GradNews February 2011
Photo by John Pollock
Welcome to GradNews, the Occasional
Graduate College Newsletter!
February 2011
New Pilot Program: Parental Leave for Graduate Assistants
In recognition of the demands on parents of newborns or newly adopted children, Graduate Assistants anticipating the arrival of a new baby or child may apply for a paid Graduate College Parental Leave for up to six weeks of new parenthood...more
Has your program switched to the customizable grad application yet?
The Graduate College continues to work on many features for our Online Application and Program Description Guide . . more
New Graduate Access Fellowships
Graduate Access Fellowships are intended to broaden the access of U.S. students to graduate education and to promote the diversity of our graduate student body....more
Upcoming Fellowship Competitions
AHSS: Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences Graduate Fellowships--Deadline February 15
Peter W. Likins Graduate Fellowship Award--Deadline February 28
Richard A. Harvill Graduate Fellowship--Deadline February 28
UA/Sloan Partnerships for Native American Graduate Students in STEM fields--rolling deadline
Initiatives to Maximize Student Diversity--rolling deadline
Changes in the Degree Certification Office
Paul Pronze is retiring, but will return 19 hours per week to continue work with Mosaic. (Thank you Paul for all you've done for the Graduate College and all you will be doing with Mosaic!) Nancy Lindsay and Mike Renning will be our co-leads. Christopher Brazil joins us as a new auditor. So we have reassigned programs to auditors.
Look here to see who will be the auditor for your program.
TOEFL and TBest for International Teaching Assistants
The Graduate College has been studying a way to identify the lowest TOEFL Speak Score that can predict, prior to admission, an international student's ability to become a TA. ETS recommends a score of 26 in the Speak section of the TOEFL as the lowest score that can predit good English Speaking ability. TBest, the UA method we have chosen to differentiate between ready and non-ready international students, measures readiness to serve as a TA.
In a study of potential UA ITAs who took both tests, we found that students with a TOEFL of 23 or better are likely to achieve a score of 7 on the TBest. Programs should use this as a guide when selecting students who will be funded as ITAs. Departments who want to admit international students with scores below 26 in the Speak section should be prepared to fund them with Research Assistantships if they do not score 7 on the Tbest.
Continuous Enrollment Policy changed for Master's Students
A student admitted to a master's program must register each fall and spring semester for a minimum of 3 graduate units, from original matriculation until all degree requirements are met. When these requirements are met, master’s students not on financial assistance and/or not needing to maintain appropriate visa status, must register for a minimum of 1 unit of thesis or master’s report credit each semester until the thesis or report is finalized. ... more
Summer Research for Undergraduate Students
The Graduate College Diversity staff will soon be calling on faculty to mentor selected students who share their research interests. We have received over 300 applications from college juniors and seniors from UA and other universities, including several from
New CONACyT Fellowships
The Dean of the
America's Brain Drain
President Obama devoted much of his State of the Union address to education and science. For years our American universities have attracted the best science students in the world, but as John Blackstone reports, it's keeping them here once they graduate that's the challenge.. . more
Statewide PSM Initative
The Graduate College in partnership with the Graduate Colleges at NAU and ASU has been working on a statewide initiative to support Professional Science Masters (PSM) education in the state. This initiative has been funded by a grant from the Sloan Foundation....more
New TATO modules
Teaching Assistant Training Online (TATO) continues to expand the number of modules available. In addition to “Staying Out of Trouble: UA Policies applicable to the classroom” and the mandatory test on these policies required by the Graduate College of all Teaching Assistants before they start in the classroom, four other modules are now displayed in D2L: (1) Copyright Issues (2) Discussion as a Way of Teaching, (3) Rubrics; and (4) Assessing Writing. A fifth module focusing on Lab Instruction is under development. These modules are optional for Teaching Assistants but contain a great deal of very useful information. Potential or current Teaching Assistants can access these modules through D2L. Please encourage TAs and, in particular, ITAs to review them and, if possible, provide feedback to Maria Teresa Velez, Associate Dean, Graduate College.
Please formalize options within majors.
With formalized options (sometimes called tracks, concentrations, or specializations), students may apply directly to each option. Options can have different admissions requirements or different deadlines. The option can appear on transcripts and diplomas if you like. With options, data will be in the central system allowing programs to easily track information about each option. With the new Business Intelligence capabilities, this is a huge advantage. And best of all, formalizing options is easy: Just send the curriculum/requirements for each option to Dianne Horgan and Patti King. The advantages to formal opions are significant to students, to programs and our managing of degrees.
New programs
New Certificates in Clinical and Translational Science, Maternal and Child Health Epidemiology, Technology in Second Language Teaching, and Engineering Management
New MS in Geographal Information Systems Technology
New minor in Astrobiology
REMINDERS!! 
Academic Renewal replaces GRO for graduate students
Conversion to non-degree has been replaced with Academic Disqualification
Incompletes that earn an "E" will remain an "E"
Conditional Admission
Qualifications to teach graduate courses
