Transition Guide for PeopleSoft Course/Class project

During the past year, an Academic Support Resources (ASR) committee has worked to make course information easier to maintain, while also increasing the accuracy of reporting and student billing. This data simplification project will aid in the PeopleSoft 9.0 upgrade project. The conversion was done behind the scenes in collaboration with the Office of Information Technology (OIT). Changes are effective starting summer 2013. The conversion impacts all University campuses.

You will notice that some fields (locations, components, delivery mediums, and instruction modes) in ECS and ECAS have fewer options, and one has even been completely eliminated. Refer to the Course and Transition Guide on the ASR website for complete information.

Policy requires all grad students be assigned an adviser

Plan Level Coordinators (PLCs) should be aware that graduate education policy requires all students to be assigned an adviser at the time of matriculation to each major and degree objective. Recent data show that there are a number of students completing degree requirements who have not been assigned an adviser. Questions regarding how to assign an adviser can be directed to GSSP staff.

New scheduling tool

A new scheduling tool called Schedule Builder launched October 1, 2012. All University of Minnesota students will be able to use Schedule Builder to create class schedules based on selected courses. Students using Graduation Planner will be able to send in the courses they've placed in their graduation plans as well. It also allows students to email possible schedules to their inbox and/or print for reference during registration.

Additionally, Schedule Builder will help advisers limit the amount of time spent identifying schedule conflicts, allowing more time for the student and adviser to discuss academic goals, interests, opportunities, and resources for success.

New graduate education catalog

The new graduate education catalog is now available online. The PDF version of this catalog, with links to University policies and campus resources, will be available soon.

This is the first graduate education catalog to be generated from the Program and Curriculum Approval System (PCAS), as well as the first to include all graduate programs of the University. Users may now search for the most current program information using the search feature of the online catalog, including a search by keyword.

Current and archived catalogs are available as PDFs on the University catalog website. Catalogs for all campuses can also be found online.

June 14 email from the Graduate School regarding adviser and committee workflows

On June 14, the following message was sent by the Graduate School to plan level coordinators, DGSs, and college coordinators regarding the June 26 launch of new online workflows for adviser and committee assignments:

To: Directors of Graduate Studies, Plan Level Coordinators (DGS Assistants), and College Coordinators
From: Renae Faunce, Graduate Student Services and Progress
Re: Online forms for adviser and committee assignments will launch June 26

I am writing to give you advance notice of new processes that will soon be in effect for initiating adviser assignments for graduate students and committee assignments for graduate and professional students (including updates to existing information). On June 26, new online workflows will be available on the Graduate School's website that will streamline the process for assigning and/or updating adviser and committee information. These changes are consistent with the ongoing graduate education transformation and the improvement of student administrative processes.

Adviser assignments
The "Graduate Student Adviser Assignment" form will replace use of the Degree Program Form for updating adviser assignments for graduate students (this process does not apply to professional students). This form may only be used by plan level coordinators (i.e., DGS Assistants) and DGSs to make changes to adviser information. Staff may access the form by going to the forms page on the Graduate School's website and selecting the appropriate link, depending on their status.

Please note that ApplyYourself should continue to be used for initial or temporary adviser assignments as required by the (proposed) Master's Degree Performance Standards and Progress and Doctoral Degree Performance Standards and Progress policies.

Committee membership
Also on June 26, four new online workflows will be available for assigning or updating committee members for graduate and professional students. These workflows are for the following committee types:
Doctoral final examination
Doctoral preliminary oral examination
Master's final examination
Specialist certificate final examination

Students will be able to access these forms by going to the forms page on the Graduate School's website and selecting the appropriate link, depending on their status. Once they log in, students with existing committee assignments will see their current members listed and can use the form to request a change in membership.

All graduate and professional students will receive notification about these changes in the Graduate and Professional Student Update.

Changes to the Degree Program Form and elimination of the Thesis Proposal Form
When these workflows launch, a new Degree Program Form (also known as the Degree Program Transmittal) will also be available with an updated name: the Graduate Degree Plan. This form will no longer include the following: sections for assigning an adviser and committee; the transmittal page (i.e., instructions page); and the instructor name field previously included in the coursework section. Once these workflows are available, the Graduate Degree Plan should be used for any students who need to complete it for the first time or need to revise their plan. (Students with a Degree Program Form already on file do not need to complete a Graduate Degree Plan and can still use the new workflows to update their information.) The Thesis Proposal Form will also be retired as of June 26. This form was used to create doctoral final examination committees and will no longer be needed once these workflows launch.

Next week, I will send you some information I hope is helpful to you as you communicate with your faculty and instructors about these changes. I will not be emailing your faculty directly. Please forward this message to others as well. Finally, if you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact me directly.

Sincerely,

Renae Faunce
Coordinator, Graduate Student Services and Progress

Change to student APAS

There will be an upcoming change to the degree audits (APAS) of all undergraduate students entering fall 1999 or later on the Twin Cities campus.

Beginning June 15, Academic Support Resources will update the APAS for all colleges to show students a summary of credits considered degree credits and excess elective credits. These summaries show courses that the student has registered for or completed that do not meet the requirements for his or her declared program(s).

Prior to this, a summary of degree and elective credits was only available to students entering fall 2011 and later. With the inclusion of students back to fall 1999, however, the goal is to provide a more detailed and accurate reporting of degree progress information. This will help advance our goal of improving timely graduation.

Committee Assignment Workflow

Based on a careful review of the Appointments to Graduate Examination Committees policy and feedback received at meetings of the Registrar's Advisory Committee, the process map for the assignment of committee [PDF] has been revised and automation work is underway. Once this process automation is complete, both assignment of adviser and assignment of committee will be released for use simultaneously. This automation will affect two forms currently in use: the Degree Program form and the "Thesis Project/Proposal" form.

The "Degree Program" form will be revised to exclude adviser and committee assignment information. This form will be available and should be used exclusively once the automated processes are live. The "Thesis Project/Proposal" form will be retired and will no longer need to be submitted to the Graduate School.

Dual-career registration available to students starting summer 2012

After a successful pilot program within Academic Health Center units, Academic Support Resources will now offer students more registration flexibility while pursuing multiple degrees at different career levels and the option of registering as a non-degree seeking student for undergraduate or graduate courses while pursuing graduate or professional degrees.

Students seeking degrees at different career levels
Starting summer 2012, degree-seeking students pursuing degrees at different career levels will be able to register for classes in both careers for the same term. Career levels included in this dual career registration option are graduate and professional (Veterinary Medicine, Dental School, Medical School, and Pharmacy). Note: The Law School will not participate in this registration option. Students in the Law School must register for only one career level per term if they are dual degree-seeking students.

Key points to this option:

• While students at the undergraduate level can seek multiple degrees at the same time, they cannot be degree-seeking at the undergraduate and graduate or professional careers simultaneously.


• Students in masters, PhD, and post-baccalaureate certificate programs are not allowed to take classes as a degree-seeking and non-degree graduate level student during the same term.


• If a degree program requires continuous enrollment (e.g., Grad 999 for masters and PhD students), students will need to follow that requirement even when they were not planning to otherwise register in that career.

Students seeking degrees and taking classes as a non-degree student
Also starting summer 2012, degree-seeking students in Graduate Education, School of Veterinary Medicine, School of Dentistry, Medical School, and the College of Pharmacy may register as a non-degree student for undergraduate or graduate level classes. Note: You cannot be a degree-seeking student and a non-degree student at the same career level.


More information

• The dual-career registration page on the One Stop website has information on eligibility and restrictions; registration procedures tuition, fees, billing, payment, and financial aid; and transcripts.


• Chart illustrating allowable registration by career visually represents which careers are eligible for dual-career registration.

Questions?
Students should contact One Stop Student Services with any questions about dual-career registration. Staff may contact Emily Holt in the Office of the Registrar with questions they may have.

Students Changing to New LE Requirements

On February 22, Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Education Bob McMaster sent a memo to academic advisers on the Twin Cities campus regarding students who wished to change to the new Liberal Education requirements in light of the revision to those requirements announced in December. The memo clarifies the conditions under which students are permitted to switch to the new requirements and explains the process for doing so.

Updating LE course lists on One Stop

During the monthly meeting of the Council on Liberal Education, proposals to designate courses as satisfying the requirements for the diversified core or designated themes for Liberal Education are reviewed. If courses are approved in the monthly meeting, they are updated on the One Stop Liberal Education course lists page, shortly thereafter. The most recent update to these pages was made during the second week of February.

Change to liberal education requirements

Students on the UMTC campus who started in fall 2010 or later can now satisfy their liberal education theme requirements by completing four out of five themes. Students who started before fall 2010 will continue to follow the requirements that were in place prior to fall 2010. This change does not affect students enrolled in programs offered exclusively on the Rochester campus.

Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Education Bob McMaster sent an email explaining the change[PDF] to directors of undergraduate studies, associate deans for undergraduate education, college deans, and the Council of Undergraduate Educators on December 13, 2011. Please note: the email incorrectly stated that the change applied to the Rochester campus. The change applies only to Twin Cities campus programs.

Registration queue for fall 2012

All stages of the registration queue for fall 2012 will start with last names that begin with the letter "R." The complete registration queue will be posted on the One Stop website in late March.

Reviewing graduate program data in PCAS

Entry of graduate program data in the Program and Curriculum Approval System (PCAS) is complete and ready for review by colleges. A Google site explaining the process is now available. Colleges have until February 1 to review and make changes to the information currently entered.