Graduate Education
DGS Support | Recruitment | Academic Affairs | Postdocs | Funding
The Vanderbilt Graduate School offers many faculty and staff resources on their website related to graduate education processes. You may also contact the relevant staff member in the Graduate School.
Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) Support
Supporting faculty serving as the Director of Graduate Studies may look slightly different for each department, however administrators should be prepared to assist their DGS with student enrollment and records maintenance, onboarding students both academically and financially, and serving as a liaison with the Graduate School, among other duties. It is recommended that DGS’s have access to Slate, PeopleSoft, Oracle, and access to view student accounts. You may need to assist your DGS with securing access to those systems. To request access to these systems, submit a request on the University Registrar’s website. Staff may have varying needs for access to support the DGS; however, staff should be familiar with each platform.
If the DGS in your unit is changing, please inform both Kelly Morgan in the A&S Dean’s Office and the Graduate School Records team.
Recruitment & Admissions
The Graduate School has a library of resources detailing the recruitment and admission process. Prospective students should be directed to the application process, in addition to any relevant information from the unit. Please refer to the Graduate School’s best practices in graduate admissions and student retention. Please also ensure that you are familiar with the annual graduate admissions cycle.
The Graduate School also has a graduate admissions resource folder available for administrator use. If you navigate graduate-specific duties in your unit and need access to this folder, please contact Walt Bieschke in the Graduate School.
Coordinating Student Visits
Administrators designated with guest travel coordinator privileges may purchase airline tickets and lodging for prospective students. Refer to the Vanderbilt Finance website for more information about guest travel coordinator privileges.
Managing Recruitment and Admission Processes in Slate
Slate is the online system for managing the recruitment, application, and admission process for Graduate School degree programs. The Graduate School website (scroll to the Slate Training section) provides additional training materials and quick guides to navigate Slate, including a section about application fee waivers. If you are an administrator who needs access to Slate, please complete the request form and return it to Walt Bieschke in the Graduate School.
Please note that once official offers have been made to prospective graduate students in Slate, the unit needs to communicate to John McLean, Senior Associate Dean of Graduate Education and Research, that there are requests in Slate ready for his review.
Academic Affairs
The Graduate School academic calendar can be viewed here. For support with graduate academic affairs, please contact Susan Hilderbrand in the Graduate School.
If your unit needs to defer, transfer, or terminate a student from the degree program, please contact gradrecords@vanderbilt.edu.
Academic Forms and Guidelines – Graduate Actions
The Graduate School has created a list of academic forms and guidelines for students, administrators, and DGSs related to a number of graduate-specific actions, including managing graduate committees, scheduling qualifying exams and defense, and extending or ending candidacy, among other topics. For additional information about the function of these forms and guidelines, please contact Susan Hilderbrand in the Graduate School.
Graduate Guidelines and Catalogs
Program-specific guidelines and policies should be available on each department’s individual website. If your unit needs to update guidelines and policies, or the catalog, please email gradrecords@vanderbilt.edu.
Postdoctoral Scholars
The Office of Postdoctoral Affairs (OPA) provides administrative support and coordinates requirements related to appointing and reappointing postdoctoral scholars. If you have any questions or issues, contact opa@vanderbilt.edu.
If your unit is interested in hiring a postdoctoral scholar, please visit OPA’s faculty and staff resources website. If you have any questions related to recruitment costs, contact your unit’s Financial Unit Manager (FUM), who can be found in the A&S Staff Directory.
Graduate Funding
Graduate Student Cost and Funding
The Graduate School is committed to offering students a transparent view of the costs associated with post-graduate studies, and the funding available to supplement tuition. Their website details the cost and funding for incoming graduate students and describes opportunities for university scholarships, which serve to “top up” graduate student base stipends. University scholarships are service-free awards that pay all or part of tuition costs. If you have any questions, contact Kaitlyn Mehlhouse in the Graduate School.
The cost of attendance for graduate students can be found here.
Service-Free Stipend Students
Graduate students who will receive a service-free stipend will need to complete the onboarding process similar to new student hires. These graduate students will need to complete an I-9 and a W-4 form. They will also need to set up direct deposit in Oracle. For more graduate student onboarding resources, please review the Vanderbilt Student Employment website.
If you are onboarding international graduate students, see the International Tax Office (ITO) website. Any further questions can be directed to ito@vanderbilt.edu.
Service-free stipends and 1042 stipends (for international students) must be processed within the department by an administrator and are costed by the departmental HCM.
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)
The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program assists prospective and current Vanderbilt NSF Fellows and their advisers.
Graduate Student Awards
The Graduate School offers a variety of awards to honor exceptional students. Award opportunities include the Outstanding Graduate Student Award, various endowed awards, and the Provost Pathbreaking Discovery Award. Submission dates for each award differ.
If you are an administrator who is completing the Graduate Award Form (GAF) through PeopleSoft, but you do not already have access to do so, please use the University Registrar’s website to request access. This form will ensure that a graduate student’s tuition, health insurance, and fees are being costed to the appropriate funding source. If an item type for the corresponding expense type (tuition, insurance, or fee) and funding source does not exist, a new item type will need to be requested here.
External Funding Opportunities
A list of additional funding opportunities can be found on the A&S website and the Graduate School website.
If you notice that information on this site is out of place or missing, please submit a request so we can address it.