Student Support Administrator. She will supervise the graduate student services office (GSSO) at Northern Virginia Center working closely with Ms. Debbie Payne and Ms. Aniene Porter. Ms. Telbis-Forster will continue to serve as an immigration specialist providing important services to our international students in northern Virginia. Shortly, we will begin a search for another GSSO staff member.

Spring Workshop
On February 17th, 10 a.m – noon, we will hold a spring workshop for graduate program directors and program assistants. The purpose of the workshop will be to update departments on policy and procedure changes and answers questions regarding graduate education. Included in the discussion will be new procedures for tracking international students’ status from admission to immigration form issuance — new tools and tricks for academic departments.

Reminders
As you recall, we have implemented a priority system for processing admissions:

24 Hour Requests. If you have a need to receive the AA forms from the Graduate School, or should you need a priority decision to be placed on a student, please contact

Angie Webb . Such requests will be processed within 24 hours. Examples are not limited to but would include the following: Student needs acceptance in order to register by deadline. Student needs acceptance in order to put assistantship into Banner by deadlines. Department is interviewing top applicant and needs information. Acceptance needed in order to process international paperwork in certain circumstances.

Rush Requests. If you need to have the AA forms within 5 days, please contact

Angie Webb . We will process the files and prepare the AA forms within 5 days.

Specific deadline requests. Please continue to inform Angie Webb of the dates by which you intend to make decisions and we will work with you to get the files completed in a timely fashion for your review.

Announcements/Deadlines
The Graduate School is currently seeking nominations for the graduate student awards that will be presented during Graduate Education Week for academic year 2004-2005. Forms and deadlines for Graduate Student Awards are now available.

December Commencement
December Commencement is scheduled for Friday, December 17, 2004 at 3:00 p.m. at Cassell Coliseum. Check-in for all candidates begins at 1:30 and ends at 2:30 p.m. Faculty who are processing and hooding professors should be lined up no later than 2:30 PM in the Practice Gyms at Cassell Coliseum. The procession will begin at 2:45 and ceremony begins promptly at 3:00.

Institutional Plan for Graduate Degrees (IPGD)
The call for proposals for inclusion on the 05-06 Institutional Plan for Graduate Degrees is attached along with the current IPGD. Please review these documents and submit your proposals by March 1, 2005 to the Graduate School.

Health Insurance premium for Fall ‘05
Effective Fall 2005, the university has decided to cover 70% of the insurance premium (at the single rate) for graduate students on assistantships (GA, GTA, GRA). Although the actual cost of the health insurance premium has not yet been finalized, this is a substantial increase over the subsidy for health insurance provided over the last few years. The percentage covered will increase to 90% in no more than 2 years. This program replaces the subsidy program in that graduate assistants (GTA, GRA, GA) will need to be enrolled in the university sponsored health insurance program in order to receive the financial benefit. In your assistantship offers, you can include a statement regarding health insurance coverage along with stipend amount and tuition remission.

Graduate Life Center at Donaldson Brown
The Graduate School is strongly committed to building graduate community at Virginia Tech. A significant accomplishment is the decision to convert Donaldson-Brown into graduate housing and a graduate life center. In the Fall 2005, the first floor of Donaldson Brown will become a Graduate Life Center and the upper floors will be available for graduate students who wish to live on campus. The Graduate Life Center will include office space for GSA, other graduate student organizations, and the BOV graduate student representative. In addition, we are planning meeting spaces for graduate student organizations, library resource space, seminar rooms, technology area, a coffee shop, wellness space and a lounge. Wireless technology will be available throughout the building. Sometime during Fall 2005, the Graduate School will move its operations into the mezzanine and second floors of Alumni Hall. The plans will be finalized over the next few months.

Commission on Graduate Studies and Policies (CGS&P)
The commission has placed a limitation on the amount of time a student may spend in the “visiting graduate student status”. The requirement will now read:

Visiting Graduate Student
A graduate student in good standing at another university may be permitted to take graduate courses by submitting a Visiting Graduate Student Letter of Approval, available in the Graduate School office or at http://www.graduateschool.vt.edu. This status is normally limited to one calendar year or 18 credit hours.

The commission has changed the language that describes the membership of the master’s final examination committee.

Final Examination (Master’s)
An oral and/or written final examination is required of all master’s programs (see departmental policy for specific format). Please review the preceding sections on Registration, Scheduling of Examinations, and Completion of Examinations for appropriate information. Normally, the advisory committee will carry out the examination, and can be supplemented by additional members as appropriate. For some non-thesis master’s programs, final exams are not structured as above. For more information about such programs consult the departmental policies and procedures document.

Update on Imaging system
We are currently in the final stages of selecting the vendor for the new Imaging System for the Graduate School. The bid and review process has extended longer that expected but we hope to announce the vendor shortly. Implementation will begin late Fall/early Spring with the Graduate School and will be extended to departments soon thereafter. This is a positive step forward toward increased effectiveness and efficiency in processing applications.

CALL FOR PROPOSALS
’05-’06 INSTITUTIONAL PLAN FOR GRADUATE (IPGD)
The Graduate School is beginning the process of preparing the 2005-2006 Institutional Plan for Graduate Degrees. This will be comprised of a list of degree programs that are approved for development to begin during the 05/06 academic year. The intention is that these programs would be implemented no later than Fall 2008.

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 March 1st so that we can finalize the 05-06 IPGD by the end of the Spring 2004 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 “wish list” and indicate those proposals that should be removed from consideration. The 04-05 IPGD is attached.

Please send proposals to Roger Avery in the Graduate School by March 1, 2005.

Projected Growth of PhD students/College Plans
At the September 29^th Workshop, the business plan for increasing PhD enrollment by 900 by 2010 was presented and requests for proposals (RFP) for funding new assistantships for PhD students and funding of innovative recruitment strategies were announced. Please see the powerpoint presentation used during the session. To summarize the workshop and the contents of the powerpoint:

1. In order to reach our goal, each college was asked to articulate their contributions to the growth. The College Plans are due November 1.
2. The goal for Fall ’05 is 100 new PhDs, 51 to be funded from sponsored research or private funds/endowments, and 49 to be funded from E&G sources.
3. The Provost has provided funding for 49 additional PhD students for Fall ’05. The program is called PhD 2010 Assistantships. Requests for these assistantships (2005-2010) are to be included in the college plans.
4. Colleges will be notified about the disposition of their requests in mid-November so that departments can incorporate these into their strategic recruitment plans for Fall ’05, Fall ’06 & Fall ’07.
5. I also announced the Graduate Dean’s Assistantship program (approximately 20 assistantships) for innovative, or interdisciplinary efforts. These can be requested directly to me by November 1.
6. There’s also some funding to support innovative recruiting efforts and departments can send their requests for recruitment funds to me by Nov 1.

Cunningham Doctoral Scholars Program
Last year we officially changed the Cunningham Fellows program to the Cunningham Doctoral Scholars Program. I encourage you to use these for recruitment of top doctoral students

Health Insurance for graduate assistants
Health insurance is a critical issue for the recruitment and retention of graduate students. For Fall 2005, the university has made a commitment to fund a substantial portion of the premium for graduate students on assistantship. The exact amount and percentage will be confirmed shortly. Current and incoming graduate students will be provided with health insurance coverage as part of their offer of assistantship (GA, GTA, GRA). Details will be forthcoming.

ETD Workshop
We have now developed an ETD online workshop. Please share with your department and post. Thanks.

eNewsletter
I’m pleased to announce our newest publication – Graduate School eNewsletter that will be published quarterly. The Monthly Memo from the Graduate Dean will continue to provide monthly updates and announcements while the eNewsletter will focus on people, programs & events and will highlight accomplishments of graduate students.

Deadlines for International Students
The Spring 2005 deadline to accept international students residing outside the United States is November 1. International students are expected to arrive in Blacksburg no later than January 13 and participate in the mandatory international student orientation on January 14, 2005. Departments may request an exception for specific individuals by contacting the immigration advisors (Zelma Harris or Ruth Athanson) in the Graduate School. Decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis after evaluating the applicant’s chances of getting the immigration paperwork and visa in time to arrive by January 13.

Next Monthly Memo:

Institutional Plan for Graduate Degrees (IPGD) – Call for Proposals
Relocation of the Graduate School
Health Insurance premium
CGS&P activities

Welcome back! I look forward to another exciting year for graduate education at Virginia Tech.

This monthly memo will be a bit longer because I want to provide some reflections about our progress to date in addition to the regular policy/procedure changes, announcements, Graduate School updates, and reminders. I hope you will find this information helpful. Please share with faculty, staff and students in your department.

Reflections

This academic year marks a significant milestone for graduate education at Virginia Tech. There is strong interest in and support for graduate education among the Board of Visitors, especially by the Academic Affairs Committee (AAC) that identified graduate education as one of its three priorities (faculty affairs and diversity are the other two). A business plan for graduate education has been shared with the AAC in which I outlined the steps for increasing PhD enrollment with attention to competitive offers to graduate students (assistantship stipend, tuition remission, health insurance) and building a strong graduate community (e.g., housing, child care). Within the university community, the Graduate School’s initiatives under the umbrella of Transformative Graduate Education (TGE) continue to be well received including the new Graduate Certificate in the Future Professoriate. The Institutional Plan for Graduate Degrees (IPGD) provides a roadmap for a systematic approach to developing new graduate degrees.

In the last two years, the Commission on Graduate Studies & Policies (CGS&P) has been very helpful in advancing the graduate education agenda. The Graduate Student Assembly and the Graduate School have worked closely to “build graduate community” among the graduate students and faculty by sponsoring academic and social events throughout the year. Another significant accomplishment is the distribution of the Building Graduate Community: Expectations for Graduate Education document to university constituents this fall. Numerous policies and procedures were changed to enhance the graduate education experience at Tech.

Priorities for this upcoming year include increasing graduate enrollment by 900 PhD students by 2010, developing a strategic recruitment effort, pilot testing the Graduate Program Review process, and implementing an “Imaging System” for digital processing within the Graduate School and ultimately throughout the university. We will continue to examine existing policies and procedures and recommend changes for increased efficiency and effectiveness. I welcome your comments and suggestions.

Announcements

• Recruitment workshop: September 29th from 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm, Donaldson Brown Hotel and Conference Center auditorium
• The first “Dialog with the Dean”: September 28, 5:30-7:00, 238 Squires.
• GSA Graduate Professional School Day: September 28, 2004
• Deadline for application for degree and certificate conferral for Fall 2004 graduates: October 1, 2004
• Associate Dean of the Graduate School position vacancy.
• We will notify you as soon as the Graduate Catalog (04-05) is online (anticipate Oct 2004)
• Actions of the Commission on Graduate Study & Policies (CGS&P) & University Council (see Memorandums from the Dean)
• Independent study courses are being set up at the department level and require no approval beyond the department. Independent Study courses will remain as a P/F graduate course and will carry the generic title of Independent Study. Independent study should be used as a supplement to the graded graduate courses required on a plan of study.
• GRE scores will no longer be a requirement of the Graduate School. The decision to require GRE scores should reside with the faculty at the department or college level and the Graduate School will support your decision to use GREs (or GMATs, etc.).
• The University Council approved a revision to the Annual Progress Review process (Presidential Policy #229). Please utilize this policy in developing and implementing departmental guidelines for conducting annual progress reviews for your graduate students.
• Graduate certificate guidelines (Presidential Policy # 230) have been approved and are available for departments wishing to offer graduate certificates.
• Changed the requirement of vita as required for ETD to optional
• Approved guidelines for departments to offer a Bachelor’s/Master’s program option beyond that currently available for Honors students.
• New wording for requirements for second Master’s degrees.
• CGS&P approved the document entitled “Building Graduate Community: Expectations for Graduate Education at Virginia Tech”
• Doctoral candidates must have an advisory committee of at least four faculty members (change from 5 members to minimum of 4).
• Minimum Master’s degree requirements have been changed.
• Addition of description of the manuscript format for presenting thesis or dissertation.
• For the Department of Accounting and Information Systems (ACIS), the current identification for graduate degrees were changed from General Business, Accounting (GBUA) to Business, Accounting and Information Systems (BACIS)
• For the Department of Business Information Technology (BIT), the current identification for graduate degrees was changed from Business Management Science (BMSC) to Business, Business Information Technology (BBIT).

Reminder: Reviewing Applicant files and Requests for AA forms
The Graduate School will continue to implement a priority system for departmental requests for AA forms. Please know that you can request an AA form before the applicant’s file is complete, especially for those top candidates you wish to attract to Virginia Tech. But it is important that academic units screen applicants’ files and send us the names of the individuals you wish to recommend for admission. We will not be sending copies of the files because the information is available to you through Banner.

Recruitment Efforts
Recruitment of graduate students is high priority for Virginia Tech. On September 29th , 2-3:30 (DBHCC), the Graduate School will sponsor a session on recruitment. We will discuss the plan for increasing graduate enrollment and articulate effective recruitment strategies to reach our goal. In addition, I will be announcing a request for proposals (RFP) for funding of innovative recruitment efforts and a RFP for funding new assistantships for PhD students.

First Graduate Alumni Homecoming
The first graduate alumni homecoming was held on September 11, 2004 at the University Club. Over 100 graduate alumni joined Graduate School staff, Alumni Relations staff, and current graduate students for a brunch with music and conversation prior to the first home football game against Western Michigan University. WMU President, Dr. Judith Bailey, is a graduate alumna of Virginia Tech. She received her MS (1973) and EdD (1976) from Virginia Tech. By all accounts, the event was a success and plans are underway to hold an annual homecoming event for graduate alumni/ae. Graduate alumni received a flash drive as a gift from Graduate School and the Office of Research.

Building Graduate Community: Expectations for Graduate Education
Last spring, we finalized the document entitled Building Graduate Community: Expectations for Graduate Education at Virginia Tech in which we describe our commitment to, and identify our responsibilities for, quality graduate education. This was a collaborative effort of the Graduate Student Assembly, Commission on Graduate Studies and Policies (CGS&P), and the Graduate School. The document has been sent directly to all faculty and administrators. The copies for the graduate students were sent in bulk to each department. Please make sure that each graduate student receives a copy. Posters have also been sent to academic and administrative offices for posting.

Deadline to accept international students for Spring 2005 – November 1
The Spring 2005 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 in Blacksburg no later than January 14 and participate in the mandatory international student orientation. Departments may request an exception for specific individuals by contacting the immigration advisors (Zelma Harris or Ruth Athanson at

igss@vt.edu) in the Graduate School.

Fellowship reception in The Grove
The second annual fellowship reception hosted by President Steger for graduate students holding prestigious fellowships and scholarships is scheduled for October 26. Invitations will be sent to students and their advisors in the next few weeks.

As this year comes to an end, I would like to say thanks to all who have helped enhance graduate education at Virginia Tech! Our progress is a collective effort and I’m pleased with our accomplishments. So, thanks!

As usual, I’ve included some announcements and updates in this monthly memo. Please share this information with faculty, staff and students in your department.

Commencement is a very special event for our graduate students and the university. This year we will introduce some new features including recognition of the recipients of official graduate certificates, performance of an original musical composition celebrating commencement, and visual reflections on the year. Please encourage graduate students, faculty and staff to attend.

Announcements

• Graduate Commencement will be held on May 14 at 3:00pm in Cassell Coliseum.
• Northern Virginia Center Ceremony will be held May 15 at 8:00pm at George Mason University.
• Graduate Congressional Fellowship available to work in Congressman Boucher’s office. Please send nominations to Dr. Roger Avery.

Reminder: International Students must be accepted by May 15, 2004 (see March memo).

An addition to the 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. A recently run report showed that there were more than 2000 international applications for Fall 2004 that were waiting for decision at various departments. Please run and review this report and make sure that the admission analysis forms for all international students you wish to accept for Fall 2004 are returned to the Graduate School by May 15, 2004. If you need assistance with how to run the report, please contact

Zelma Harris.

The application fee is good for one academic year. A new application fee will be charged to students who wish to defer their admission for a year or more (e.g., defer from Fall 2004 to Fall 2005).

Recent actions of the Commission on Graduate Study & Policies (CGS&P) & University Council

• Doctoral candidates must have an advisory committee of at least four faculty members (change from 5 members to minimum of 4).
• Minimum Master’s degree requirements have been changed as follows. Please note that departmental requirements have not changed and in many instances, departmental requirements will exceed the minimum.

	Minimum Total Graduate Credits	Minimum Graded Graduate Credits	Minimum Research Hours
Thesis	30	201 (12 credits of 5000-level or higher)	6
Non-Thesis	30	242 (15 credits of 5000-level or higher)

¹A maximum of 12 credits in 4000-level courses (approved for graduate credit) and 6 credits total in 5974, 5984 and 6984 courses.
²A maximum of 9 credits in 4000-level courses (approved for graduate credit) and 9 credits total in 5974, 5984 and 6984 courses.

• New wording for requirements for second Master’s degrees as follows:
  

  The requirements for a second master’s degree are the same as for the first master’s degree: an additional 30-54 hours, depending upon the degree sought. A student working on a second master’s degree may transfer up to 50% of appropriate courses (see the section entitled ‘Transfer Credit’).

• Addition of description of the manuscript format for presenting thesis or dissertation. The body matter for a manuscript format will vary but generally contains the chapters of the thesis or dissertation, in logical order, each with its own title. Chapter titles may include: Introduction, Literature Review, Chapters 1+ (Title, Abstract, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion & Conclusions), Overall conclusion, Data summary, Overall model if appropriate (text or illustration if appropriate), Bibliography and Appendices (if needed).
• For the Department of Accounting and Information Systems (ACIS), the current identification for graduate degrees were changed from General Business, Accounting (GBUA) to Business, Accounting and Information Systems (BACIS)
• For the Department of Business Information Technology (BIT), the current identification for graduate degrees was changed from Business Management Science (BMSC) to Business, Business Information Technology (BBIT).

Working with SYRB601 Report in Banner

• In the initial Banner screen, type syrb601, and enter. This will open a Process Control Submission Form.
• Click in the box below Printer, and the word ‘webdist’ should pop up.
• Click in the box called Values, and yellow highlighting should appear, with three categories in the right column—Site Code, Major Code and Term Code.
• In the Site Code box, type which campus you want to review. In Major code, type in your Major Code. In the Term code, type in the relevant term, for ex., 200409.
• Click in the bottom box marked Submission, and make sure the radio button next to Submit is marked.
• Last, click on the Save icon in the toolbar. The screen should blip, and then a message should appear in the bottom left hand corner, with Log file: syrb601_XXXXXXX.log List file: syrb601_XXXXXXXX.lis. (The X represents a number value.)

You will get an email message in your mailbox called Report Dist., with a hyperlink embedded.

• Click on the link, and a page will pop up in your browser from Information Systems and Computing.
• There should be 4 boxes in the top third of the page—Extract-lad, Report-lis, Status-log, and Status- Logsqr. Under Extract, click on Save.
• Save the file to your desktop—you can rename it at this point if you wish. The Save File Type As should show as Text File. The file extension will show as .lad.
• Open a new Excel workbook, and click on File/Open.
• Find the file that you want to convert to Excel, and click on it, then click Open.
• An instruction wizard will open to walk through the process.
• Click Delimited as file type, and enter the number of the row that will begin your file under Start at Row 1, then click Next.
• In the next screen, click to uncheck Tab and click to check Other. In the box next to Other, enter a vertical line (Shift+ key, above the Enter key). This should show how the file will look in Excel. Everything should line up ok, and if it looks fine, then click Next.
• If the info still looks ok, then click Finish, and the information should pop into your Excel file. You may need to widen some columns and make others smaller, but the basic information should appear in a workable format.
• Save the entire file at this time, and make sure it is saved as Excel Workbook.
• To sort the data, click in the box next to the Header Line. This should highlight the first line. Go to Data/Filter and click on Auto Filter. This will place arrows at the top of each column. Click on the arrow in the column for which you wish to view sort choices. For example, click on Citizenship, choose N, and this will show all non-immigrant international students with outstanding files for your department. If you click on Status, then Out to Department, it will sort and show all files that you need to review.
• To undo the sort, go back to the top arrow, and choose ALL.

Announcements

• Graduate Commencement will be held on May 14, at 3:00pm, in Cassell Coliseum. This year we will introduce some new features including recognition of the recipients of official graduate certificates, performance of an original musical composition celebrating commencement, and visual reflections on the year. Please encourage graduate students, faculty and staff to attend.
• Northern Virginia Center Ceremony will be held May 15, at 8:00pm, at George Mason University. Please share this information with faculty, staff and students.
• The next Dialogue with the Graduate Dean will be held on April 7, 2004 (place to be determined). The tentative topic is Balancing Work-Life in Graduate School.

Deadlines for International Students

The Fall 2004 deadline to accept international students residing outside the United States is May 15. Since the visa application process may take 3-4 months, we must allow sufficient time for students to make all their arrangements. International students are expected to arrive in Blacksburg no later than August 16 and participate in the mandatory international student orientation on August 19.

Departments may request an exception for specific individuals by contacting the immigration advisors (Zelma Harris or Ruth Athanson) in the Graduate School. Decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis after evaluating the applicant’s chances of getting the immigration paperwork and visa in time to arrive by August 16.

Reminder: Evaluation of the Progress of Graduate Students

The University Council approved a revision to the Annual Progress Review process (Presidential Policy #229). 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. It is important that you conduct these reviews annually and share the results with the Graduate School. The Graduate School would like to have a copy of your guidelines – please send a copy to Roger Avery by July 1, 2004.

Work-Life Grants

The Graduate School in collaboration with the College Deans and the Provost has established a Work-Life grant program to provide temporary financial assistance to departments to continue support for female graduate students during pregnancy. This grant program is a result of conversations with concerned graduate students and recommendations from the ADVANCE Pipeline Element working group chaired by Nancy Love (CEE). A description of the program is attached.

Health Insurance Plan and Subsidy

We continue to work with Fred Weaver and GM-Southwest regarding the health insurance plan for graduate students. An open forum for graduate students with Jim Payne (GM-Southwest) will be held April (get information from GSA website)… Please encourage your graduate students to attend. The health insurance subsidy will increase for next year but the exact amount is not yet known.

Recent actions of the Commission on Graduate Study & Policies (CGS&P) & University Council

CGS&P approved the document entitled “Building Graduate Community: Expectations for Graduate Education at Virginia Tech” with editorial changes. The document has also received approval from CSA and the Faculty Senate. Commission of Research is currently reviewing the document. Once all input is received, the document will be made available on the Graduate School webpage.

Graduate School Efforts

• CollegeNet update: The time to submit modifications to the supplementary forms is here. Letters have been sent, via email, to all departments asking for updates.
• Decision posting on the web: Applicants can now see decisions about admissions via the web. This information is provided to better communicate with our applicants. The decision letters sent by post continue to be the official communication. This action is effective immediately.

Work-Life Grants: Maternity

During their time in Graduate School, students routinely face issues of balance among the demands of work (GA, GTA, GRA), graduate study and personal life. Potentially, one of the most important life issues faced by female graduate students is pregnancy. In demonstrating its commitment to be work-life friendly, Virginia Tech needs to provide a supportive environment for female graduate students (and partners) in their choice to give birth while simultaneously acknowledging the department’s need for continuation of the work being provided by the graduate student as a GTA, GRA, or GA.

To this end, the Graduate School has created a program entitled Work-Life Grants through which departments can request temporary financial assistance. Specifically, departments can request financial assistance equivalent to a stipend for 6 weeks. The Graduate School will provide ½ of the 6-week stipend and the College Dean will provide the other ½ of the 6-week stipend. This matching program, work-life grants can provide sufficient resources to the department to find a temporary solution/replacement for the work being conducted by the pregnant graduate student on assistantship (GA, GTA, GRA) while simultaneously continuing her assistantship.

As the situation arises, please submit your request in writing to the Dean of the Graduate School and copied to the College Dean. These requests will be acted upon immediately. The program is effective immediately.

Reminders/Announcements

• Please continue to work within your college for proposals for inclusion on the ’04-’05 Institutional Plan for Graduate Degrees (IPGD). College selected proposals are due at the Graduate School by March 15th.
• Please check your web pages to make sure that all links and information is up to date.
• Graduate Education week is March 22-26. Please send us a list of your departmental events so that we can include them on the master calendar.
• 9th Annual Graduate Preview Weekend is scheduled for February 28 – March 1, 2004.

Graduate Alumni Achievement Award

Last year, the Graduate School and Alumni Association developed the Graduate Alumni Achievement Award. The first award went to Robert C. Richardson (BS ’58, MS ’60 in Physics). I am pleased to announce that Harold L. Martin, Sr. (PhD in EE ’80), Chancellor of Winston-Salem State University, is the recipient for 2004. Dr. Martin will be honored during Graduate Commencement on May 14, 2004.

Recent actions of the Commission on Graduate Study & Policies (CGS&P) & University Council

• Changed the requirement of vita as required for ETD to optional.
• Approved guidelines for departments to offer a Bachelor’s/Master’s program option beyond that currently available for Honors students. The approved change is as follows:

     Academic units may petition the Graduate School to combine existing bachelor’s and master’s degree programs into new five-year bachelor/master’s degree (open) programs. These programs would allow undergraduate students with a 3.2 or better GPA and the completion of 75 hours of study to enroll in the Graduate School before completion of their undergraduate requirements.
      Up to 12 hours of graduate coursework may be taken before the completion of the bachelor’s degree. However, a maximum of 6 such hours may be used to satisfy both bachelor’s and master’s degree requirements.

• Reviewed and approved the qualifications required for being the instructor of record for a graduate course. In order to be the instructor of record in a graduate course, one must hold a graduate degree (the terminal degree in the discipline) and cannot be currently enrolled as a graduate student in the same department. Graduate students can be the instructor of record for undergraduate courses and might assist faculty with graduate courses (e.g., providing lectures) but should not be teaching graduate courses.

Independent Study

As you know, Independent Study is a shared responsibility of the faculty and the graduate student and can be set up at the department level. Departments should implement procedures by which the student and faculty come to an agreement about independent study prior to enrollment. Currently, graduate students can enroll in Independent Study without departmental approval. If a department wishes to require prior approval, you can put a departmental block on enrollment in Independent Study.

Graduate School Efforts

• We have modernized the information collected on the paper reference form. Based on the feedback provided we have also included some changes that should make the form more suitable for a wider audience. The new form is available on our website. We are also working with CollegeNet to make the electronic reference letter process more user-friendly. Thanks for your suggestions.
• We continue to work on an automated Admissions Analysis (AA) form. This work should be completed by the end of the semester.

The January 2004 Monthly Memo from the Graduate School continues my commitment to enhanced communications about graduate education at Virginia Tech. I hope that you find this process informative and helpful. The Monthly Memos also appear on the Graduate School’s website. Your feedback and suggestions are always welcomed.

Announcements

• "Transformative Graduate Education" presentation and discussion by K. P. DePauw on Friday, January 30th in McBryde 113 10:15-11:45. Please invite faculty and graduate students to attend.
• Nominations for student awards are requested by January 30, 2004.

Institutional Plan for Graduate Degrees
The ‘03′-04 Institutional Plan for Graduate Degrees (IPGD) was distributed January 12th. We are issuing a call for proposals, via a memo to the deans, for inclusion on the Institutional Plan for Graduate Degrees for ’04-’05. Please contact the college dean for more information about the call and details of the college review process. We anticipate finalizing the “04-’05 IPGD by the end of the semester.

Graduate Education Week March 22-26, 2004

The preliminary schedule is:

Monday afternoon	Proclamation & State of the Graduate School address
Tuesday	GSA Research Symposium and Exposition (all day)
Wednesday	sessions on Preparing the Future Professoriate & Future Professional 5:30 Invited Lecture by B. Whelan, Secretary of Education
Thursday	Awards Banquet (evening, by invitation only)
Friday	Luncheon for Research Exposition winners Graduate School Cookout

We are currently preparing the master calendar of all events to be held during the week and hope that you will sponsor events for graduate students within the department. Please send your events to Monika Gibson so that we can put them on the poster. More information will be forthcoming.
Policies & Procedure Changes 

• Independent Study for graduate students is a shared responsibility for the faculty and the graduate student and therefore, the independent study courses are being set up at the department level and require no approval beyond the department. Departments are responsible for registering students for independent study (if you cannot register an independent study after the "add" deadline, contact the Graduate School, 1-8306). Independent Study courses will remain as a P/F graduate course and will carry the generic title of Independent Study. Independent study should be used as a supplement to the graded graduate courses required on a plan of study.
• GRE scores will no longer be a requirement of the Graduate School. The decision to require GRE scores should reside with the faculty at the department or college level and the Graduate School will support your decision to use GREs (or GMATs, etc.). Until this recent action, GRE scores were still required of international students but not domestic students and thus, our change in policy.
• The University Council approved a revision to the Annual Progress Review process (Presidential Policy #229). Please utilize this policy in developing and implementing departmental guidelines for conducting annual progress reviews for your graduate students. The Graduate School would like to have a copy of your guidelines – please send a copy to Roger Avery by July 1, 2004 (VT Graduate School, 100 Sandy Hall, Mail Code 0325, Blacksburg, VA 24061).
• Graduate certificate guidelines have also been approved and are available for departments wishing to offer graduate certificates. [refer to “Resolutions”]

Graduate School Processing and Procedures Changes
We are continuing to review and revise Graduate School processes and procedures to increase efficiency and effectiveness. These include the following:

• Departments can check the web for action regarding course approval requests. We plan to send regular reminders to department heads so that you will be informed of the status of your course approval requests.
• AA forms – As a matter of routine, AA forms will be issued to the department after the file is considered complete by the Graduate School. The AA form includes the basic information about the applicant. Please note that a complete file for the Graduate School (application, fee, official transcript, TOEFL scores as appropriate, GRE scores if department requires) is different than a complete file for the Department (application, transcripts, TOEFL scores, other test scores [GREs], letters of recommendation, supplemental form, and more). To assist you, we will write the test scores (e.g., GREs, TOEFL) and indicate if the scores are official or self-reported by students directly on the AA form. There are times when you might wish to recommend action on an application prior to having the complete file and to facilitate this, we will issue the AA form upon your request.
• Priority processing – in order to expedite admission decisions, we are implementing a system by which you can specify the timeframe within you wish to make recommendations. The system includes the following components:
  • 24 Hour Requests. If you have a need to receive the AA forms from the Graduate School, or should you need a priority decision to be placed on a student, please contact Angie Webb. Such requests will be processed within 24 hours. Examples are not limited to but would include the following: Student needs acceptance in order to register by deadline. Student needs acceptance in order to put assistantship into Banner by deadlines. Department is interviewing top applicant and needs information. Acceptance needed in order to process international paperwork in certain circumstances.
  • Rush Requests. If you need to have the AA forms within 5 days, please contact Angie Webb. We will process the files and prepare the AA forms within 5 days.
  • Specific deadline requests. Please continue to inform Angie Webb of the dates by which you intend to make decisions and we will work with you to get the files completed in a timely fashion for your review.

  PLEASE NOTE: It is important that you do preliminary screening for those priority applications. You should request priority processing for selected applicants (pre-screened by the department) and not all applications. You can screen for priority applicants by running a pending report for your department (SYRA951) and then sharing the names (ID#s) with us. This will assist us in responding to your requests in a timely fashion. Thanks.

This Monthly Memo from the Graduate School is the outcome of our discussions concerning enhanced communications about graduate education at Tech. Based upon your feedback, I will send the Monthly Memos via email to Department Heads, Graduate Program Directors and Graduate Secretaries and post the memo and all pertinent documents on the Graduate School webpage. Your additional feedback and suggestions are always welcomed.

I’m looking forward to the upcoming December Commencement and encourage each of you to attend and bring other faculty members with you. Commencement is a very special time for our graduates and their family and I hope you will join your colleagues in recognizing our graduates and celebrating their accomplishments. See you there!

Graduate Admissions Guidelines (addendum 1)

As you are aware, a review of race-conscious programs has been underway for the past several months. Several “programs” housed within the Graduate School came under scrutiny: graduate admissions, fee waiver for minority and McNair Scholars, Graduate Preview Weekend, and the ABD Fellows Program. During the summer, I was asked by the Provost to articulate graduate admissions guidelines for the university – those guidelines are attached.

Please note that the graduate admissions guidelines include the factors typically utilized by faculty in making their recommendations for admissions, reinforcing the portfolio approach in identifying those applicants to be admitted to the graduate programs at Virginia Tech. I have been asked to inform you that it is the policy of the university that graduate admissions cannot be based solely upon race/ethnicity. Please use the graduate admissions guidelines in evaluating and recommending admissions.

Cunningham Awards (addendum 2)

The Graduate School has reviewed the existing Cunningham fellows program and solicited your feedback. I am pleased to announce the establishment of the Cunningham Doctoral Scholar Awards. This program is designed to recruit academically well-qualified doctoral students to Virginia Tech. The details are contained in the Cunningham Doctoral Scholar Awards document. I hope you will utilize the scholar awards as part of your recruitment strategy.

eProgress to degree

An important function of the Graduate School is to provide graduate students with information about the milestones in their progress to degree. To this end, we are developing electronic communication strategies between the Graduate School and graduate students and departments. Effective immediately, when the application for degree completion (AFD) is submitted electronically, graduate students will be notified electronically of their individual To-Do List as a progress check. Departments will also be able to check on the progress of their graduate students. In the near future, students will receive regular email messages from the Graduate School. Please encourage your graduate students to apply for degree by the published deadlines. We will provide detailed information on the webpage. You may also contact

Angie Webb via email.

Featured Graduate Student on the Web

Each month the Graduate School will feature a graduate student on our website. The purpose is to allow graduate students to share their insights and stories from a personal perspective. We will maintain an archive of these. Please send us nominations of students you would like to see featured. To read the first interview, visit Featured Graduates.

Deferral and Reconsideration requests

In the past, the Graduate School has allowed applicants to request deferral or reconsideration routinely. This has resulted in numerous requests that involve a great deal of department and Graduate School staff time to process. Effective November 7, 2003, requests for deferral or reconsideration of admissions must come from and be supported by departments. It is my intent to make sure that departmental faculty who wish to defer or reconsider the individuals before reprocessing the applications.

Gentle reminder:

It has been brought to my attention that some departments are sending multiple copies of documents or contacting the Graduate School multiple times for a single request. Please help us out by sending only one copy or making one phone call. We will be able to better serve you if we don’t have to deal with unnecessary duplicates. Thanks.

Banner related items

• Don’t forget to run pending reports as we approach decision-making time for graduate admissions (Banner Report SYRA951)
• You can now print degrees pending and degrees awarded reports (Banner Report SYRB672)
• Nominations for student awards are requested by January 30, 2004. More information about awards and nomination process.

Addendum 1

Graduate Admissions Guidelines

Admission to graduate study is based upon a review by the faculty in the degree-granting unit and is focused on the best fit of the applicant’s ability and interests with the department’s academic programs and faculty. Factors used in the decision-making process can include the following: baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution, undergraduate gpa, undergraduate major, letters of recommendations, academic interest area and match with departmental offerings, availability of faculty advisor, availability of graduate assistantships or fellowships, TOEFL scores for non-native English speakers, GRE or other standardized test scores, relevant previous experiences and social cultural diversity.

Addendum 2

Cunningham Doctoral Scholar Awards

The Cunningham Doctoral Scholar Awards program is designed to recruit academically well-qualified doctoral students to Virginia Tech.

Eligibility:

• Be accepted into a doctoral program at Virginia Tech (preferably from a non-VT master’s or bachelor’s program)
• Have an outstanding academic record and strong academic potential for successful completion of a doctoral degree
• Be nominated by an academic department
• Be a U.S. citizen
• Matching commitment from academic department

Stipend:

• Competitive assistantship stipend for GRA or GTA position (flexible, related to qualifications and academic discipline; work responsibilities defined by department; 9 or 12-month appointments available)
• Tuition scholarship

Duration:

• Up to two years from Graduate School, with minimum departmental matching support equivalent to Graduate School’s commitment

Nomination/Application procedures:

• Academic department submits nomination to the Vice Provost for Graduate
  Studies & Dean of the Graduate School as soon as candidate is identified
• Nominations should include the following information about the student:
  o Name of applicant, VT degree sought, previous university
  o Recommendation letter from department addressing eligibility requirements
• The Graduate School makes decisions about nominees within 2-3 weeks of receiving the nomination. Number of available fellowships is dependent on resources.
• Fifty percent of the awards are expected to be made by February 1; remaining funds are expected to be awarded by March 1.

The purpose of this memo is to share with you the recently revised 2003-2004 Graduate Stipend scale and to clarify the implementation plan.

As you know, students who work as graduate assistants while pursuing graduate degrees provide a valuable service to the University. In the Commonwealth of Virginia, the legislative process provides funding and guidance for the compensation of graduate students on assistantships, and changes in compensation for this group requires action by the University’s Board of Visitors.

During spring 2003, the Graduate School recommended a revision to the stipend scale that was reviewed and approved by the Board of Visitors in March 2003. Anticipating an uncertain fate for state-funded raises for graduate assistants, the new salary scale was used to offer and appoint graduate assistants (GAs, GTAs, GRAs) for Fall 2003. I know that many of you made adjustments in stipend levels using departmental resources to accommodate the new step system that served to increase the compensation for graduate assistants.

On May 1, 2003, Governor Warner signed the 2003 Acts of Assembly, which authorized a 2.25 percent compensation increase for university employees and graduate students on assistantship. Because the current stipend scale was established in March 2003, the Board approved an increase in the graduate stipend scale by 2.25 percent across-the-board effective November 25, 2003. A policy decision was made to automatically implement the new stipend scale across the board (for GA, GTA, GRA) rather than address each graduate student individually. The revised and recently approved stipend scale is attached and is available on the Graduate School’s website.

No action is required by departments to enact the stipend increase effective November 25, 2003. The stipends for all graduate assistants, graduate teaching assistants, and graduate research assistants will be automatically increased across-the-board. All graduate assistants will receive their new pay rate for Payroll 23. The new pay rate will be paid from the same funds utilized for the initial appointment(s) (e.g., E&G source or non-E&G source). Consistent with the Commonwealth’s appropriation process, the University increased the stipend budgets in E&G to provide funding and this E&G funding was included in the 2003-04 Authorized Budget for each college. For more information, contact the appropriate budget officer in the college.

Some questions have been raised about GRAs. These students are included in the stipend increase effective November 25, 2003 and the increase will have to be funded through non-E&G sources (e.g. grant/contract or auxiliary enterprise fund sources) utilized for the initial appointment. I realize that many of you might have already provided stipend increases for the GRAs and I also realize that you could feel that the stipend increase effective November 25, 2003 is an unanticipated encumbrance upon your budget. I hope that you will realize the merit of providing stipend increases in accordance with our policy, especially as we move to increase the overall competitiveness of our stipends. Because future salary scale increases are likely to occur off-cycle for typical graduate student appointments (i.e., in November), we need to anticipate as best as possible the academic-year impact when selecting step levels.

Thank you for your understanding.