Graduate School Bulletin

Graduate School Forms Revised February 2008:

     Last fall and spring, the Graduate School conducted an extensive review of all its old forms.  As a result of this review, all forms have been revised effective February 2008.   Beginning this semester, the Graduate School will only accept  the new Graduate School Forms.  Please visit the web site below to see and download all the revised forms that are appropriate to your needs.  

http://www.graduateschool.vt.edu/forms/

Please purge your files of the old forms.  Thanks for your cooperation.

Personnel changes

     The Graduate School is pleased to welcome four new staff members to the Graduate Admissions & Academic Progress area.  They are IdaLinda Harrington, Joli Huyhn, Jennifer MacDonald, and Shelton Norwood. 

     The Graduate School also welcomes Dr. Manuel Pérez-Quiñones, Associate Dean in Residence and Director of the Office of Graduate Student Diversity Initiatives.

Faculty gathering

    On September 10, 2008, the Graduate School will hold its first gathering for faculty, graduate program directors, and departments.  The topics will include NRC doctoral assessment study, discussion of policies & procedures, interdisciplinary graduate education, and more

4000 level course update

     Colleges and departments have reviewed the 4000 level classes that historically have been approved for graduate credit.  To date, departments have requested that N=231 classes at the 4000 level will now become a con-joint class.  Departments also have identified N=22, 4000 level classes that they now want to move from 4000 completely to 5000 without a 4000 level counterpart.  There also are N=352 4000 level classes that will remain at the 4000 level and require no further action.  

      A sub-committee of the Graduate Curriculum Committee (GCC), which includes representation from the Registrar’s Office, Graduate School and all colleges, will be reviewing all these classes the week of September 1.  The sub-committee will finalize a “fast track" process to swiftly and easily process the con-joint classes.  It will also discuss how to address those classes that desire to now become new 5000 level classes.

     The first formal meeting of the GCC for the 2008-09 academic year is scheduled for Thursday, September 11, 2008 where this review process will formally begin.  All colleges should make sure their appointed GCC faculty representative is clearly informed of the desires of their respective academic units.

Deadlines & Timelines

September 12 – Students must defend by this date in order to qualify for DSS.

Defending Student Status (DSS): The one (1) credit DSS Status was designed for students who had a completed thesis/dissertation ready for defense in one semester but could not arrange to schedule that defense until the beginning of the next semester (typically because of faculty schedules that are beyond the student’s control).

Please see other dates and deadlines for degree completion at:  http://www.graduateschool.vt.edu/academics/dates_deadlines/commencement_deadlines.html

October 1 – Students must submit their Application for Degree indicating they wish to be a fall 2008 Graduate

October 15 – Deadline departments should recommend admission for spring International applicants

December 1 – Last date for accepting regular and online applications for spring admission; students applying after this date must use the expedited application

Graduate School IT Wiki – Documentation

     The Graduate School is introducing its IT  Wiki.  Our Wiki will be your source for documentation of GLC space technology as well as for Graduate Student systems that we develop as well as for Banner usage.  Feel free to look around.  We’ll announce significant updates in the Graduate Coordinators meetings.

ETD Resources and Discussion Forum

     The Graduate School has created a new Blackboard course for ETD Resources and Discussion. This forum is open to all Virginia Tech graduate students and is intended to assist students as they work to complete their thesis or dissertation.

     To enroll, login to Blackboard using your username and password. Select the courses tab. In the course search box on the top left search for "Graduate School." VT Graduate School ETD Resources and Discussion will be listed in the search results. Select "enroll" to the right of the description. Submit the verification page. If you have any questions please contact Janice Austin.

William Preston Society Master’s Thesis Awards Nominations Due Friday, September 19, 2008

     The William Preston Society is comprised of former members of the Board of Visitors, the current president, and past presidents. The thesis award is given to a graduate student whose master’s thesis presents the best original research with potential to benefit all people.  Three awards are given each year, but the disciplines rotate each year. For the 2008-09 academic year, the Preston categories will be for the Humanities and Fine Arts (1) and the second category will be for Mathematics, Physical Sciences and Engineering (1).  There also is a third award category reviewed at the same time for the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools.  It is a titled "Innovative Application of Technology in a Master’s Thesis" (1).

     Preston Thesis Award winners are selected in the fall by a committee convened by the Graduate School Associate Dean.  Winners also are recognized at the fall semester William Preston Society Weekend awards banquet and automatically become the VT nominees for the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools annual Master’s Thesis Award competition.

Eligibility Requirements:

• Secured theses are not eligible for consideration for the award ,
• Nominees must have completed their thesis in the last academic year including summer.
• Only one nominee per department.

Nomination Requirements (to be submitted by the student’s department)

• 12 copies of a letter of nomination (including quality, relevance and significance of the research);
• 12 copies of the 1-2 page abstract and ETD access information for the thesis;
• 12 copies of the nominee’s 1-2 page abbreviated CV;
• 12 copies of a letter of endorsement from the major professor.

Call for Nominations: Deadline for 2008-09:  Friday, September 19, 2008 at 4 PM in 119 Graduate Life Center at Donaldson Brown

     Successful candidates will be notified and will be invited to provide a brief overview of his/her thesis at the William Preston’s Society annual meeting. Awards will be presented at this meeting.

Announcements

• VT Blacksburg Graduation, Cassell Coliseum; May 9, 2008 at 3:00pm
• VT NCR Graduation, GMU Center for the Arts, May 11, 2008 at 1:30pm
• Application for Degree submission deadline : March 1, 2008
  Please note: The system will still accept submissions after this deadline.
  However, an AFD must be submitted by the deadline for the student’s name to appear in the Commencement Bulletin.
• Last day to defend without next semester enrollment; Wednesday, April 30, 2008
• International student admission deadline for Fall 2008 is May 15, 2008.

Access to Turnitin.com

The Graduate School is providing access to Turnitin.com services free to our graduate students and faculty through May 2008.  Our intent is to allow graduate students to be proactive and to check their theses/dissertations (or papers) through access to the plagiarism prevention software.  We also invite faculty and GTAs to utilize the software for use in their classes.  More >>

Application/decision deadlines
The following application and decision deadlines are approaching for Summer I:

Summer I – Starts May 19, 2008
Application deadline:  April 15, 2008; Dept decision deadline:  May 1, 2008
Readmission application deadline: May 1, 2008; Dept decision deadline:  May 16, 2008

Please note that International students must have a decision on them no later than May 15, 2008 for fall enrollment.  Any decisions made after this timeframe need to be approved in advance by the Graduate Schools International Student Services area, please contact them at igss@vt.edu . For those in the National Capital Region, please contact Marija Telbis-Forster.

International Student Admission Deadline for Fall 2008
The deadline to accept international students residing outside the United States for Fall 2008 is May 15. Since the visa application process may take 3 to 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 18 and participate in the mandatory international student orientation on August 22. Any exceptions for specific international students must be discussed with an immigration advisor (Zelma Harris or Ruth Athanson) in the Graduate School . You may send an email to igss@vt.edu or call 231-8486 with details about the student’s situation. Decisions will be made on a case by case basis after evaluating the applicant’s chances of receiving the immigration paperwork and applying for a visa in time to arrive by August 18.

Expedited Application
Students wishing to be apply for admission after the application deadline may submit the Expedited application for consideration as a Commonwealth Campus, non-degree seeking student.  The last day to submit the Expedited Application for Summer I 2008 is Friday, May 16, 2008.  The Expedited application process allows a student to be enrolled for one semester, taking up to a maximum of 6 credit hours.  Student’s seeking admission under this option must reapply using a new application – either Commonwealth Campus, Non-degree, or Degree seeking – for any future terms.

Online Application Review
Submission of your review, confirmation, and changes is due no later than April 15, 2008.  For questions, please contact Jacqueline L. Nottingham, Director, Admissions & Academic Progress at 540/231-3092.

Commencement Participation/Attendance
Please go to HokieSPA and confirm your intent to particpiate.  It is especially important for PHD Candidates to confirm their intent, so that we may contact and verify the faculty who will be acting as your hooder(s) during the ceremony.  PHD Candidates wishing to walk in the Graduation ceremonies must have all degree requirements met – which includes submission and approval of Electronic Thesis/Dissertation (ETD) – by Friday, May 2, 2008.  Master’s candidates are all eligible to participate in the ceremonies.

Defending between terms
If someone must defend between semesters because of unusual circumstances such as a conflict with faculty schedules permission must be requested from the Dean’s office, by the student’s committee chair, to do so.  Please be aware, a later defense date will still result in the student being signed up for Defending Student Status (DSS) for Summer I.  It is unlikely that a student will be able to complete all the necessary degree requirements by the established deadlines to receive their degree award for Spring.

Graduate Education Week Photos Now Available On-Line
Photos from various Graduate Education Week events, including the awards banquet on March 27, are available for viewing or downloading at

http://www.graduateschool.vt.edu/events/gew/photographs/index.html.

Commission on Graduate Studies and Policies

Admissions category descriptions have been clarified.  The following language replaces the first three categories of admission in the Graduate Catalog.
          Admissions Categories:

Regular Admission

An applicant whose grade point average (GPA) meets or exceeds the 3.0 required by the Graduate School for the last half of the credits earned for their undergraduate degree, and whose academic background meets the requirements of the admitting academic unit, is eligible for “regular admission.”   A graduate degree, or at least 12 credits of graduate coursework taken post-baccalaureate, will supersede the undergraduate record in evaluating credentials for admission. 

 

Provisional Admission  (Master’s only).

An applicant whose GPA is below the 3.0 required by the Graduate School, but generally not lower than 2.75, and who has other experience or qualifications that demonstrate their potential to undertake graduate study, may be granted “provisional admission” at the request of the admitting academic unit.  After attempting 12 graduate credits and earning at least a 3.0 GPA, a student is changed to Regular status by the Graduate School.  If a 3.0 GPA is not earned in the first 12 credit hours attempted, the Graduate School will consult with the academic unit to determine whether the student should be allowed to continue.

Per U. S. Department of State regulations, an international student with F1 or J1 visa status is not eligible for provisional admission.

 

Conditional Admission

An applicant whose academic background is deficient in some aspect, but who otherwise meets minimum qualifications for admission may be granted “conditional admission.”  The admitting academic unit specifies and informs the conditions of admission to the applicant and the Graduate School.  The academic unit notifies the Graduate School when the conditions have been met.

New Degree Proposals

A resolution for the establishment of Master’s of Information Security Assurance Degree in the Virginia Tech College of Engineering was presented to University Council on April 7 for a first reading.

The Master’s of Fine Arts in Creative Technologies was approved by the commission and will be presented to the University Council for a first reading.

Transfer Courses on Plans of Study
The Commission on Graduate Studies and Policies has recently reaffirmed the policy about transfer courses from other universities being used on graduate Plans of Study. Only full graduate courses (typically numbered 5000 or higher), from an accredited university, taken while the student was in graduate status, in which the student enrolled for A/F grading and obtained a grade of B or higher can be transferred onto a Plan of Study for a VT graduate degree. Please note limitations on the number of transfer credits allowed (see 2007-08 Graduate Policies and Procedures in the Graduate Catalog on the GS website).

Scheduling the Preliminary Examination
Graduate students wishing to schedule the prelim exam must have an approved Plan of Study on file in the Graduate School. Lack of an approved POS or the need for changes in the POS or in the student’s Advisory Committee are very common causes of delays in prelim scheduling.  If a student has a probationary GPA at the time when exam scheduling is desired, the Advisory Committee should examine carefully whether the student will be in jeopardized by holding the exam. If the decision is made to move forward with exam scheduling the Advisory Committee Chair should consult with the Dean’s office in the Graduate School prior to requesting exam scheduling.

Graduate Advisory Committee Members who Retire
When a faculty member moves from active service to retirement and a department wishes to have the retired person continue to serve on graduate committees, departments should submit a Non-VT Program Faculty Committee Member Registration Form.  This will allow the GS to keep the retired faculty member "registered with the GS" despite other record changes that occur at retirement.  The following general guidelines have been used for several years when retired faculty are requested to continue to serve on committees or are requested for service on new committees. The purpose of these guidelines is to ensure the availability  and service of retired faculty so that student committees are adequately and appropriately staffed.

• If the Committee Chair retires and the student has completed prelims and is well established in the research project, the retiree may continue as Chair.  If the Chair moves away from the degree site, it is recommended that a Co-Chair from the faculty be appointed so that the student has an advocate on site.
• If the Committee Chair retires but the student has not taken prelims, generally a new Chair is needed but the original Chair may continue to serve on the committee.
• Generally, retired faculty should not begin new committee service as Chair. If retired faculty are requested to serve on committees there should be assurance that they intend/will be able to serve throughout the time typically required for the student’s degree completion.

Welcome to the new Monthly Memo Format
The monthly memo is now coming to you in the format of a "corporate weblog".  Publication of this memo will now be exclusively online.  We will continue to distribute notification of publications via email as we have in the past.  You will also be able to subscribe, via RSS, to the monthly memo to allow your preferred RSS tool to notify you of the latest posting.  This will allow you to keep up-to-date without receiving email from the Graduate School, or your department.  Additionally, for those who use my.VT, you may add "Graduate School Monthly Memo" from the News heading as portal channel in my.VT.  To open an additional line of communication you are welcome to post comments to specific memos, and we will utilize the comment feature to solicit feedback in future memos.  You may review previous memos by looking at the "Archive" section on the right side of the page.

Graduate Education Week

Please check out the website for the GEW events.  Please consider sending some of your graduate students to the appreciation luncheon on Monday, March 24.  We hope to see you at many of the events next week. For events in the National Capital Region, please visit http://ncr.vt.edu/Notices/20080312-GradEdWeek.html
 
Access to Turnitin.com
The Graduate School is providing access to Turnitin.com services free to our graduate students and faculty through May 2008.  Our intent is to allow graduate students to be proactive and to check their theses/dissertations (or papers) through access to the plagiarism prevention software.  We also invite faculty and GTAs to utilize the software for use in their classes.  More >>

Graduate Student learning outcomes for SACS

The July deadline for entering information about our graduate programs for SACS reaffirmation process is rapidly approaching.  Last December the CSG&P developed some foundational learning outcomes for graduate programs at VT.  I recommend that you review these as you prepare the information over the coming months.  The graduate student learning outcomes are attached.

Graduate Catalog update
We will be working through College contacts to begin the process of entering degree program information.  Our goal is to have a third done by May 15, two thirds by June 15, and all program information published by July 1, 2008.   These dates are set to coincide with internal SACS documentation timelines.

Mentoring of graduate students
As you know, quality mentoring for graduate students is an important aspect of their graduate degree.  The June 14, 2007, issue of Nature (volume 447) contains an excellent article.  I encourage you to read and share with your colleagues and graduate students.  Your suggestions and comments are welcome.

Meeting about Yearly Graduate Reviews
On Thursday April 3, 1:00-2:30 pm, Rm F GLC, there will be a meeting for Graduate Program Directors to discuss the yearly reviews of individual graduate students. This is the third year that we have asked departments to share those reviews with the Graduate School so we have examples of a variety of review procedures. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss the benefits to graduate students and departments of having an effective review system, to share examples of  successful review procedures and to help those who are setting up new review practices.  Contact Anne McNabb about discussion topics that are of special concern for your department.

The Big Event
On Saturday April 5th, 2008 George Mason University and Virginia Tech will come together for "The Big Event" to serve the Northern Virginia community. This first-ever collaborative effort between George Mason’s Arlington campus and Virginia Tech’s National Capital Region (NCR) campus will involve a clean-up project at the start of Four Mile Run in Falls Church.  Both campuses are excited to give back to the community and hope that you will join in the action!  The project will begin at 8:30AM at the Isaac Crossman Park entrance  (501 Van Buren, Falls Church) and will conclude at 11:00AM.  Water and snacks will be provided.  In addition, all volunteers who RSVP in advance will receive a FREE T-shirt!  Volunteers may get dirty cleaning the banks of a local stream so be  sure to dress accordingly.  Space is limited so please RSVP at  https://survey.vt.edu/survey/entry.jsp?id=1205277207522 by Friday March 28th. If you have any questions about "The Big Event" please contact Vasanth at vasanthg@vt.edu

Online Admissions Application Review
The annual review of our online application and supplemental forms will begin next week.  This review is important to help ensure that individual department’s program information is being accurately reflected in the online version of the application.  All departments will be asked to participate and confirm the status quo or provide updates by April 15, 2008.  For questions about the review, please contact Jacqueline L. Nottingham, Director of Admissions & Academic Progress at 540/231-3092.

Preliminary/Final Examinations
Recently, we have learned that unscheduled preliminary examinations and final defenses have been held.  Formal scheduling of these examinations by the Graduate School is required before an examination should be held. Thus, the Advisor should have the examination card in hand before the exam.  Examinations held without prior scheduling will need to be rescheduled and conducted a second time.

Copyright Information and ETDs
ETDs are reviewed for format and checked for compliance with applicable university, state and federal guidelines, including the Federal Copyright Law (Title 17 in the U.S. Code). Figures, tables, images and other items reproduced or adapted from third party sources must meet the criteria established by the Copyright Law to be included in the published ETD. Items must be clearly cited and documented as specified by the Copyright Owner. It is the responsibility of the author to obtain the permissions from the Copyright Owner and to seek these permissions prior to the submission of the ETD. The Graduate School requires the written documentation of the permission before the formal ETD approval and the completion of one’s graduate degree.

Degree Completion
Students wishing to complete their degrees in Spring 2008, must defend by April 30th and complete all requirements by June 6, 2008.  For specific details related to commencement participation, where earlier deadlines may apply, see http://www.graduateschool.vt.edu/academics/dates_deadlines/commencement_deadlines.html

Announcements/Deadlines

• Graduate Education Week is scheduled for March 24 – 28, 2008.  Both the Blacksburg campus and the National Capital Region will be scheduling events, so please mark your calendars!  Updates will be posted on the Graduate School website:  http://www.graduateschool.vt.edu/

• Commencement
  • Application for Degree Deadline is March 1st
  • Last day for PhD student to defend if participating in Commencement is March 28th
  • PHD/EDD submission of ETD deadline is April 11th
  • Last day to defend without next semester enrollment for EDS and Master’s candidates is April 30th
  • PHD/EDD students must complete all requirements for graduation including the approval of the ETD by May 2nd to participate in Commencement
  • Degree award deadline to be considered a Spring 2008 graduate is June 6th

Commencement information may be found at: http://www.graduateschool.vt.edu/academics/completion/commencement.html

New Format for Monthly Memo
The Monthly Memo is moving to a new format which will allow for greater access and interactivity starting in March.  More details will be provided in the email that accompanies the March Monthly Memo.

Access to Turnitin.com
The Graduate School will make Turnitin.com software available free to our graduate students and faculty through May 2008.  Our intent is to allow graduate students to be proactive and to check their theses/dissertations (or papers) through access to the plagiarism prevention software.  We also invite faculty and GTAs to utilize the software for use in their classes.  Four different packages are available for use in classes.  Please check out the website http://turnitin.com/static/index.html for more information.  In the next two weeks, we will prepare the process by which you can acquire the password and access to turnitin.com.  More information will be forthcoming.

Graduate students transferring to VT with new hires

We know that some of our new faculty hires will be bringing graduate students with them to Virginia Tech.  As you know, these students will need to be officially admitted and the Graduate School staff will work with you regarding the admission and enrollment of these students.  If you anticipate that any exceptions to policy (e.g., more transfer credit than typically allowed), please contact the Dean of the Graduate School directly.  We want to address and resolve any issues as soon as possible so that there are no misunderstandings especially when transferring graduate students are incorporated into the hiring package.  Thanks.

Welcome back to the start of a new semester and a new year!  We ask that you please share this information with faculty in your department.

Announcements/Deadlines

• Proposals for the ’08-‘09 Institutional Plan for Graduate Degrees (IPGD) are due February 1
• Graduate Education Week is scheduled for March 24 – 28, 2008.  Both the Blacksburg campus and the National Capital Region will be scheduling events, so please mark your calendars!  Updates will be posted on the Graduate School website.
• Ms. Karen Burke has joined the Graduate Student Services Office in the National Capital Region
• Information  about graduate student awards may be found on the Graduate School website, http://grads.vt.edu/
• Graduate School Distinguished Lecture Series:  Mary Catherine Bateson, renowned author and cultural anthropologist, is the 2007-2008 Graduate School Distinguished Lecturer.  The university community and general public are invited to hear her speak on February 26th at 4:00 pm in the Graduate Life Center auditorium. More information about Dr. Bateson can be found at: http://www.marycatherinebateson.com/
• 2008 Graduate Preview Weekend:  Graduate Preview Weekend nominations are being accepted at www.graduateschool.vt.edu/preview_weekend.  To access the registration page, you will need to enter your Virginia Tech PID and password.  A department may nominate up to three prospective students.  The nominated individual should have submitted an application for graduate study and be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident residing in the United States. Graduate Preview Weekend is February 21-24, 2008. The nomination deadline is Wednesday, February 13, 2008.  For more information, contact Marilyn Kershaw, Director of Graduate Student Recruiting, at 1-2494 or at mkershaw@vt.edu.
• Cunningham Doctoral Scholar Awards:  The Cunningham Doctoral Scholar Awards program is accepting nominations to recruit academically well-qualified doctoral students to Virginia Tech. Nominees should be accepted into a doctoral program at Virginia Tech (preferably from a non-VT master’s or bachelor’s program), with an outstanding academic record and strong academic potential for successful completion of a doctoral degree. Nominees should be U.S. citizens.  An academic department nomination is required and should include the following information about the student: name of applicant, VT degree sought, previous university, recommendation letter from department addressing eligibility requirements. A competitive GTA or GRA stipend will be awarded up to two years, with matching commitment from the academic department.  The first round of decisions will be made following the February 1st deadline.  Submissions will be accepted until March 1st.
• Annual progress review:  Annual progress review is an important part of the academic advising process for graduate students.  Spring is the typical time for conducting the Annual Progress Reviews (see Presidential Policy 229). A meeting of Graduate Program Directors will be held in February to share some examples of review practices that are working well and to engage in discussion and problem solving about review processes.  Please conduct these reviews during spring semester share them with the graduate students and provide constructive guidance for degree progress as needed. When the reviews are completed, please send us a summary for the program as well as copies of the individual reviews.
• Progress to Degree: For students planning to graduate this semester, it is vital that they are aware of the following important forms and deadlines.
• Application for Degree: The deadline to submit the Application for Degree for students intending to graduate in spring 2008 is March 1, 2008. Please direct your students to Hokie Spa for completion of this online form. Students must submit this form by the deadline to insure that their name will be listed in the Commencement Bulletin for the May ceremony.
• Final Exam Request: Must be received by the Graduate School at least 2 weeks prior to the intended exam date. PhD and EdD candidates who intend to participate in the May ceremony must defend no later than March 28, 2008.
• EDT Submission: The ETD must be uploaded at http://etd.vt.edu no more than 2 weeks after the successful completion of the final exam.

Degree Award Deadlines: Visit http://www.graduateschool.vt.edu/academics/dates_deadlines/commencement_deadlines.html

Application/decision deadlines
The following application and decision deadlines have been established for the upcoming entry terms:

Summer I – Starts May 19, 2008
Online application deadline:  April 15, 2008 Dept decision deadline:  May 1, 2008

Summer II – Starts June 30, 2008
Online application deadline:  May 30, 2008 Dept decision deadline:  June 13, 2008
 
Fall – Starts August 25, 2008
Online application deadline:  June 30, 2008 Dept decision deadline:  July 15, 2008

Readmission application deadline:
Summer I:  May 1, 2008
Summer II:  June 13, 2008
Fall:  August 8, 2008

Readmission decision deadline:
Summer I:  May 16, 2008
Summer II:  June 27, 2008
Fall:  August 22, 2008

Please note that International students must have a decision on them no later than May 15, 2008 for fall enrollment.  Any decisions made after this timeframe need to be approved in advance by the Graduate Schools International Student Services area, please contact them at igss@vt.edu . For those in the National Capital Region, please contact mtelbisf@vt.edu.

Summary of Recent Graduate School Meetings
Graduate Program Directors, Department Heads & Faculty Gathering:
On January 10th, the Graduate School held a gathering for faculty (department heads, program directors & faculty) to discuss graduate education, policy and procedures, and programs.  Some of the discussion focused on a quality graduate education experience and the document entitled Expectations for Graduate Study available on the Graduate School website (http://www.graduateschool.vt.edu/academics/expectations/index.html).  A two-page summary document is attached and I encourage you to disseminate this to your graduate students and faculty.  A lively discussion focused on the scheduling form for final examination.  As a result, the form will be edited but the signatures will still be required pending review at the end of the semester.  Inasmuch as academic discourse, faculty input and involvement is critical to graduate education, I plan to schedule graduate program faculty gatherings once a semester.

First joint meeting of CUS&P and CGS&P:
On January 11th, the first gathering of the Commission on Undergraduate Studies & Policies (CUS&P) and the Commission on Graduate Studies & Policies (CGS&P) was held.  The purpose was to discuss shared interests and concerns about academic policies and procedures which concern undergraduate and graduate students.  Several topics were discussed in depth and the commissions agreed to continue to collaborate on selected topics including:  tracking course proposals, review of Bachelor’s/Master’s programs, the use of 4000 level courses for graduate credit, and student life policies.   Committees will be taking on these tasks and sharing results with the two commissions.  Consideration will be given to increasing communications between the two commissions and annual gatherings.

Commission on Graduate Studies & Policy (CGS&P):
Degrees approved by SCHEV:

• Ph.D. in Social, Political, Ethical, and Cultural Thought (ASPECT)

• Virginia Tech – Georgetown University M.S. Degree in Biomedical Technology Development and Management

Procedures Updates & Clarification
Probation:
Probation letters for students whose GPA dropped below a 3.0 at the end of fall semester were mailed on January 10, 2008. Students have one semester to remedy their GPA deficiency and departments should work closely with these students to help them succeed in raising their GPAs.  Copies of the letters will be distributed to departments via email by the end of the month.

Letters indicating probationary status have been sent to students who have GPAs of <3.0. These students fall into several categories:

• New students who entered in fall semester on Regular Status. These students have one semester to raise their GPA to 3.0. They may be allowed an additional probationary semester, on departmental request, if they are making good progress toward reaching a 3.0.
• New students who entered in fall semester on Provisional Status. These students were required to attain a 3.0 GPA in their first semester.  These students may have one probationary semester. However, departments can deny these students a probationary semester if the first semester performance was so poor that they believe the student cannot succeed in the program.
• Continuing students who have probationary averages either for the first time or on a sustained basis.  The university indicated that no student could be put on probation beginning in spring 2007 because of the tragic events of April 16 so students who had GPAs below 3.0 will not have “probation” designated on their transcript for that semester.  There also are students who were continued on probation for a variety of other reasons. We are writing to departments about the sustained probation cases because they typically need special attention.

Note that students may remain on assistantship for only one semester of probation.
A graduate student transcript will show Probation for each semester the student has a GPA of <3.0.  This is a change from the past designation of “Satisfactory Progress” that used to appear on the unofficial transcript on Hokie Spa of any student who was qualified to enroll in the subsequent semester, even if they were on probation. This “old” type of designation caused a lot of confusion about what was satisfactory progress for graduate students.

Repeat Grades:
Many graduate students and faculty do not seem to be aware of the Repeat Grade option that “replaces” an inadequate grade. This policy has been in effect for about a year and is especially important when students receive low grades in courses on their Plans of Study.  When graduate students retake a course, the new grade is the one that calculates into the GPA.  The original grade is designated RG or RP, defined as “C- or less” and “C or less”, respectively.  Neither the credits nor the grade calculate into the GPA when courses are designated RG or RP. These grade replacements should occur automatically, but if they do not, please contact the Graduate School so changes can be made manually.  There are many programs where the same course number can be taken repeatedly with different subject matter so some manual changes will continue to be necessary.

Readmission:
Graduate students whose enrollment has lapsed for more than a calendar year are required to apply for readmission.  When a readmission is requested the Graduate School asks the departmental graduate program to review that student’s record (with emphasis on the Plan of Study) and to determine whether the student should be readmitted. In cases of relatively brief absences from degree work, where the coursework is current, no Plan of Study (POS) changes or committee changes may to be needed and the department is likely to readmit the student quickly.  In some cases the student may have been away for so long that the department will determine a degree cannot be completed, e.g., cases where committee members have retired and the department no longer has expertise in the field of the student’s thesis or dissertation. In some cases, in which the program feels the student should be allowed to continue, the coursework on the POS is >5 years old and the student’s committee must determine how the student can establish currency in the field (filing of Justification of Old Coursework form). In other cases, changes in the POS coursework or changes in the committee composition are needed (filing of Change Plan of Study form or Change of Committee form).  The emphasis in the readmission process should be on a review of past degree progress and whether the department will allow the student to continue and what steps are needed to have a current degree if the student is readmitted. In general, the longer the time the student has been inactive, the longer the time the department and Graduate School are likely to need to process a readmission request.

DO YOU KNOW?

Pending applications:  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. If you need assistance in accessing or running the report, please contact the Graduate Student Services Office in the National Capital Region at 703/538-8327 gsso@nvc.vt.edu or the Admissions and & Academic Progress Office in Blacksburg at 540/231-8636.

Commencement is a very special time for our graduates and their families and I hope you will join your colleagues in recognizing our graduates and celebrating their accomplishments.  I invite you to attend Graduate Commencement on Friday, December 14, 2007.  Michael Hochela will be the commencement speaker this year.  The Graduate School ceremony is Friday, December 14 at 3pm in Cassell Coliseum.

Commencement Information
Master’s candidates who are eligible to participate in Commencement should report to the practice gym (Room 213) located on the ground floor at the back of Cassell Coliseum. Enter on the Spring Road side of the building.
Doctoral candidates who have met all requirements for graduation by December 7, 2007, are eligible to participate in Commencement. Doctoral candidates should report to the practice gym (Room 220) on the ground level of Cassell Coliseum. Enter on the Spring Road side of the building.
Faculty who will be participating in the hooding ceremony should arrive at the practice gym (Room 220) at Cassell Coliseum between 1:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. Check in upon arrival so that your name may be read during the ceremony.
Check-in will begin at 1:30 p.m. and end at 2:30 p.m.  Academic regalia is required.

Announcements & Deadlines:
           
Faculty Workshop
The Graduate School will hold a workshop for faculty (graduate program directors, department heads and other faculty members) to discuss new developments and policies for graduate education.   The gathering will be held January 10 , 2:30 – 4:30 PM, in Room F, Graduate Life Center.

Graduation Deadlines
Doctoral candidates who have indicated their intention to participate in the Fall Commencement ceremonies must meet all requirements by December 7, 2007.  If a student has indicated that they wish to walk, but now is unable to participate, please have them contact Janice Austin at jema@vt.edu.

All students should be reminded that in order to be considered a Fall 2007 graduate, they must defend their Master’s thesis or Doctoral Dissertation by December 5, 2007.  In addition, all degree completion requirements must be met by January 18, 2008.  Any student defending between December 6th and February 4th will be considered a spring 2008 graduate and automatically be enrolled for Defending Student Status of 1 credit.

Application and Decision Deadlines
Applications for spring 2008 will be available online until Saturday, December 15, 2007.
We will no longer be accepting regular applications for spring admittance after this date.
Students who wish to enroll for spring after this time will need to submit the Expedited Admissions application which is only available in paper format through academic departments or the Graduate School.  The Expedited Admissions application will be accepted from January 2nd through Wednesday, January 16, 2008.

All decisions for spring 2008 applications must be submitted to the Graduate School by Friday, December 28, 2007.  If a department would like to have an application considered for a future term because they are unable to make a final decision now, the department should confirm with the student of their intention and obtain their interest in future consideration.  Once confirmation is received from the student, the department should notify the Graduate School and the student’s application term will be changed.  This communication should be done via email and not as a comment on the Online Admissions Analysis form.   

Call for Nominations for 2007-08 Graduate Student Awards
The Graduate School is requesting nominations for the following graduate student awards:
*          Outstanding Dissertation in (a) sciences and engineering (b) social sciences
*          Graduate Student Service Excellence
*          Graduate Student Teaching Excellence
*          Graduate Man and Woman of the Year
*          Outstanding Graduate Student by college at the (a) master’s and (b) doctoral level

Eligibility and nomination requirements vary for each award; please see attached table for details. Nominations must be submitted by February 1, 2008, unless otherwise stated. Award winners will be notified by letter. All awards include a monetary prize and a plaque or certificate. Winners and their advisors will be recognized at the awards banquet during Graduate Education Week in March 2008.

Graduate Preview Weekend
            Graduate Preview Weekend nominations are being accepted at www.graduateschool.vt.edu/preview_weekend. The nominated individual should have submitted an application for graduate study and be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident residing in the United States. Graduate Preview Weekend is February 21-24 2008. For more information, contact Marilyn Kershaw, Director of Graduate Student Recruiting at 1-2494 or at mkershaw@vt.edu.

Fellowships & Scholarships

Graduate Congressional Scholarship (Spring 2007)
 The Graduate School is pleased to announce the availability of a one semester Graduate Congressional Scholarship for students currently enrolled at Virginia Tech. The scholar will be able to participate in the everyday work of Congressman Boucher’s office. While specific duties will depend on the scholar’s experience and interests, as well as the needs of Congressman Boucher’s office, duties will likely include constituent services, special studies, and support of on-going office activities such telecommunications, science and technology, social issues, labor and education.

The scholarship is open to master’s and doctoral students in all fields. Applicants must be currently enrolled in a graduate program at Virginia Tech and have completed at least 18 credits of graduate coursework. The ideal candidate should possess excellent writing skills. The successful applicant will receive a one semester stipend and tuition scholarship up to $16,000.

Applicants should submit a 250 word statement of career goals, a current resume, and two letters of support, at least one of which must be from a Virginia Tech faculty member in the student’s graduate degree program. Please submit applications or nominations by December 15, 2007 to Dr. Karen P. DePauw, Ph.D., Vice Provost for Graduate Studies and Dean of the Graduate School, Mail Code 0325, Blacksburg, VA 24061.

David W. Francis and Lillian Francis Scholarship (Fall 2008)
The David W. Francis and Lillian Francis Scholarship was established to provide graduate fellowships in research emphasizing longer, safer and healthier lives.  The disciplines designated in the endowment include agriculture, engineering, bioinformatics, plant pathology, wood science and forest products, veterinary medicine and biotechnology.  The Francis Research Fellowship includes a stipend of $18,000 plus tuition for one academic year.  One research fellowship will be awarded each academic year.  PhD students whose research emphasize “longer, safer and healthier lives” and are in their final year of research are eligible for the Francis Research Fellowship.   Doctoral students should be nominated by their department.  The nomination packet should include a letter of support from the academic unit, a letter from the faculty advisor(s), a description of the student’s academic work, and a synopsis of the student’s research and its relevance to promoting “longer, safer and healthier lives”.  Nominations are due by February 1 2008 and should be submitted to Dr. Karen P. DePauw, Ph.D., Vice Provost for Graduate Studies and Dean of the Graduate School, Mail Code 0325, Blacksburg, VA 24061…  (http://www.graduateschool.vt.edu/financial/for_departments/gs_funding.html#francis)

Policies & Procedures Reminders

Annual progress review
            The proportion of departments who conducted individual reviews of their graduate students’ progress increased considerably in 2006-07 over the previous academic year. Those student reviews, submitted to the Graduate School, are being reviewed to compile a list of practices that seem to be most successful in using reviews to facilitate graduate progress toward degrees.  We will schedule a meeting of departmental Graduate Program Directors early in spring semester to present these ideas and facilitate discussion of how reviews can be used productively by the departments to aid quality in their programs. For more information about the Presidential Policy Memoranda about graduate reviews, see Academics, Graduate Catalog, 2007-08 Policies and Procedures (p. 6-7) on the Graduate School website.

Enrollment
            Academic units are encouraged to remind students that they should enroll in courses prior to the start of the semester and adhere to the drop/add deadlines set by the university.  Instructors should not allow students who aren’t on their formal class lists (see Faculty Access in Hokie Spa) to attend class beyond the Add deadline. This will help insure that graduate students deal with any enrollment problems early in the semester.  Departmental staff should refrain from enrolling students so that we can avoid unnecessary drops/withdraws in which the student denies responsibility for the enrollment.  Only under unusual circumstances will graduate students be allowed to add or drop a class after the deadlines.

Instructors of record for graduate courses
            Graduate School policy requires that graduate courses (5xxx, 6xxx) be taught by faculty members holding the appropriate terminal academic degree (e.g., PhD).  Graduate students (including staff working for graduate degrees) can teach undergraduate courses but are not authorized to teach graduate courses.  Please note this requirement in planning course offerings in the future.
 
 
Graduate Curriculum Committee & Commission on Graduate Studies and Policies
Course approval and degree progress may be tracked at: http://www.graduateschool.vt.edu/graduate_school/gcc/index.html

Student learning outcomes for graduate degrees
The Degree Requirement Standards Criteria and Academic Policy (DRSCAP) subcommittee, on behalf of Commission on Graduate Studies & Policies (CGS&P), is developing a set of generic (foundational) student learning outcomes and examples of possible assessment measures for the graduate degrees at Virginia Tech.   In keeping with university accreditation (SACS) guidelines, graduate education throughout the university and across campus locations ought to have a mechanism by which the learning objectives for our students earning graduate degrees can be clearly articulated and easily measured.  
Inasmuch as SACS requires measurable student learning outcomes for each graduate degree offered at Virginia Tech, the generic student learning outcomes being developed could be utilized by each academic unit/department in finalizing the departmental learning outcomes for each graduate degree.  The outcomes will represent a range of student learning outcomes appropriate to graduate education at VT depending upon the type of degree (e.g., research degree, professional degree, coursework only) and level of degree (e.g., Master’s, MFA, PhD, EdD).  In preparation for the SACS accreditation documents and site visit, individual departments and their graduate program committees could identify a set of unique student learning outcomes, select among the generic student learning outcomes and modify as appropriate to each graduate program to fit their specific needs and requirements, or utilize a combination of the above.  Once the generic student learning outcomes have been approved by CGS&P, they will be made available to the department in January. The intention is to ease some of the burden for departments occasioned by the approaching SACS deadline.  Departments are under no obligation whatsoever to use any of the generic guidelines provided.

Vacation time and work requirements for graduate student assistants (GA, GTA, GRA)
As the winter break approaches, it is time to clarify the work requirements for graduate students on GA, GTA, and GRA appointments.  Graduate students on assistantship are required to work an average of 20 hours/5 day week during the appointment period.  Unless stipulated in the assistantship agreement contract, students are not required to work when the university is officially closed (December 24, 25, 31, January 1) and may be allowed to take vacation during official university break (December 17 – January 11).  If stated in the assistantship contract, some GRAs and GAs will be required to work during the university breaks but should not be required to work more than an average of 20 hours/5 day week.  Expectations for work and vacation for graduate students should be clarified and mutually agreed upon.

UMI/Proquest
The Graduate School works with the University Libraries and UMI/Proquest to provide access to Graduate Student works through Dissertation Abstracts.  UMI/Proquest passes the abstract(s) on to other entities for a variety of uses.
             
Choosing to use UMI/Proquest for their copyrighting and binding services is optional.  If students wish to pursue this alternative, in the future, the payments will need to go directly to the company rather than being routed through VT.

Upon receipt of the signed final defense card, students will be sent an email outlining expectations for degree completion.  In this email, the Graduate School will provide the URL to UMI/Proquest and list other options for copyrighting and binding services so graduate students can choose which options they prefer.

Preliminary and Final examination cards

The Graduate School has updated the design of the preliminary and final examination cards.  Soon Committee advisors will be receiving a packet with either a manila (prelim) or salmon (final) colored card.  These cards will replace the old white and blue cards previously used by the graduate school.

Announcements & Deadlines:

The Graduate Student Services Office (GSSO) in the National Capital Region encourages faculty staff and students to place suggestions in the drop box outside the room 200 at the Northern Virginia Center or to send an email to the gsso@nvc.vt.edu

The Graduate Student Services Office in the National Capital Region will hold a monthly open house for current graduate students on the last Thursday of the month between the hours of 6:00-7:00 at the Northern Virginia Center. For more information, please contact 703-538-8327 or email us at gsso@nvc.vt.edu

Call for Nominations for 2007-08 Graduate Student Awards
The Graduate School is requesting nominations for the following graduate student awards:
*          Outstanding Dissertation in (1) sciences and engineering (2) social sciences
*          Graduate Student Service Excellence
*          Graduate Student Teaching Excellence
*          Graduate Man and Woman of the Year
*          Outstanding Graduate Student by college at the (1) master’s and (2) doctoral level
Eligibility and nomination requirements vary for each award; please see attached table for details. Nominations must be submitted by February 1, 2008, unless otherwise stated. Award winners will be notified by letter. All awards include a monetary prize and a plaque or certificate. Winners and their advisors will be recognized at the awards banquet during Graduate Education Week in March 2008.

Change to Requirement to Pay Tuition for Students on Assistantship
Due to the fact that graduate tuition increased at a greater rate than stipends, it is necessary to update the tuition payment requirement. Accordingly, for students who are paid at Step 20 or below, departments must pay an in-state tuition, academic fee and engineering fee (if applicable) scholarship in an amount that is at least proportional to the assistantship appointment. Students who are paid at Step 21 or above may need to pay their tuition from their assistantship stipends. Departments are asked to apply these new rates for contracts issued for all future appointments. Departments must specify on the assistantship agreement whether or not tuition will be paid by the department or the student. Please contact Monika Gibson in the Graduate School (gibsonm@vt.edu) if you have any questions or concerns about this change.

 

New Graduate School Forms
On November 1, 2007, the Graduate School will release a new suite of forms.  These forms will replace any older versions previously used by the Graduate School or revised by departments for their own personal use.  While we understand that there will be older forms in the pipeline for a while, no old forms will be accepted as of January 14, 2008 which is the beginning of the spring 2008 semester.  If you have websites that direct students to our forms, please make sure that you check to ensure that the URL link is still accessible.  In addition, no departmental modifications will be allowed or accepted to the new version forms.

Application submission and decision deadlines
In an effort to help streamline the processes for departments, the Graduate School is establishing specific deadlines by which students can apply and when departments must make a final determination on an applicant.  For spring 2008, the online application will no longer be available after December 15, 2007.  Departments must make final decisions on all their applicants by Friday, December 28, 2007.  Term changes will be accepted for students who do not complete their application packets within established departmental deadlines.  Please contact the Graduate School directly if you would like to recommend a term change for application consideration.

Nominations for Cunningham Doctoral Scholars
As an integral part of our recruitment efforts to attract outstanding doctoral students to Virginia Tech, I am pleased to open the competition for the 2007 Cunningham Doctoral Scholars Program.  Please review the guidelines and timelines available on the Graduate School web site, http://www.graduateschool.vt.edu/financial/for_departments/gs_funding.html

Clare Boothe Luce Fellowship:  Announcement is attached.

Graduate Catalog
Graduate Course Listings
As a first step in rolling out the new Graduate Catalog you can now find an improved version of the graduate course listings. http://www.graduateschool.vt.edu/academics/programs

Graduate Catalog
College Deans will receive a note from the Graduate School next week with information on how we will begin populating information for each Graduate Program.  Look for more information within your College as Deans delegate update abilities.  As the updates begin we will offer some technical information sessions for those that may have difficulties adding content.

Enrollments

Graduate enrollments for fall 2007 reached an all time high of 6,496 university-wide.  This includes full-time and part time enrollments in Blacksburg, extended campuses, and beyond.  In fall 2007 the university also achieved its goal of getting 900 new PhD students, three years ahead of the targeted year, 2010. Today Doctoral students comprise 42% of graduate enrollments, compared to 30% in fall 1998, and 28% in fall 2002.

 

Institutional Plan for Graduate Degrees (IPGD) – Call for Proposals
The Institutional Plan for Graduate Degrees (IPGD) provides the overview of our academic plans for graduate education at Virginia Tech.  The IPGD is updated annually and in this regard, I’ve included the call for proposals below.  

CGS&P activities 
Mr. John Kane’s appointment as the 2007-2008 Chief Justice of the Graduate Honor System was ratified by the commission on September 19, 2007.

At the October 3rd meeting, the Graduate Student Assembly announced that there is a new, updated website for the GSA.   Information and deadlines on the Travel Fund (TFP) and Graduate Research and Development (GRDP) programs that provide money for graduate students to travel to conference and conduct research can be found on the website  

This past year the GSA, working with the commission, has acquired free statistical consulting for graduate students through the Statistics Department effective January 2008.

Policies & Procedures Reminders/Updates

Enrollment of graduate students working on their thesis/dissertation: graduate students who have been out of residence and return to work with their Advisor during their thesis/dissertation writing should be enrolled for a minimum of 3 credits of research (this presumes that all other coursework on the student’s Plan of Study has been completed). Faculty advisors and committee members should not agree to work with students who are not enrolled, i.e., a student who wishes to return to defend a thesis/dissertation needs to have a period of research enrollment for working with his/her advisor and committee prior to the defense.

Titles of departmental graduate personnel: The Graduate School has adopted the following terminology on our new forms and in the Policies and Procedures document. Graduate Program Director refers to the designated faculty member in the department who plays an academic supervisory role in directing the graduate program. If the Department Head wishes, the Graduate Program Director may sign graduate forms on behalf of the Head.  Graduate Coordinator refers to the staff member in the department who plays a managerial role in the handling of the graduate program. We are requesting that the Graduate Coordinator receive copies of all official paperwork for students prior to them being sent to the Graduate School. This should insure that if anything is lost in transition between units, that a copy of such paperwork is available.

Students defending before they are ready:  We need the help of Graduate Program Directors to insure that students aren’t being allowed to defend before they are ready to submit an ETD within two weeks following the defense. In the future, all members of a student’s Advisory Committee will be required to sign the request form for scheduling a defense. Their signature will verify that they have seen the thesis/dissertation and agree that it is ready for defense.  This new procedure is necessary because of the number of delays in filing of ETDs, some of which extend to months or years.

Defending Student Status: The 1 credit DSS Status was designed for students who had a completed thesis/dissertation ready for defense in one semester but could not arrange to schedule that defense until the beginning of the next semester (typically because of faculty schedules that are beyond the student’s control).  However, many of the DSS requests that come to the Graduate School are from students who are still working on their thesis/dissertation, so they do not fit within either the intent of the policy or the time at the beginning of the semester for scheduling a defense with only the 1 cr of DSS enrollment. If extenuating circumstances result in the Graduate Program Director and/or the student’s Advisor requesting an exception that allows DSS after the usual time, that request and the formal scheduling of the defense must be completed during the designated DSS period. 

Defenses or Preliminary Exams are not valid if they have not been formally scheduled.  For both adherence to policy and for everyone’s protection, formal scheduling of these examinations by the Graduate School is required before an examination should be held. Thus, the Advisor should have the examination card in hand before the exam.  Examinations held without prior scheduling will need to be rescheduled and conducted a second time.

           


Annual Call for Proposals
Institutional Plan for Graduate Degrees (IPGD)

The Graduate School issues its annual call for new degree proposal for inclusion on the Institutional Plan for Graduate Degrees (IPGD).  The current IPGD is comprised of a list of degree programs that are “approved for development” (pre-approved) and a wish list of degrees not yet pre approved.  Submissions will be considered for “pre-approval” of degrees to be implemented no later than fall 2011.

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 February 1st so that we can finalize the ‘08’-’09 update to the IPGD by the end of the spring, 2008 semester.

Please provide the following information (in two pages or less) for degree programs you wish to have considered for inclusion on the plan:

1. Need and Demand for the degree
2. Target audience
3. Faculty resources to be utilized
4. Graduate courses (existing and proposed) underpinning the degree
5. Conformity with the VT Strategic Plan particularly with regard to research emphasis and interdisciplinary nature
6. Source of financial support
7. 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 current IPGD is attached.

Please send proposals to Karen P. DePauw in the Graduate School by February 1, 2008.

Welcome to the new academic year! Graduate School activities started with a Week of Welcome on August 13th with GTA Workshop, international student orientation, and graduate student orientations in Blacksburg and the National Capital Region. These events were well attended and the incoming graduate students are very enthusiastic and rapidly becoming a part of the graduate community. The Week of Welcome culminated with the Welcome Back Picnic on Friday, August 24th 4-6 pm on the GLC Lawn. Nearly 1000 students participated in the various events during the week.

New faces in the Graduate School
Please join us in welcoming new Graduate School staff:

• Miya Simpson, Ph.D. has assumed a new position as Director of Academic Program Review
• Holly Cromer, Janae King, and Elizabeth O’Connell are all new members of the Graduate Admissions & Academic Process unit

News from the National Capital Region
On August 9, 2007, at the Northern Virginia Center in Falls Church, Virginia Tech in the National Capital Region and the University of Virginia hosted the dedication of a Hokie Stone bench and a tree in remembrance of April 16th.

New Student Orientation and an English Placement test were scheduled on August 18, 2007.

The Graduate Student Assembly in the National Capital Region welcomed the students back with at a social on Wednesday, August 22, 2007 at the Northern Virginia Center.

Hokie Passports will be available September 24-25 in the National Capital Region’s Library/Resource Center from 1:00 pm – 8:00 pm. Please contact the GSSO or the Library at gsso@nvc.vt.edu if you have any questions.

The dissertation support group will begin the semester in September. The group meets every other week at the Northern Virginia Center, room 324 at 7:00. The schedule will be posted at www.ncr.vt.edu. Please contact the GSSO at gsso@nvc.vt.edu if you have any questions.

A Graduate School Information Fair is scheduled for October 17, 2007. For more information please visit www.ncr.vt.edu

This is a reminder that the NCR Methods Consortium is available to help with research and statistics problems. The webpage for the consortium is, http://www.nvc.vt.edu/rmc/ The phone number is 703-538-8371 and the email is researchhelp@nvc.vt.edu

Initial Announcement about Awards
The Graduate School is requesting nominations for the Preston Thesis Awards and for the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools (CSGS) Master’s Thesis Awards. The Preston Thesis Award is given in two categories to graduate students whose master’s theses present the best original research with potential to benefit all people. For the 2007-08 academic year, the two categories are (1) Life Sciences and (2) Social Sciences, Business and Education. The Preston Thesis Award winners will be automatically nominated for the CSGS awards. In addition to those two winners, nominations are also sought for a CSGS thesis award for the Innovative Application of Technology to Scholarship in a Master’s Thesis. Nomination deadline is September 14 at 4pm. See attachments for more details.

Advance VT and the Graduate School will offer the Clare Boothe Luce Ph.D. Fellowship Program again this year. As you meet prospective women graduate students in the physical sciences, mathematics and engineering, please keep them in mind for a nomination. We had great candidates last year, but no one accepted our offer. We’d like to get together and strategize about how we can turn fellowship offers into acceptances. Please join us for Getting to Yes!: Turning Offers into Acceptances. The session will be on Tuesday, September 18th in room C in the Graduate Life Center.

Week of Welcome a success!
Phase I of the GTA workshop was attended by 670 new graduate students. The workshop consisted of three half days, Aug. 13-15, followed by the beginning of Phase II sessions on Blackboard training. There were some new offerings this time, namely a panel of outstanding instructors who conducted a collaborative discussion with small groups addressing teaching scenarios, with all 670 new grads in the GLC Auditorium. Some of the discussion groups reported back about their creative ideas at the end of the exercise and engaged the panel in continued discussion. Also new was an interactive presentation on creating community in the classroom. A wide variety of Phase II sessions start the first week of September and continue into early October.

Policies & procedures updates
In spring 2007, CGS&P modified two graduate policies:
(1) PhD Residency: "At least two consecutive semesters of full-time enrollment must be completed at the Virginia Tech Blacksburg campus to fulfill the Residency Requirement. Individual degree programs may request an alternative to the Blacksburg campus requirement by petitioning the Graduate School".
(2) Plan of Study Submission: "Plans of study are due by the end of the second academic semester for all Master’s students, and are due by the end of the third academic semester for doctoral students".

Policy Reminder
In 2004 GCS&P defined the Qualifications Required to be the Instructor of Record in a Graduate Course. "In order to be the instructor of record in a graduate course, one must: (1) hold a graduate degree (i.e., the terminal degree in the discipline) and (2) cannot be currently enrolled as a graduate student in the same department. Exceptions to this policy must be approved by the Graduate School".

4.16.07 will remain fixed in our minds as a day of tragedy for Virginia Tech. As the facts unfold, we have learned of the undergraduates, graduate students, graduate assistants, instructors and faculty who were among the victims of this horrific crime. Some are deceased and others wounded. Some remain hospitalized, some are recovering. And we are all deeply impacted by the incidents and the aftermath. This is a very difficult time for all of us at Virginia Tech. I encourage you to engage in dialogue and seek support/counsel from and within our various communities.

A strong sense of community is an important component of graduate education at Virginia Tech. Our VT graduate community is indeed a global community. The tragic events of Monday April 16th have stressed our community in many ways that we might not even realize. Some in our community are feeling additional tension and stress for a variety of reasons. We must reach out to all graduate students and their families – to understand and to respect the differing ways in which the incidents affects our lives. I am personally and professionally committed to rebuilding our global community and making it even stronger. Many graduate students have already expressed their dismay and sadness over the events and have volunteered to help during this time of crisis (language translation, general assistance and more). Let us choose "random acts of kindness" as our purpose.

To begin, the GLC Multipurpose Room will be available for the rest of the week from 7:30am to 10:30 pm as a gathering place for the graduate community. Visit the Multipurpose room to offer reflections (poems, photos, statements, or other), comments to help us prepare action steps for a positive future, seek answers to questions you might have, or have a quiet moment. Please stop by to give or receive some comfort and share in the sense of community. The Graduate School staff are also available to answer questions and address concerns as they arise. The National Capital Region Community may visit the Northern Virginia Center (room 205) as well as the other sites in the area and offer condolences in a book or on poster on behalf of the Graduate Student Assembly in the National Capital Region.

The Graduate School website has been modified to include a section that honors the victims of 4.16.07 and provide answers to questions you might have about policies and procedures to address the concerns and issues that arise. I will address some of these in this memo but please check the website for updates.

The university administration has decided to award posthumous degrees for the students who died as a result of the tragic shootings on April 16, 2007. The graduate degrees will be awarded during Graduate Commencement on May 11. The Graduate School will prepare the documentation needed for such action.

The deceased faculty members can remain as advisors and on thesis/dissertation committees and as advisors for all graduate students graduating in May through Summer II, 2007. The Graduate School will work with the departments on each case.

Master’s students planning to graduate in May or during the summer can participate in Commencement. The deadline for the completion of all requirements (including ETD approval) for doctoral students will be extended to May 2.

We know that there might be graduate students who do not wish to return to Virginia Tech and we will honor their wishes. We will work with them and departments to facilitate transfer to other universities as might be appropriate. There might also be incoming graduate students having concerns for safety at VT. If you let me know of these cases, I will personally interact with these individuals to assure them of our commitment to establishing a safe and nurturing community for graduate students.

Thank you all for your efforts in helping us maintain a quality graduate education experience for our students.

Karen P. DePauw, Ph.D.
Vice Provost for Graduate Studies
and Dean of the Graduate School

Announcements/Deadlines

• Graduate Education Week: At the request of Virginia Tech, Governor Kaine officially proclaimed March 26-30, 2007 as Graduate Education Week in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Virginia Tech celebrated the week with numerous events in Blacksburg and the National Capital Region.
• Spring 2007 Commencement:
  The Graduate Commencement in Blacksburg will be held at 3:00pm in Cassell Coliseum on Friday, May 11, 2007. The commencement speaker will be Dr. Alberto Bustani, President of the Monterrey Metropolitan campus of the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, known as ITESM, the largest multicampus university system in Latin America. ITESM is also a frequent collaborator in various science, engineering and student exchange programs with Virginia Tech.
• Astronaut Charles J. Camarda with the NASA Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center’s Engineering and Safety Center, will receive the Graduate Alumni Achievement Award.
• National Capital Region Commencement, Center for the Arts, 2:30 P.M., Sunday, May 13, 2007. More information may be obtained at www.ncr.vt.edu/commencmenet or from the Graduate Student Services Office at the Northern Virginia Center, 703-538-8327/gsso@nvc.vt.edu.
• An email will be going out to all graduate students who have indicated that they intend to graduate this spring. The email will provide more specifics about the date, time, and location of both ceremonies.

Actions of the Board of Visitors
At its March 26, 2007 meeting, the Board of Visitors approved three new graduate degrees: MA in Foreign Languages, Cultures & Literatures for Blacksburg; MS in Biomedical Technology & Development for the National Capital Region; and the PhD in STEM Education: Engineering for Blacksburg. The proposals will be forwarded to SCHEV for final review and approval

The BOV also approved a tuition increase for graduate students and the new compensation plan for graduate students. Improvements were made in the health insurance coverage as well as increasing the premium percentage provided by the university to 80%. Details will be available on the Graduate School website.

Clarification and communication
As you are aware, changes in operating procedures have been underway for some months now in the Graduate School. As with any change, confusion and communication can result. The focus of this section of the Monthly Memo is to communicate about some of the issues and concerns.

Duplicate IDs: In the fall the problem of duplicate IDs for the same person was identified. As a result, the Graduate School worked with the Registrar’s office and Administrative Information Systems (AIS) to identify these situations and to have them corrected. A systematic check for duplicate IDs was conducted and 90% of these cases were corrected by AIS and the Graduate School. When additional duplicate IDs are identified, the Graduate School works to immediately reconcile the records and to notify AIS to remove the duplicate. As we review incomplete files, we also check documents for duplicate IDs. Please notify Jacqueline Nottingham if you identify duplicate IDs and we will work with you to resolve them. Our staff have been retrained to address these issues.

Inaccurate data in Banner: Several months ago, it was brought to our attention that CollegeNet data downloaded using the "old" format generating inaccurate data in Banner. CollegeNet was contacted and the problem was corrected. Please be assured that we are in constant contact with CollegeNet about the online applications and supplemental forms. If you have concerns, please contact Jacqueline Nottingham.

Supporting documents for Plans of Study: As we approach the re-accreditation of the university by Southern Association of Schools & Colleges (SACS), it is imperative that we have accurate records of the faculty members who serve on graduate student committees. SACS will be reviewing the qualifications of those who serve and thus, it is important that we gather the supporting documents for each committee. The supporting documents will still be needed for those who are not full-time, tenured or tenure track faculty. We need to have information on file for part-time faculty, visiting faculty, adjuncts, research faculty and those from outside of Virginia Tech who are requested to serve on committees at the time of filing the Plan of Study. If we don’t have the information about those who have already been approved for committee service, we have been asking for this information at the time of prelims or final defense. If the POS is already approved, we will not delay an examination and will honor the existing committee configuration but we will need the supporting documents. Thank you for helping us accomplish this task.

Delays in responding to emails: Earlier this spring, we had a tremendous backlog in the emails sent to the gradappl address creating unacceptable delays in responding to your emails. This has been addressed by the addition of another email account for use within VT. It has taken us some time to catch up but a response should be received within a 48 hour (during the work week) time frame.

Response time for requesting information or admissions letters: Currently the response time for requesting information or letters of applications is less than one week. Depending upon our workload, the response is much shorter. Our procedures are such that we "look up" official scores, transcripts, etc. from departmental requests on a daily basis. Please know that departments can also look up this information on Banner as well.

In an attempt to improve the efficiency in the transition of applications to departments for review, we discovered a flaw in the logic of the workflow. This led to many of the departmental recommendations being stopped rather than forwarded to the process of generating admission letters. Although it is likely that delays resulted from this, the problem was recently addressed and should no longer occur. If you have questions, please contact Jacqueline Nottingham

Current Course listings: While we are in the process of "going digital" with our catalog, you can find a complete listing of graduate courses by department on the Graduate School website via Degrees & Academic Programs, Degrees Offered by college, department or extended campus location and then clicking on current courses. All courses approved for graduate credit will be displayed. The problem of finding a complete listing of courses will disappear once the Graduate Catalog is on-line.