Graduate School

Graduate School Bulletin

October 3,2023

 

Table of contents

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

Articles of interest – NEW!

Faculty and Staff

Admissions

Recruitment

Graduate Student Success

Opportunities for Graduate Students

Funding Opportunities for Graduate Students

Upcoming Events and Deadlines

 

Articles of interest – NEW!

The attention paid to graduate education is becoming more focused due to changes faced by higher education. The article “Biden Administration Puts Grad Schools in the Hot Seat” from today’s Inside Higher Ed is an illustration of this attention and scrutiny.

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Faculty and Staff

The Graduate School continues to work with Carnegie and the slate CRM implementation team. We are making steady progress in preparing for the transition of the graduate application to Slate. Currently, the team is working on the inquiry form, dashboard and managing events and prospective communication, and will be moving to developing the graduate application in November.

The current timeline is as follows:

    • Phase 1- Complete by November 6th
      • Development inquiry form
    • 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 31th

For questions about Slate Implementation, Contact Dr. Micaela Lenhart (mlenhart@ksu.edu) and Joe Horan (jphoran@ksu.edu).

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In response to faculty and student feedback, the following change was completed in Etrieve. The drop-down menu of degree options for Etrieve forms now includes “master's all coursework” which replaces “master's non-thesis/non-report”.

    • Etrieve/SoftDocs Graduate Student Forms Editing Update

Graduate student forms can now be edited by the program advisor, major professor and program director during the approval workflow process. The program of study now allows editing of the course list as well as the supervisory committee. In order to edit courses, please scroll to the end of the course list and click the “Add Course” button. That will give you a blank course row to add a course and activate the “Remove Course” function on the course list to allow removal of any incorrect or unneeded courses on the list:

Softdcos1

In order to edit the supervisory committee, please scroll to the end of the supervisory committee list and click the “Add Member” button. That will give you a blank committee member row to add a member and also activate the “Remove Committee Member” function on prior rows/members:

Names

The program change form allows editing of courses to be added and/or dropped from an approved program of study and the committee change form allows editing of committee members to be added and/or dropped as well as change the committee member role if necessary. For the examination requests, the date time and place fields are editable but if a committee change is needed for the exam a committee change form must be submitted and processed prior to submission of the examination request.

If you have any questions about editing forms, please contact your designated degree analyst or Scott Schlender <grad@ksu.edu> in the Graduate School.

    • Helpful Information

Some faculty & staff members report that they cannot see how to submit forms or take other actions. The action buttons are at the bottom of the form panel (section of window). The “approve” button appears in the lower left corner of the panel/window or at the bottom of the screen on a mobile device:

softdocs

When a form is submitted by proxy on behalf of a student, the form is first routed to the student for their review/approval, so they are aware of the form submission. After the student approves the form, it is routed to the committee members and/or graduate program director as listed on the form.

All forms submitted via Softdocs/Etrieve can be accessed by the student and all listed reviewers on the form (supervisory committee members, graduate program director and program advisor). This allows a student to check the status of a form under review or view a completed/approved form. In order to view student forms, the student or form reviewers can click on the “activity” folder in Etrieve Central:

Softdocs

Questions and Support
For general form questions, please contact: Scott Schlender, Graduate School, 785-532-6191, grad@ksu.edu.

To report a technical issue such as denied access, submit a ticket via the IT Service Portal or contact the IT Service Desk at (785) 532-7722.

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Students who need to drop or withdraw from a course must do so by the deadlines stated in the academic calendar.

    • Full or partial refunds are granted only if a course is dropped by the deadlines stated in the academic calendar.
    • Deadlines in the academic calendar apply only for standard (16-week courses). Students should check drop/withdrawal deadlines for all of their courses in KSIS.
    • Students who miss the posted deadlines due to extenuating circumstances may appeal for a backdated drop/withdrawal by following the process outlined on the Registrar’s website.

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The National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship program is looking for volunteer panelists for application reviews from Dec. 4, 2023 to Jan. 19, 2024.
Evaluations will be conducted for approximately 20 applications with the volunteer’s selected discipline. This includes completing a summary assessment and rating the relative merit of the application. More information and applicant eligibility requirements can be found on the NDSEG website. Those eligible to volunteer can sign up on the NDSEG signup page no later than Nov. 24.

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October 4 Department Head Meeting
October 12 Coffee Colab: Grant Writing Workshop, 10am-noon, 307 Hale Library
October 18 Graduate School Strategic Plan Brainstorm Session
October 24 Research and the State graduate student poster session
November 15 Know How Session: Avoid Headaches, Grievances, & Issues
December 5 End of Semester Celebration

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Admissions

Departments wishing to pay the application fee for graduate applicants may purchase fee waiver codes from the Graduate School. Purchased codes may be given to prospective students so that their application fee can be waived. Codes are available in any quantity, but if you plan to use several please order in batches. When purchasing, please indicate the quantity of Domestic ($65) and/or International ($75) applications codes that are required. Request should be sent to jphoran@ksu.edu.

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Recruitment

On September 22, Dean Petrescu and Dr. Miller represented the Graduate School at the annual McNair Heartland Conference in Kansas City. Though this is a regional conference, McNair Scholars from around the country were in attendance. We had good traffic flow at our table for the two-hour graduate fair and had good discussions with students about options for graduate study at K-State.

This morning, Dr. Miller and one of our graduate student ambassadors participated in K-State's Hispanic American Leadership Organization (HALO) Encuentro Leadership Conference to interact with Latino high school students from across the state.

On Oct. 6, the Graduate School will participate in a graduate and professional fair as part of the oSTEM Regional Conference taking place at K-State.

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Graduate Student Success

Three K-State graduate students have been awarded the 2023 University Distinguished Professors (UDP) Excellence in Doctoral Studies Award. The winners are Andrew Horn, PhD candidate in kinesiology, Fan Liu, PhD candidate in chemical engineering, and Sabita Ranabhat, PhD candidate in entomology. This award recognizes exceptional achievement in doctoral studies. The UDP award press release is available on the K-State News website.

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Seventy-nine graduate students are registered to participate in the 2023 Research and the State poster session on Oct. 24. This is a 52% increase in participation from last year and the largest number of participants for this event! Thank you to faculty who encouraged their students to participate. An event schedule and additional details are coming soon.

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Graduation regalia sales are now open for purchasing. Visit the K-State Commencement Ceremonies website to view all purchase options.

    • Please note: As reported in the Sept. 21st edition of K-State Today, President Richard Linton announced that purple regalia worn at graduation, which includes gowns and tassels, will be worn by undergraduate students.

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For a student to be awarded a graduate certificate, the student must be enrolled in the semester the certificate is awarded. Certificates will not be awarded for a past semester. Certificate requirements are outlined in Chapter 4 of the Graduate Handbook.

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Opportunities for Graduate Students

Graduate students are invited to this professional development session (Oct. 4, 1:30-3:30pm, Wildcat Chamber) to learn how to effectively communicate the focus and value of their graduate work to non-expert audiences. This is a great preparation opportunity for students presenting at Research and the State, as well as to prepare for any upcoming presentation. Attendees will earn credit for the GSC Professional Development certificate. Advanced registration is requested.

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Graduate students who plan to graduate this semester are encouraged to attend this month’s “Coffee Chat with the Dean” on Oct. 10 from noon – 1:00 p.m. at 118 Eisenhower Hall. This is an excellent opportunity for students to make sure they are on the right track for their graduation date. Students will have opportunities to discuss and ask questions about completing the final milestones in obtaining their master’s or doctoral degree. Graduate students interested in participating should register in advance.

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Graduate students looking for a way to meet and connect with other K-Staters are invited to sign up for ’Cats Connect – a peer-to-peer facilitated program designed to help groups of 4-7 students meet and develop friendships outside of their regular social circles. Groups meet for one hour for five consecutive weeks beginning the week of Oct. 16. Registration closes Oct. 10

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Funding Opportunities for Graduate Students

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) application deadlines for Life Sciences is Oct. 16-20. The deadlines vary according to the major area of study. Applications must be received by 5 p.m. local time of the applicants mailing address. The program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees. The five-year fellowship provides three years of financial support inclusive of an annual stipend of $37,000.

More information is available on the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) website.

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Upcoming Events and Deadlines

October 4

TLC: Bringing Integrity Back to Basics, noon-1pm, Zoom

October 4

GSC Prof Devel: Presenting Your Research to the Public in a Poster Session, 1:30-3:00pm, Wildcat Chamber, Union

October 5

STEM-ina peer support group for graduate students, 4-6pm, 202 Union

October 9

Libraries workshop: Intro to survey design, 1:30-2:30pm, Zoom

October 10

Grad Coffee Chat with the Dean: Getting Ready for Graduation, noon-1pm, 118 Eisenhower Hall

October 11

TLC: Education and Indigenous Communities

October 12

Coffee Colab: Grant Writing Workshop, 10am-noon, 307 Hale Library

October 16

Libraries workshop: Free AI Tools for Literature Review, 1:30-2:30pm, Zoom

October 18

TLC: Artificial Intelligence and Higher Ed, noon-1pm, Zoom

October 19

GSC Prof Devel: Writing Teaching, Research, and Diversity Statements, 1:30-3:00pm, Wildcat Chamber, Union

October 23

Libraries workshop: Free AI Tools for Literature Reviews

October 24

Research and the State graduate student poster session, K-State Student Union

October 25

TLC: Equity in Assessment, noon-1pm, Zoom

October 30

Libraries workshop: Evidence synthesis: An overview for non-health sciences researchers

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