What We Do

The Graduate School serves a multiplicity of functions, but three are particularly worthy of note: Admissions, Graduate Student Services, and Research Services.  The Office of Graduate Admissions works with a different admissions committee for each of its programs.  While the Graduate School enforces minimum standards for admission, each of its programs has its own admission requirements, its own reviewing process, its own deadline, and its own standardized-examination requirements.  The Graduate School finalizes the admission and denial of applicants. 

The Graduate Student Services area of the Graduate School maintains all student records, monitors students’ academic progress, supervises registration, and clears students for graduation.  It maintains a compendium of academic regulations and procedures in the Graduate Bulletin.  It also administers a financial aid budget of approximately $15 million to support merit-based scholarships and fellowships.  It issues all award letters, monitors the expenditure of these monies, and stays abreast of all relevant federal laws and University financial policies.

The Graduate School provides Research Services, advising faculty and students on appropriate sources of external funding, administering Graduate School Research funds, and conducting the peer-reviewed competitions for resources in the Main Campus Faculty Development Fund.  These include grant-in-aid awards, summer research and curriculum development grants, departmental infrastructural grants, and faculty fellowships.