Graduate School News

Have You Heard?

There have been a number of changes in the Graduate School over the past year! We said goodbye to our associate dean Kerry Wilks and our admissions staff members Gail Allen and Rebekah Wagenbach, and welcomed Vanna Souriya and Sally Spina as our new admissions staff members, Kaysey Richardson as our marketing and communication coordinator, and Dr. Enrique Navarro as our new associate dean!

We have received feedback from faculty and staff that have led us to make changes to several policies and processes - so keep your suggestions coming! We are always happy to review any policy or process to make sure it is still meeting the needs of the graduate student community.

In other exciting news, our own Connie Owens received the President's Distinguished Service Award this past spring, and Denise Gimlin will be serving as the University Staff Senate President for the 2022-2023 academic year!

Please expand the sections below for details on important changes that have been put into place, and updates and reminders on various items.

ADMISSIONS and ENROLLMENT

Senior Rule - Changes were approved by Graduate Council in the fall of 2021. The new policy is in the current graduate catalog. Changes to the policy include:
- Application/Admission to Graduate School is no longer required
- May only be completed during two semesters
- A maximum of 12 credit hours may be earned through Senior Rule
- Clarifies Senior Rule is for current WSU undergraduate degree bound students
- Defines loss of eligibility because of lack of success at the graduate level
- A new approval structure to include the student's undergraduate program, graduate course offering department, and Graduate School. Any of the three may prevent participation in Senior Rule.
- A new Senior Rule participation form was created to communicate program requirements.
Offers of Admission and Deferral - Approved by Graduate Council, offers of admission may now only be deferred one time for up to one year. The updated policy now requires deferral requests be made no later than the 20th day of classes from the initial term of entry. Applicants who have not submitted a deferral request by this time will have their application offer withdrawn and would be required to apply again for admission into a future term.
Deposit for International Applicants - Implementation is still in progress. Once finalized, all international applicants seeking to receive a Form I-20 from the Graduate School will be required to provide a $100 non-refundable enrollment deposit. This is an FYI, and no additional action will be required by the program.
Orientation Fee. KBOR approved this summer an Orientation Fee for incoming graduate students. Starting Fall 2022, this fee will help support some recent developments, such as the Online Graduate Orientation.
Application Materials may not be waived - This is simply a reminder that all catalog requirements for a completed application, both Graduate School and program, must be met in order to review an application for admission. Supplemental materials (GRE, Letters of Recommendation, etc.) may not be waived for individual applicants. Programs may update their general admission material requirements for their programs through CIM by the catalog edit deadline set by the Registrar's Office.
Policy Highlight: Faculty Restriction on earning graduate degrees - There is a policy in the graduate catalog that restricts faculty from earning graduate degrees from WSU. The policy does not restrict enrollment as a non-degree graduate student.

ACADEMICS

Catalog year is now defined by entry term for students who matriculate Fall 2022 or later. The Plan of Study forms have been updated to reflect this change.
- For students who entered before Fall 2022, catalog year will still be determined by when their plan was approved. In both instances, students can request to change to any catalog year within their enrollment timeframe - meaning they can't request a catalog term prior to their matriculation in their current program.
Submission of Application for Degree (AFD) requires that an approved Plan of Study be on file.
Dismissal Update - if your program handbook discusses academic review or professional standards, it needs to be in line with the policies we hold in the catalog.
Reminder - if you are assigning grades to ongoing terminal activities such as thesis, dissertation or project, please use a grade of IP until the student has successfully completed the terminal activity
- IP: In Progress. An IP (in progress) grade is temporarily recorded when a course does not have to be completed by the end of the semester of enrollment. The grade submitted when the course has been completed replaces all IP grades for that course. This only applies to courses such as Special Topics, Special Projects, Research, Thesis and Dissertation, as specified by the departments.
Travel Award changes - timeframe has shifted from one award per 12 month period to one award per academic year (fall through summer)
Drop/Add processing change
- We have a revised exception form and revised process for drops, adds, and withdrawals. The exception form now states that students should submit the completed form to the general Graduate School email inbox at wsugradschool@wichita.edu. This will centralize processes and allow forms to be processed even when the staff member who usually handles these requests is out of the office.
- The Registrar's Office will now handle all current-semester drops, adds, and withdrawals. An exception through the Graduate School will only be needed now for requests to drop or add coursework from previous semesters or in extenuating circumstances (medical or military withrawal, for instance).
Only graduate students may earn graduate credentials - Students must be fully matriculated in a graduate program before a degree or certificate can be awarded. This is a clarification made to previous catalog wording. The policy can be found in the Graduate Catalog, Program Regulations, pt. 1.
New Forms:
Travel Award form
Plan of Study forms
Exception form