1. Graduate Degree Progress & Clearance Graduate School Office Amy Gillett and Amy Corr

2. What is the Process? Student/PD submit paperwork Student applies for graduation via Access Stout Amy Corr verifies student paperwork, contacts student/PD as necessary during graduation term Final verification by Amy of student completion of requirements at close of term Award degree, Deny or Withdraw graduation application

3. Required Paperwork What paperwork is required? When does it need to be submitted?

4. What Paperwork is Required? Degree Candidacy Approval Form Program Plan Unofficial Transcript Request to Transfer Credit form (if applicable) Second Master’s Evaluation form (if applicable)

5. When Does the Paperwork Get Submitted? The paperwork needs to be submitted to the Graduate School office during the term in which the student plans to graduate. The Graduation Information page lists deadlines in the “Degree Candidacy Approval Form and Program Plan” section. These are preferred deadlines; submitting after will not preclude a student from being eligible to graduate, but the sooner we receive the required paperwork, the more time we have to detect and resolve any issues that may affect a student’s eligibility for graduation.

6. Degree Candidacy Approval Form (DCAF) The form can be found by going to the Graduation Information page on the Stout website (http://www.uwstout.edu/grad/current/graduation.cfm) and clicking on the link for the approval form.http://www.uwstout.edu/grad/current/graduation.cfm Needs to be filled out by the student and submitted with the completed program plan and unofficial transcript.

8. Program Plan Program plans for your degree program can be found by clicking on the Program Plan link for the desired program via the Programs page found here: http://www.uwstout.edu/grad/prospe ct/programs.cfm http://www.uwstout.edu/grad/prospe ct/programs.cfm Needs to be completed and signed by both the student and the Program Director and submitted with the DCAF and unofficial transcript.

9. Unofficial Transcript Should be submitted with the DCAF and program plan. If for any reason one is unavailable for submission with the other documentation, I can run one to include with the rest of the paperwork.

10. Other Paperwork Request to Transfer Credit form This needs to be completed and submitted with the DCAF and program plan if applicable. Second Master’s Evaluation form This also needs to be completed and submitted with the DCAF and program plan.

11. Request to Transfer Credit Form Transfer Credit is addressed in the Graduate School policies document on pages 5-6 in section 2.1.3. The required form is found on the Graduation Information page under the “Degree Candidacy Approval Form and Program Plan” section by clicking on the link for the Request to Transfer Credit form. The first page includes instructions for completion. The second page is the actual form that needs to be completed and submitted. Our office will also need to have an official graduate-level transcript on file from the institution from which the credits are being transferred.

13. Second Master’s Evaluation Form Addressed in Graduate School policies document on page 11 under policy 2.4. Form is not available via the website; contact the graduate school office if you need access. The form is page one, with instructions on page two. Evaluation form must be completed and signed by the program director and submitted to the Graduate School office with the DCAF and program plan. Upon degree conferral, a special statement is added to the transcript explaining the awarding of the Second Master’s degree (since courses were used to meet requirements but are not actually transferred in).

15. Applying for Graduation When should a student apply? What do they have to do?

16. When Should a Student Apply? A student should ONLY apply to graduate for the term in which they expect to complete all the requirements for their degree program. Students SHOULD NOT apply for a term just to participate in that term’s ceremony. The Spring commencement ceremony includes all students who expect to complete their degrees in EITHER the spring or summer term. The Fall commencement ceremony includes all students who expect to complete their degrees in EITHER the fall or WinTerM term.

17. What do they have to do? Either you (PD) or the student can submit the required paperwork to the Graduate School office. The student needs to sign in to their Access Stout account and formally apply for graduation. Completion of this step is how a student gets on my list for review for a given term. A student is not eligible for degree conferral until they complete this step!!

18. Apply to Graduate The “Apply to Graduate” section on the Graduation Information page (http://www.uwstout.edu/grad/current/graduation.cfm) provides in-depth information on how and when to apply for graduation. The deadlines listed in this section pertain more to the commencement ceremony; students who have applied by the listed deadline will have their names printed in the commencement program/booklet. Those who apply after the listed date are still eligible to be reviewed for graduation and participate in the ceremony, but they will not have their name listed in the booklet/program.http://www.uwstout.edu/grad/current/graduation.cfm

19. Research Paper Submission How the Process Works

20. Deadlines Research paper deadlines can be found on the Graduation Information page in the “Research Paper” section. Research paper deadlines are hard deadlines…late submissions will result in not being able to graduate until the next term.

21. Submission Research papers should be submitted via email to Amy Corr (corra@uwstout.edu).corra@uwstout.edu Please attach the paper to the email as a Word document. Papers can be submitted by either the student or the research advisor; however, if the student is submitting it should only be with approval from the research advisor and he or she should be copied in the email. I will send out a confirmation of receipt email when I receive a paper. The email is sent to the student and the research advisor is copied.

22. Review Process Initial review of the formatting of the paper is done by me, then forwarded with appropriate notes to the interim director for further review. The Interim Director will email the student (*at their UW-Stout email address*) with either a list of required revisions or a letter of approval. If revisions are required, once the student has completed the revisions the revised paper should be emailed to corra@uwstout.edu and will undergo the steps as above until it receives final approval.corra@uwstout.edu If a student uses the research paper template made available to them via the website, the review and approval process is typically much shorter and less “painful” for the student than if they do not use it. (http://www.uwstout.edu/grad/student/research.cfm)http://www.uwstout.edu/grad/student/research.cfm

23. Degree Conferral How it Happens

24. End of Term-Conferral Assuming a student has met all the requirements for their degree program (paperwork, application for graduation, research paper submission/approval as required, etc.) I do a final review of their record at the close of the term. Confirm GPA Make sure GPA meets minimum requirements. Confirm Coursework Make sure student has completed all required coursework with at least minimum grade. Check for approved thesis. Post Degree Set degree checkout status to complete and update degree. Email student to notify of the degree award.

25. End of Term-Withdraw/Deny On occasion, a student will not be able to meet all degree requirements by the end of the term and thus will not be eligible for degree conferral at the close of that term. If this happens, I send them a “removal from graduation list” email which will tell them why their degree is not being conferred for that term and informs them that I will either withdraw their application for the term or deny their application depending on the response I get from the student. If they give me an updated expected graduation date, I can change that for them in their student record and they do not have to re-apply for graduation. If I get no response or they do not know when they will be complete, I deny them for that term; they would then have to re-apply for graduation when they are ready. Requirements not met, email notice sent No Response/Unsure of Completion Timeline Denial of Degree Re-apply for Graduation when ready Student responds with updated term Withdraw application from current term Change expected graduation term according to student response

26. One Last Thing… As a side note, I also compile some reports that may be of interest to you during the spring, summer, and early part of the fall terms.

27. Enrollment Summary Reports Updated weekly and available via the Information Portal Weekly enrollment information by term (summer and fall) and program Access by clicking on the link in the Most Recent Updates menu from the main page, or from the Enrollment Data menu in the Student Data section.

28. Admissions Progress Reports This is a monthly report of newly admitted students and includes application, admission, and expected enrollment numbers for each program for the upcoming fall and summer terms combined. Also available via the Information Portal, either from the recent uploads menu or in the Student Data section in the Pre- Enrollment Data menu.

29. End of Term Reports At the end of each term, you will receive (via email) a thesis distribution list, which will list all students who submitted theses to the Graduate School for the term. Information includes student name, submission and approval dates, majors/programs, research advisor and committee members, and thesis titles. You will also receive a Word document titled “Graduates – Final List by Major – (term)” which is exactly what it sounds like—a list of students who graduated that term from each graduate degree program.

30. Useful Links Information On: Website Navigation: (From Stout homepage) URL: Program Plans Future Students  Graduate  Prospective Students  Graduate Programs http://www.uwstout.edu/grad/prospect/programs.cfm Graduation Information Current Students  Graduate  Current Students  Graduation http://www.uwstout.edu/grad/current/graduation.cfm Research Paper Template Current Students  Graduate  Student Resources  Research Guide  Templates Tab http://www.uwstout.edu/grad/student/research.cfm Graduate School Policies Current Students  Graduate  Current Students  Faculty and Staff Resources  Graduate School Policies http://www.uwstout.edu/grad/upload/Graduate-School- Policies.pdf Information Portal Logins  Information Portalhttps://info.uwstout.edu/Pages/Home.aspx