Contacts and Communications to Faculty and Staff

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. Program 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 and current students and can provide the timeliest responses. They process degree completion forms and assist 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 the Graduate Admissions team 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. They 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.

• Graduate coordinators responsible for processing graduate applications in Slate and who serve as the primary point of contact for prospective students.
• If no Admissions Contact is published, the published Academic Contact is referred to prospective students. The Graduate Admissions team 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 emailed to [email protected] by the Graduate Admissions team. 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. 

Official Graduate School policy updates, academic alerts, and opportunities for graduate students are sent to graduate program contacts. Graduate program contacts coordinate with students and share relevant communications with appropriate leadership, faculty, and staff within their program. Occasionally, the Graduate School sends communications directly to Deans, Directors, and Department heads. 

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 [email protected] 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. 

The Academic and Admission contacts published on the Graduate Programs page are the primary points of contact for official email communications.

Consider designating a primary contact and creating a distribution list instead of an individual email address. 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., [email protected]).

Contact your department or unit’s resource coordinator for assistance in creating a distribution list.  

To update your contact, please use 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