University of South Florida

Graduate Program Directors Resource Center

Welcome to Graduate Program Director (GPD) Resource Center. The GPD is an extremely important position that is on the front line of graduate education at USF. The duties of the GPD are manifold and encompass all aspects of graduate education at USF. There is no one model for the management of the various duties and programs at USF handle the position in different ways. In some programs, multiple faculty may serve as the GPC and are assigned by the Departmental Chair to either the master’s or doctoral program. In others, a single faculty member is the GPD and chairs a committee of other departmental faculty that may be assigned to the oversight of the duties to be discussed below. However, no mater what model is utilized, a key aspect of management of the GPD position is the coordination of the various duties. If you are new to the position please make sure to notify the Graduate School with your contact information and download a copy of the Program Directors Operations and Best Practices Manual (coming soon).

The Graduate School partners with GPDs to facilitate all aspects of graduate education at USF. This site provides resources in support of the numerous duties that encompass the GPD position. Suggestions for additional content and updates should be sent to the Associate Dean.

Monthly Brown Bag Meeting Information and Resources
 To facilitate an open communication between the Graduate School and the GPDs, the Associate Dean holds monthly Brown Bag Information sessions for all GPDs and administrative staff. For the Fall 2009 semester all meetings will be held from 11:30-1:00 in the TECO room of the College of Education. The dates for the sessions are:


Wednesday, August 26

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Thursday, April 15, 2010

The topic area of each meeting will be communicated by email. To download a PDF version of the session you missed, click on the links above.

Please RSVP to the Brown Bag Sessions through Lada Harland. To get on the list-serv for Brown Bag and other announcements send your contact information to Ryan Durrant.

Program Directors Operations and Best Practices Manual
 The main Graduate School contact for comments and updates to the Operations Manual is Richard Pollenz.

The Graduate School has developed a comprehensive Operations and Best Practices Manual that covers the various duties that a GPD might be assigned. The manual contains suggestions on best practices and procedures for he various duties as well as links to important resources that will help in the efficiency of the job. Download Operations Manual (Coming soon).

Graduate School Structure and Staff Directory
 The University of South Florida Graduate School serves as the hub of leadership for graduate education “producing present-day and future global leaders, one student at a time.” The Graduate School contains five administrative units that include Academics, Admissions, Student Success, Post-Doctoral Affairs, and Accounting. To see the staff associated with each unit, access the Staff Directory.

Admissions Resources
 The main Graduate School contact for admissions information is Francisco Vera

The Graduate School Admissions Office provides support for all graduate admissions processes (domestic and International) as well as the Graduate School Orientation. For a description of the graduate admissions process download (link to admissions PDF) the admissions tutorial.

Other resources that may be helpful include USF Testing Services. This unit is a division of Continuing Education and administers tests and provides resources for numerous graduate level examinations.

The Office of the Registrar as well as the Graduate School Admissions Office is a source for residency information.

International Affairs provides leadership, advocacy, and support for all university-wide international activities in order to achieve coherence and integration of globally-oriented teaching, research, creative work, and service.

Fellowship and Scholarship Resources

The main Graduate School contact for Scholarship and Fellowship information is Rod Hale.

The Graduate School offers numerous fellowship opportunities for new and continuing students especially students from underrepresented populations. The deadline for most of the fellowships applications is early February of each year, with awards announced to students and programs by early April. Programs that have identified eligible students are encouraged to communicate with the Graduate School for information on availability. A detailed description of the various awards and can be found on the Scholarships and Fellowships page.

The Graduate School also maintains a Funding for Research page with numerous links that help students identify funding sources to support research efforts. The content is listed by discipline as well as due date. The Graduate School will make all efforts to inform GPDs of National competitions from the large Federal agencies (NSF, NIH etc).

GPDs should also be aware that USF has a searchable Scholarship and Fellowship database that lists many additional types of awards that are available to graduate students.

All GPDs should also be aware of the scholarship and fellowship opportunities for students that exist within their college.

Graduate Assistant Resources

The main Graduate School contact for Graduate Assistant information is Lada Harland.

The Graduate School maintains a resource site with information that pertains to Graduate Assistantships. It is important to note that students appointed to the 9181, 9182, 9183, 9184, 9185 and 9550 GA job codes, are governed by the Graduate Assistants Union (GAU). A copy of the collective bargaining agreement can be downloaded from the Graduate Assistantships site noted above.

Graduate Program/Course Development and Submission Resources

The main Graduate School contact for program and course submission information is Carol Hines-Cobb.

To access detailed information about curriculum processing, access Graduate Curriculum Processing.

Graduate Student Workshops and Courses

The main Graduate School contact for course and workshop information is Richard Pollenz.

The Graduate School is committed to providing outreach to all graduate students in order to promote increased communication, productivity, retention and time-to-degree. A major initiative is the scheduling of workshops where students can interact directly Graduate School leadership and USF faculty on specific topics that promote academic and professional success. For some of these workshops the Graduate School partners with the Graduate and Professional Student Organization (GPSC) as well as the Black Graduate and Professional Student Organization (BGPSC). Registration for all workshops is online through the Courses and Workshops.

The Graduate School also coordinates the “Building a Leader” Course Series where students can take courses taught by the Graduate Deans and USF faculty. These courses focus on leadership, research skills and professional development. The GPDs will be notified of course offerings and additional information can be found on the Courses and Workshops page.

Marketing and Recruitment Resources

The main Graduate School contact for marketing and recruitment information is Malcolm Randolph.

The Graduate School’s role is to actively recruit the best and brightest students for all graduate and professional programs at the University. The Marketing & Recruitment Unit promotes the academic and research excellence of USF graduate programs by representing USF at research and professional conferences, recruiting fairs and an assortment of events across the country.

The Goals of the Marketing and Recruitment Unit Include:

  • Actively recruit the best and brightest students for all graduate programs at the University of South Florida. The Marketing & Recruitment Department promotes the academic and research excellence of USF graduate programs by ensuring representation at recruitment fairs, professional conferences, and events across the country.
  • Develop and maintain relationships with institutions and programs for historically underrepresented student populations. To continually enhance the diversity of our graduate scholars and researchers, our area works with targeted institutions to educate potential students about the value of a USF graduate education.
  • Support students in the consideration, application and admittance process. The graduate coordinators within each department are often your first point of contact. However, throughout the process of deciding upon and applying to graduate school, we are also here to solve problems, answer questions and provide a personal touch to this process.
  • Develop partnerships with USF Programs to enhance recruiting efforts.

Graduate School Partnership Program

The Graduate School endeavors to assist in enhancing the recruiting efforts of individual programs at USF by providing outreach, administrative support and connections between interested students and their prospective departments and faculty. GPDs should make all efforts to work with the Marketing and Recruitment Unit when considering campus visits and open houses for prospective students. The Graduate School will assist programs with the visit to USF and will be happy to schedule time with key Graduate School administrators and well with help in the tour of the campus and the Tampa Bay community. The Graduate School also has various marketing resources that may be used if individual faculty are attending events. Finally, the Graduate School awards recruitment funds to Programs.

Graduate Student Recruitment Proposals for Funds are Now Available to Programs/Departments

Funds are now available to support program activities that will contribute directly to increasing the pool of qualified applicants to programs through recruiting activities. Programs may apply for funds in both areas. The funds for this initiative come from a limited pool and all attempts will be made to accommodate all applications. However, programs that have not received funds in the past and those programs that can clearly demonstrate previous Graduate School funds enhanced recruitment of students to their graduate programs will be given priority.

  • Travel/Host Prospective Students. The Graduate School will provide up to $500.00 per student to help programs with travel expenses for bringing out-of-state students to campus. Programs should demonstrate their plans to identified prospective students and show a commitment to the academic success of these students in their program. Programs that have received Graduate School Recruitment Funds in the past year should also show how the previous funds were used and the outcome of the efforts. Maximum amount of each award will be $2,500.
  • General Recruiting. The Graduate School will provide $500.00 per program to be used to support faculty/graduate student travel to feeder schools (recruitment trip), an open house, recruitment fair or recruitment weekend for prospective students.

The deadline for receipt of application packages is October 2, 2009. Download the Eligibility Information and Application Package.

Graduate & Professional School Recruitment Fair

USF Graduate School cordially invites you to the Graduate & Professional School Recruitment Fair on November 12, 2009 from 9:00 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Marshall Student Center 2100ABC. Registration is free, however, space is limited and programs are encouraged to submit their registration early. Registrations will be accepted on a first-come first-served basis, limited 80 tables. Set-up will begin at 8:00 a.m. the day of the event.

Policy and Catalog Resources

The main Graduate School contact for policy and catalog information is Carol Hines-Cobb.

A major responsibility of the Graduate School is to update graduate catalog each year and have it approved by the Board of Trustees. The graduate catalog is the reference for all program requirements and graduate policy and must be followed. The GPD is responsible for yearly updates to the catalog that reflect approved changes to courses or program requirements. This process typically begins in late summer or early Fall. The current catalog as well as archives back to 2001 are available online and all GPDs should print the sections specific to their programs to keep track of any proposed changes or corrections.

The Graduate School also maintains an online portal that is built from each catalog entry and describes the requirements of each program in the same format.

A major responsibility of all GPDs is to advise their students on the numerous USF and graduate school policies. All changes to graduate policy are vetted in the policy subcommittee of the Graduate Council that typically meets the first Tuesday of each month in the Graduate School. Suggested changes to policy should be submitted to the chair of the Graduate Council or the either of the Graduate School Deans. To help explain several of the key policies, the following tutorials are available.

Academic Disruption
Academic Integrity
Academic Probation Tutorial
Degree Status Definitions
Grievance Procedure
I grade Tutorial
Late Withdrawals and Drops
Major Professor
Readmission to Program Tutorial
Time Limits and Extensions Tutorial

Student Tracking and Progress Resources

The main Graduate School contact for tracking and progress information is Richard Pollenz.

A major responsibility of the GPD is the tracking of student progress. This includes oversight of enrollment each semester, qualifying exam benchmarks, doctoral candidacy, research productivity, commencement deadlines and time-to-degree. The Graduate School monitors students that do not meet enrollment guidelines and may fall to non-degree seeking status, as well as time-to-degree. However, the GPD should be proactive in oversight of these processes. Best practices include: developing a tracking spreadsheet for the students in the program, holding orientations to assure active communication, and requiring annual progress reports that specify yearly goals and timelines to program-specific benchmarks.

Thesis and Dissertation Resources

The main Graduate School contact for thesis/dissertation information is Janet Giles.

All students enrolled in thesis-based master’s programs or Ph.D. programs must submit an electronic version of their thesis or dissertation (ETD) to the Graduate School. The details of the submission process, semester deadlines, FAQs, as well as resources for the writing and formatting of the manuscripts are detailed on the Thesis and Dissertation page. The Graduate School also coordinates several formatting workshops each semester and the dates for these events can be found on the page as well. It is critical that the GPD become familiar with the ETD process and discusses the deadlines and processes with students at the beginning of the semester.