Graduate School

Graduate School Bulletin

January 09,2024

 

Table of contents

Click on a category name to view that section or click on a headline to read the full announcement.

Welcome to the Spring 2024 Semester!

Articles of interest

Graduate School receives Council of Graduate School’s grant

Faculty and Staff

Admissions

Recruitment

Graduate Student Success

Opportunities for Graduate Students

Funding and awards for graduate students

Upcoming Events and Deadlines

 

Welcome to the New Year!

Welcome to the New Year and the start of the Spring 2024 semester! We look forward to continuing this semester the work started in Fall semester, to be a good partner to you and to continue to support your work.

We wish you a great Spring 2024 semester and a year full of success!

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Articles of interest

Supporting first-year doctoral students

Take a look at this article, published in Inside Higher Ed, which lists three ways to help remove some of the barriers doctoral students face.

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If you come across an article that would be of interest to other graduate programs, please send it to Michael Sellman, Graduate School communication specialist, at msellman@ksu.edu, to have the article featured in a future Bulletin!

 

Graduate School receives Council of Graduate School’s grant

We got accepted to be part of the Council of Graduate School's NSF project "Broadening Participation in STEM Graduate Degrees and the U.S. STEM Workforce." This was a competitive selection process for which the proposal was put together by the Graduate School in partnership with DAIR. This three-year project will launch in October 2024. CGS made awards to 40 eligible institutions to collect detailed data on the graduate application, admissions, and matriculation process, beginning with the 2024-2025 academic year and continuing through the Fall 2027 admission cycle. This CGS project combines elements of two longstanding data-collection efforts, the CGS/GRE Survey of Graduate Enrollment and Degrees (GE&D) and the CGS International Graduate Admissions Survey. Data resulting from the new data collection effort will yield a deeper understanding of the application through matriculation process and provide graduate institutions with information for fostering a more diverse and inclusive STEM workforce.

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Faculty and Staff

Achieving operational excellence through the Graduate Catalog

The Graduate School launched an effort to clarify graduate program catalog entries in Spring, 2023. Changes to over 30 entries appeared in the 2023-2024 Graduate Catalog. These efforts have continued into the fall and spring of this year. Most of the ongoing changes involve reorganization and clarification, using consistent terms across pages, listing contact information, etc., and thus will appear in this year’s catalog as soon as they are identified and implemented. Larger changes are subject to review by the Graduate Council and will appear in next year’s catalog.

The Graduate School’s goal is to provide a repository that helps prospective and current students better understand our graduate programs, what they value, and their requirements. Furthermore, clear program information is fundamental to the smooth operation of the Graduate School’s degree analysts who assist students in their path to a K-State graduate degree. For questions about this effort, please reach out to Dr. Michael Young, michaelyoung@ksu.edu, or Timon Smock, gradinfo@ksu.edu.

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January Know How: Graduate Application Deadlines

The Graduate School invites you to join us on January 24th for our Know-How session on Graduate Application Deadlines. In this session we will cover the process used to develop the deadlines, the implementation timeline and answer any questions you might have. This Know How will be held from 11:30am – 1:00pm via Zoom (Meeting ID: 999 1943 0807) and in Eisenhower Hall, Room 121.

RSVP your attendance by January 22nd

For more information about this event, please contact Miranda Schremmer, mquint@ksu.edu.

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New Faculty Orientation

The Graduate School will be hosting two sessions for New Graduate Faculty Orientation. In these sessions the topics will include:

    • Role of the Graduate Faculty
    • Relationships of graduate faculty – graduate students
    • How the Graduate School is supporting graduate faculty
    • Resources
    • Discussion about Graduate Faculty Needs

The first session will be held on Thursday, January 25th at 9am via Zoom and the second session will be held on Wednesday, January 31st at 1pm via Zoom. Please let us know which session you plan to attend by completing this Qualtrics Survey.

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Graduate School Welcomes New Full-Time Staff Member

The Graduate school is excited to announce the addition of Jeffery Zhu as a full-time staff member in the Admissions area of the Graduate School. We now have four full-time staff members operating in the Admissions area to increase operational excellence.

Jeff joined the Graduate School in 2023 as a part-time staff member in the Graduate Admissions area. He has also been a part of K-State for many years. He received his bachelor's degree from KSU in 2010 and has spent a lot of time at Hale Library prior to becoming a student. He resides in Manhattan with his wife, who also works at K-State, and their cat. Jeff is a fan of card games, board games, and video games, and enjoys the camaraderie afforded by these.

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Seeking judges and mock judge for the 3MT

The Graduate School is calling for faculty, staff and postdoc volunteers for the Three Minute Thesis (3MT). Mock judges are needed to assist with 3MT practice sessions (January 24-February 2), and judges are needed for the first round of competition on February 7. Previous experience with the 3MT is not required to serve in either role. If you are interested in assisting with one or more practice sessions or serving as a 3MT competition judge, please complete a brief form to indicate your interest and availability. Please also share this opportunity with staff and post-docs in your department.

Questions about the 3MT may be directed to Megan Miller at mmmiller@ksu.edu.

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Upcoming Events and Deadlines

January 24

Know-How: Graduate Application Deadlines, 11:30 a.m-1:00 p.m., 121 Eisenhower Hall, unless otherwise noted.

January 25

New Graduate Faculty Orientation Session, 9:00 – 10:00 a.m., Zoom (Meeting ID: 985 1145 0061)

All Graduate School events and deadlines

Doctoral defenses

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Admissions

Slate CRM Implementation for Graduate School - Update

    • The Graduate School continues to work with Carnegie and the slate CRM implementation team. We are in Phase II, building the application.
    • Fields and prompts are live and the application build has begun. We began creating the application tab, dashboard views and some custom content.
    • We built the program and campus-based permission levels for the application.
    • We began work on a payment voucher system to create program/campus-based voucher codes for applicants.
    • User accounts have been moved into production and are live.
    • We created a new way to ask and track our Fort Leavenworth students.

The current timeline is as follows:

      • Phase 1- Complete by November 6th
        • Building Records, Forms, Events, and Communications
      • Phase 2- Complete by January 22nd
        • The Application form developed
      • Phase 3- Complete by April 15th
        • Workflows designed
      • Final Implementation goal: April 29th
      • Historical Data Migration into Slate by May 31st

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Recruitment

Fall 2024 Nominations – Timothy R. Donoghue Graduate Scholarships

The Graduate School is accepting nominations for the Timothy R. Donoghue Graduate Scholarships. The nomination deadline is January 31, 2024.

Funding information: Master's students are awarded a $3,000 scholarship, and doctoral students are awarded a $5,000 scholarship for one academic year. The scholarship may be renewed for a second year.

Nomination guidelines and procedures:

    • Nominees must beginning a K-State graduate program in Fall 2024 and be offered an assistantship.
    • Nominees may be U.S. citizens, permanent residents, or international students.
    • Limited funding is available to support up to 20 doctoral and up to 10 masters admitted for Fall 2024.
    • Each graduate program may submit four
    • Nominations are due January 31, 2024. Selected students will be notified by February 17.

Learn more about the scholarship and access the nominations survey.

Questions about the Donoghue Scholarship may be directed to Miranda Schremmer at donoghuescholarship@ksu.edu or 785-532-6191.

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Update – Recruitment Event Funding Grant

Thank you to all the departments who submitted applications for the recruitment funding grants. The Graduate School has allocated up to $31,900 between nine departments. These funds will be used by the departments to host spring semester campus visit events for applicants offered Fall 2024 admission to doctoral programs or the Final Art terminal Master’s degree program.

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Graduate Student Success

New Graduate Student Welcome Session, Jan 10, 2024

As a reminder, the Graduate School will host a welcome session for new graduate students on January 9. An in-person offering will be held from 9:30-11:30am in 123 Leadership Studies. Students studying from a distance and others unable to attend the in-person session are invited to attend a virtual offering from 3:00-4:30pm. Students who plan to attend should register in advance. A Zoom link for the virtual session will be sent to students upon completing the registration. Information about additional welcome and orientation activities can be found on the Graduate School orientation webpage. Questions about the Graduate School’s welcome session may be directed to Dr. Megan Miller, mmmiller@ksu.edu.

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Spring Donoghue Scholarships Awarded

The Graduate School awarded two Donoghue scholarships to one master’s student and one doctoral student who are beginning their graduate programs in the Spring 2024 semester. The scholarships are $3,000 for master’s and $5,000. The award amounts are split between the spring and fall 2024 semesters.

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Opportunities for Graduate Students

Teaching and Learning Center seminars begin January 17

The Teaching and Learning Center's 2024 Professional Development Series begins January 17 with a session on “supporting first year students.” Seminars are held every Wednesday at noon via Zoom. Visit the TLC website for a schedule of spring semester seminars and more information about earning a professional development certificate and becoming a TLC fellow.

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K-State GRAD Forum registration deadline Jan. 31

The K-State GRAD Forum registration deadline is Jan. 31. The forum is an annual showcase of K-State graduate student research, scholarly work, and discovery. This event, held on campus, gives graduate students from all disciplines the opportunity to share their work with the K-State community, and gain experience presenting their work in a professional setting.

For more information, visit the K-State GRAD Forum website.

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Funding and awards for graduate students

Rural Grocery Initiative seeks student employee

Rural Grocery Initiative (RGI) is seeking a part-time student employee to help advance the mission of the initiative. The student employee will support projects related to rural food access, rural grocery stores, and community vitality and work with a variety of faculty, students, community stakeholders, and business leaders. This position is eligible for a remote or hybrid work environment. View the full position description and application instructions. Questions can be directed to Erica Blair, elblair@ksu.edu. For best consideration, students should apply by January 15, 11:59pm, US central time.

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Boren fellowship for study of critical languages, apply by Jan 24

Boren’s goal is to help more talented young Americans to study critical languages for extended periods of time and then consider work in government. In return for Boren’s support, which can run as high as $25,000, Boren requires scholars and fellows to work in the federal government for one year within 3 years of their return and provides preferred hiring status for them. This is an ideal fellowship for students seeking to work with the U.S. government.

    • $8,000-$25,000 to support intensive study of critical language (languages spoken outside western/northern Europe) for a semester or longer through a study abroad experience
    • Must be a U.S citizen
    • Interested students should contact Beth Powers, Director, Scholar Development & Undergraduate Research, bethpowers@ksu.edu, and work with Beth to prepare their application materials.
    • The application deadline is January 24, 2024. More information is available on the Boren website.

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Upcoming Events and Deadlines

January 8-13

Orientation for new international students

January 10

Graduate School Welcome Session

January 11

Orientation for Graduate Students with Teaching Responsibilities

January 15

Rural Grocery Initiative Student Employee Application Deadline

January 17

TLC: Supporting First Year Students (GPD)

January 24

TLC: Accessibility at K-State (NTK)

January 24

Boren fellowship for study of critical languages Scholarship Application Deadline

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