Contacts and Communications to Faculty and Staff

Graduate Program Contact and Content Changes Form Current and correct contacts help us keep your program informed so you can better support your students. HR data does not provide searchable attributes for graduate coordinator roles and other graduate faculty and staff roles so we must rely on updates directly from graduate program faculty and staff. 

In preparation for the upcoming academic year, the Graduate School and the Graduate Admissions Team are currently collaborating on an audit of all contacts used for communications. Faculty and staff may also submit update requests throughout the year using the Request a Graduate Program Page Change Form. 

Official Graduate School policy updates and professional development offerings are distributed to graduate program contacts who collaborate with the Graduate School to support graduate students. These graduate program contacts further coordinate the distribution of communications to appropriate leadership, faculty, and staff within their program. Occasionally, key messaging is sent directly to Deans, Directors, and Department heads from the Graduate School. 

The name, email address, and phone number of graduate program contacts are published on each unique Graduate Program page. Coordinator roles are defined on the website as academic and/or admissions contacts. Designated contacts are described later in this FAQ section. 

The Graduate Admissions Team communicates directly with coordinators responsible for processing applications in Slate using the grad_coordinators@Mail.Colostate.edu distribution list. Occasionally, these contacts are different from the admission contacts published on the Graduate Program pages because of slightly different responsibilities. If you are not a designated contact for your program, and wish to receive email communications sent by the Graduate School, instructions are provided later in this FAQ section. 

Contacts are published on the Graduate Programs page to provide future students, faculty, and staff with a consistent place to find contact information for degree and certificate programs. The identified contacts assist with processing forms and are the primary contacts for operational email communications. The Graduate School is currently using software called Dynamic Forms to allow for Graduate School forms to be signed electronically. Forms are routed to department heads and directors as well as academic contacts. 

Three roles are published and identified for each graduate degree or certificate program. Roles are published in place of titles to provide a consistent experience and easily identifiable contact for website users.

Department head or director role

• For most programs, the department head or director is published on the programs page without contact information.
• A program director role is published for special academic units.
• Graduate School Forms are routed, through Dynamic Forms, to this contact for signatures.

Academic contact role

• This person is the first point of contact for prospective or current students and is able to provide the most timely responses. This person processes degree completion forms and assists graduate students with other academic needs.
• Graduate School Forms are routed, through Dynamic Forms, to this contact for signatures. The contact may also route or initiate Graduate School Forms. 
• This may be a staff member, graduate program director, or faculty member and is identified on the website as an academic contact/coordinator regardless of their title. 

Admissions contact role (if the admissions contact is different from the academic contact)

• In addition to the academic contact, some departments have a unique admissions contact who responds to questions specific to graduate admissions. The Graduate School and Graduate Admissions uses this contact as the primary point of contact when referring prospective students to departmental contacts. The Graduate Admissions team communicates directly with graduate coordinators responsible for processing graduate applications in Slate and are also the primary point of contact for referring prospective students. If no Admissions Contact is published on Graduate Programs, the published Academic contact is referred to prospective students. 
• This is often the same contact that processes graduate applications in Slate and works directly with the Graduate Admissions Team. This contact only receives email communications sent to the grad_coordinators@Mail.Colostate.edu distribution list if they process graduate applications in Slate. 

The Graduate Admissions team communicates directly with graduate coordinators responsible for processing graduate applications in Slate and are also the primary point of contact for referring prospective students. If no Admissions Contact is published on Graduate Programs, the published Academic contact is referred to prospective students. Graduate Admissions refers applicants to this contact for questions and reaches out to this contact for admission related questions that require department approval (e.g., requirements, deadlines, GRE waivers, term updates). 

Communications specific to admissions processing in Slate are sent via email to grad_coordinators@Mail.Colostate.edu by Graduate Admissions. Recipients of this distribution list do not necessarily receive the Graduate School communications sent to the contacts published on the Graduate Programs page because some of the admission contacts published on the Graduate School webpage are not responsible for processing applications in Slate. 

The Academic and Admission contacts published on the Graduate programs are the primary points of contacts for official email communications. The Graduate School requests graduate programs manage communications within their departments to best ensure the most effective dissemination of information.  

An option for graduate programs is to designate a primary contact and publish a distribution list in place of publishing the @colostate.edu email address of the designated coordinator. The use of a distribution list empowers a graduate program to add or remove contacts as often as the program prefers. Use the name of the program, followed by either grad_admissions or grad_academic for the naming convention (e.g., ProgramName_grad_admissions@colostate.edu). Contact your department or unit’s resource coordinator for assistance creating a distribution list.  

If a change in a contact is needed, please submit changes using the  Request a Graduate Program Update Form.

• Policy updates
• Operational messages related to degree completion 
• Event updates including orientation, commencement, and the GradShow
• Graduate coordinator professional development and training opportunities
• Graduate student focused professional development, mentoring, fellowship, scholarships, or community engagement offerings 

Faculty and staff may submit update requests throughout the year using the Request a Graduate Program Update Form.

An annual audit to update contacts is also conducted during the summer term and departments are asked to confirm published information.