Resources for Graduate Students

Graduate Student Resources

Program

• Graduate Student Current Handbook
• PhD Student Handbook Biological Sciences: Students follow the requirements from the year they were admitted.
  • Fall 2024 Admitted Student Handbook
  • Fall 2023 Admitted Student Handbook
  • Fall 2022 Admitted Student Handbook
• Mosig and Graduate School Travel Funds 
  • Requests are submitted via Oracle under EXPENSES
  • For questions about entering information, please reach out to your Program Coordinator.
  • Once you have entered the information, assign your Program Coordinator as an “Expense Delegate” and notify them via email.
    • They will review your request, enter account information, and track Mosig fund balances for the department.
  • Assigning your Program Coordinator as “Expense Delegate” instructions.

Student & INTEREST Groups

• Biological Sciences Graduate Student Association: The purpose of the BSCI GSA is to increase camaraderie among all graduate students in biological sciences.
• Other Campus Groups and Campus Centers: These entities serve as hubs for collaboration, support, and celebrating diversity within the graduate student body.  
• Evolutionary Studies: Evolutionary Studies at Vanderbilt aims to unite a remarkably diverse array of scholars from diverse disciplines with broad interests and expertise in evolution-related fields.
• Graduate and Postdoc Academic Success (GPAS):  provides support through direct outreach to departments and faculty, responsive programming and workshops, and direct support of students and postdocs in alignment with their development as the next generation of scholars and leader

Forms

Doctoral Actions 

The forms below are accessed through an online electronic system in Kuali.

• Appoint or modify the Ph.D. committee
  
• Schedule or modify the qualifying exam 
• Schedule or modify dissertation defense 
• Extend deadline to enter candidacy (Qualifying Exam Extension) 
• Extend candidacy (to defend and graduate)

Department Forms 

The Graduate Coordinator forwards and prepares most of the required forms to progress toward the degree. Please always check in with your department offices and reach out with any questions to ensure you have the most updated information.

• Individual Development Plan (IDP) form
• SACS Qualifying Exam Form 
• SACS Dissertation Defense Form 
• SACS Teaching Assistant Form 
• Fellowship list 2023

Defenses Guidelines

Reach out to your Graduate Coordinator to discuss your defense and for department-specific requirements.

• Graduate School Dates & Deadlines 
• Format Thesis Guidelines
• VIREO: System to upload your final Thesis after making final revisions.