Category: Uncategorized

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.