UT ArlingtonGraduate Forum

March 19, 2014 Noon – 2:00pm

Transition OverviewDr. Raymond “Joe” Jackson

New Organizational Chart

The Office of Graduate Studies no longer plays a role in in the following matters

• Admissions• Maintenance of student records• Granting policy exceptions, including petitionable

requests, grievances and student dismissal• Certification for degrees and graduation• Appointments of graduate advisors and supervising

committees

Academic deans have nearly all decision making authority regarding graduate program practices

Paperwork recording those decisions will be handled by the Admissions, Registration and Records (ARR) arm of Academic Analytics and Operations. With the exception of graduation-related decisions,

those decisions will not be evaluated by ARR. ARR will process and record decisions.

• Changes in admission processes• Changes in petition processing• Changes in graduation practices

While the changes to be discussed have taken effect, other changes are coming that will continue to empower academic deans and programs to manage decision making affecting their units.

Training will be provided as those additional changes come online.

Today we will hear about

Who will be making what decisions when look like when all these changes are complete?

The landscape will look something like this…

Admissions

Previous Final Authority Assigned Final Authority

Grad Dean

Academic Advisor Other Grad

DeanAcademic

Deans Other

Admission Decisions l       l  

Change of major   l     l

Petitions and RequestsPrevious Final Authority Assigned Final Authority

Grad Dean

Academic Advisor Other Grad

DeanAcademic

Deans ARR

Petition for an exception to policy

l       l

Petition to continue on Provisional status

l       l

Petitions to Withdraw l       l

Petition to be reinstated l       l

Leaves of Absence l       l

Graduation l l l

Graduation Previous Final Authority Assigned Final Authority

Grad Dean

Academic Advisor Other Grad

DeanAcademic

Deans Other

Change of major   l     l

Exam forms l       l

Transfer credit evaluation l       l

Petition for old coursework l       l

Doctoral course waivers l       l

Thesis/Dissertation format l         lLibrary

Application for Graduation l         lARR

Graduation Fee Waivers lARR

Grievances and DismissalPrevious Final Authority Assigned Final Authority

Grad Dean

Academic Advisor Other Grad

DeanAcademic

Deans Other

Grievances l 

    l

Dismissal of students l       l

Appeals regarding dismissal l       l

Faculty AppointmentsPrevious Final Authority Assigned Final Authority

Grad Dean

Academic Advisor Other Grad

DeanAcademic

Deans Other

Appointment to Graduate Faculty l         VP Fac.

Affairs

Appointment of Graduate Advisors l       l  

Appointment of Supervising committee l       l  

AAO Recruiting and Admissions will support recruiting and process admission documents. See

http://blog.uta.edu/transition

Recruiting Alisa JohnsonAndrea Yen

alisa@uta.eduandrea.yen@uta.edu

Prospective Students:Prospective Student Center in

the Office of University Recruitment, Davis Hall Rm 123

817-272-2090 graduate.school@uta.edu

Admissions (walk-in students)Office of Admissions, Records

and Registration, Davis Hall Rm 129

817-272-3372graduate.school@uta.edu

Admissions Information for Graduate Advisors

Janet WehnerX22380,

Grad.admission@uta.edu

Graduate Admissions Mailing Address UT Arlington Graduate Admissions, Box 19167, 701 S Nedderman Dr. Davis Hall-Rm 332, Arlington TX 76019.

AAO’s Office of Records and Registration will receive paperwork and make approved changes to

enrolled student records Petitions Michelle Williams mwilliam@uta.edu

Leave of Absence Requests ARR Processing Team recordsandregistratrionprocessing@uta.edu

Plan/Subplan change requests Michael Taylor mbtaylor@uta.edu

Transfer of Graduate Courses Amanda Taylor ahuey@uta.edu

Petitions to Withdraw ARR Processing Team recordsandregistratrionprocessing@uta.edu

Applications for Graduation Tammy Shoemaker, Assistant Registrar gradteam@uta.edu

Requests for Certificates Tammy Shoemaker, Assistant Registrar gradteam@uta.edu

GMAP updates Tammy Shoemaker, Assistant Registrar tammyshoemaker@uta.edu

In Absentia Requests Tammy Shoemaker, Assistant Registrar gradteam@uta.edu

Exam forms: Diagnostic, Comprehensive, Final Masters, Defense Reports Tammy Shoemaker, Assistant Registrar gradteam@uta.edu

Letter of Certification Requests Tammy Shoemaker, Assistant Registrar gradteam@uta.edu

Reservation of Courses for Graduate Credit Tammy Shoemaker, Assistant Registrar tammyshoemaker@uta.edu

The Library will accept theses and dissertations

– The submission process and paperwork requirements will be largely unchanged for now.

– Thesis and Dissertation processing contact:Kristine Witkowski kwitkowski@uta.edu

The Office of Graduate Studies will• Help coordinate policy and advisory functions pertaining to graduate education.

Assist deans, advisors and staff in implementing policies and standards set by the UT Arlington, THECB and the UT System.

Help develop policies and resolve issues pertaining to graduate education. Encourage adoption of best practices.

• Support new program development and approval.

• Participate in the assessment of graduate programs.

• Provide programing to support academic and professional success of graduate students.

• Represent the interests of UT Arlington’s graduate community in university, state and national arenas.

Next Steps• Continue to create new processes that will increase the scope of dean and

departmental final decision making authority.

• Provide deans and central administrators with tools and procedures to assess whether important policies and procedures are in consistent, efficient and appropriate manners.

• Provide training to ensure graduate advisors have the resources needed to make appropriate decisions.

• Create clear channels of communication between AAO, academic colleges and schools, and Graduate Studies for advisors and students providing updates and informational resources, e.g., http://blog.uta.edu/transition. (New policies and procedures, overview of the transition plan, AAO and Graduate Studies functions).

Changes to Graduate Admissions

Overview by Janet Wehner

Assistant Director for Graduate Admissions, Office of Admissions, Records and Registration

Contacting Graduate AdmissionsRefer prospective students as follows:

Walk-ins: Prospective Student Center in the Office of University Recruitment, Davis Hall Rm 123

Phone: 817-272-2090 Email: graduate.school@uta.edu

Contact information for Graduate Advisors/Departments: Alisa Johnson, Director Graduate Recruitment, X20708, alisa@uta.edu Andrea Yen, Admissions Counselor ,X20381, andrea.yen@uta.edu

Refer applicants for graduate admissions as follows: Walk-ins: Office of Admissions, Records and Registration, Davis Hall Rm 129 Phone: 817-272-3372 Email: graduate.school@uta.edu

Contact information for Graduate Advisors/Departments: Janet Wehner Assistant Director Graduate Admissions, X22380, Grad.admission@uta.edu

Graduate Admissions Mailing Address:UT Arlington Graduate Admissions, Box 19167, 701 S Nedderman Dr. Davis Hall-Rm 332, Arlington TX 76019.

What’s Changed?

Accountability

• Academic Deans are responsible for the final admission decision and compliance with Texas Education Code, Section 51.842.Worksheet decisions should align with published program admission criteria.Performance on the GRE or GMAT cannot be the sole criterion for denial.

• Graduate Advisors are responsible for final completion of the worksheet.Denial reasons should be noted on the worksheet to ensure the denial is not

based solely on the applicants performance on the GRE or GMAT. Add a justification remark to explain decisions that do not align with the

programs published admission criteria.Place a check mark beside the appropriate missing documents or conditions to

be satisfied when granting provisional or probationary admission. Review transcript data for applicants in “bachelor’s will” or “master’s will”

status and admit in provisional status for the final bachelor’s or master’s transcript when appropriate.

• Receipt and evaluation of transcripts

• Receipt of test scores

• Admission workflow

• Issuance of I-20’s

What’s not changed?

What’s coming next?

• Status changes

• Auto Admit

Changes to Petitions

Overview by Joslyn Krismer

Director, Operations SupportDivision of Academic Analytics and Operations

What is a petition?

Graduate students may request an exception to certain policies in the catalog. The mechanism for requesting these exceptions is the Petition

Petition Process

OLD: Student>Graduate Advisor>Graduate Studies Committee Chair>Graduate Dean

NEW: Student>Graduate Advisor>Graduate Studies Committee Chair>Academic Dean>(sometimes AAO)*

Petition processing – 3 systems

1. Online form2. WebNow3. MyMav

Petition help guide

Common petition types

Requests to continue on probationary academic status

Requests for a time extension to meet the terms of a provisional admission status

Requests for a deadline extension for meeting graduation requirements (Petitions approved for late graduation applications do not mean the student’s information will be included inclusion in the commencement bulletin)

Other petition types

• Petitions requesting waiver of tuition, fees or parking tickets cannot be approved through the petition process.

Petition processing – best practices

a. Be as consistent as possible in granting exceptions.

b. Be aware of critical dates and plan accordingly.

c. State expectations applying to the petitioner and consequences for not meeting them explicitly on the petition.

d. If you feel the student should be allowed to continue on academic probation (see Common Petition Types “a” above), you may require or create an explicit plan of action that details how the student shall correct the problem.

e. When petitions for allowing “old” course work to satisfy degree requirements, require or set an expected graduation date and specify what will occur if the student fails to graduate by that date

Who to ask?

WebNow questions: Michelle Williams (mwilliam@uta.edu)

Policy questions: Joe Jackson (jackson@uta.edu)

Questions related to transition: Joslyn Krismer (krismer@uta.edu)

Changes to Graduation

Overview by Tammy Shoemaker

Assistant Registrar for Graduation ServicesOffice of Admissions, Records and Registration

• Graduation application available to graduation candidates through MyMav student self-service beginning Spring 2014

• Graduate students with 18 or more completed hours will be marked as eligible (Message: “You may submit an application for graduation. Check with your Graduate Advisor first.”

• All messaging drives students to Graduate Advisor prior to submitting application for graduation

Application for Graduation

Benefits to Graduate Advisors, Supporting Staff and Faculty

• Moves graduation application into MyMav; can sunset the two shadow systems currently used.

• Advisors/staff who work with graduation can pull reports in real time, at any time they need; filterable by checkout status type, academic plan, application date, etc.

• Advisors/staff who work with graduation can reference student communications in MyMav.

• Advisors/staff who work with graduation can communicate with graduation counselors via MyMav comments

Graduation Resources• Tammy Shoemaker, Assistant Registrar,

tammyshoemaker@uta.edu, 817/272-0846

• Websites:– Graduation: http://wweb.uta.edu/aao/recordsandregis

tration/content/student_services/graduation.aspx– Transition:

http://blog.uta.edu/transition/

Q & A