GRADUATE SCHOOL OVERVIEW
As a graduate student, you are connected to two Colleges: the Graduate School and the college of your academic program (e.g. College of Nursing, College of Arts and Sciences, College of Health Sciences, College of Public Health, Clemmer College). Your graduate coordinator and course faculty members are in your academic college. The academic college will have a dean, and the Graduate School, where the Grad School is housed, also has a dean.
The Role of the Graduate School
The East Tennessee State University Graduate School supports, advances and champions graduate education throughout ETSU and to the general public.
At ETSU, graduate programs are managed at the program level, including admission decisions and degree requirements. Academic programs work in concert with the Graduate School.
Serving over 2,000 graduate students, the Graduate School also offers a range of opportunities so students can develop the leadership, communication and personal skills needed for a rewarding life and academic, research or professional career.
ETSU graduate programs are among the best in the region and our graduate students are our most valuable assets. The Graduate School is here to ensure that our students experience a supportive, collaborative environment and earn more than a degree.
Responsibilities of The Graduate School
While the Graduate School has several responsibilities beyond students such as fundraising, working with academic departments and colleges, let’s focus on the aspects that most affect you as a student.
The Graduate School website has a great deal of relevant information to you as a graduate student. Bookmark the site so that you can find answers to important questions throughout your time at ETSU.
Professional Development
The Graduate School offers professional development workshops to support your professional
growth. Past workshops have included
- Academic integrity and plagiarism
- Developing a CV
- Handling Criticism and Building Resilience
- Preparing for the Community College Job Search
- We also host a 3MT (3 Minute Thesis Competition) each fall. 3MT is a fun way to hone your ability to present your research to a general audience in 3 minutes. You don’t have to be in a thesis program to participate and vie for the chance to win scholarship money.
Finally, we offer two 1 credit hour courses: GRAD 5110: Teaching Pedagogy for the Graduate Assistant and GRAD 5017: Ethical Principles in Research.
Graduate Specialists: Your Connection to the Graduate School
You have already worked with the Graduate School during the application process. The
staff in our office process applications, send application materials to graduate coordinators
for review and recommendation for admission, and ultimately, process your offer of
admission from the ETSU Graduate School.
Admissions Team
Enrollment & Graduation Team
Technical and Data Analysis Team
Theses and Dissertations
If your program requires a thesis or dissertation, the thesis or dissertation will be submitted to the Graduate School. Atter your committee approves the content of the thesis/dissertation, the Graduate School gives it one final check to ensure that formatting meets our requirements and that IRB or any other permissions have been obtained. Emily Redd is the Thesis/Dissertation Coordinator. Once Ms. Redd approves the format of the document, either the Dean or an Associate Dean will give the thesis or dissertation one final review before providing the final approval.
The Grad School also hosts a Thesis and Dissertation Boot Camp in both Fall and Spring semesters to help students make progress toward completing these projects.
Graduate School provides small research grants (up to $500) to help support student research leading to a dissertation or thesis.
A Thesis/Dissertation Completion Scholarship provides one semester of tuition assistance to students in the final semester of completing their thesis or dissertation.
Thesis and Dissertation Information
Graduate Assistantship and Tuition Scholarship Contracts
When awarded a Tuition Scholarship or Graduate Assistantship, the unit that is paying your stipend (usually the unit that hires you), will initiate a contract. That contract will route through the Graduate School for approval—and for applying any applicable tuition waiver—before being routed to Payroll and Financial Aid. Each year, ETSU units award about 600 Graduate Assistantships, and all of those contracts make their way to one person in Grad School: Ms. Queen Brown. From July 1 – beginning of the semester, Ms. Brown works long hours to process GA and TS contracts that begin in August.
GA/TS Information and Handbook
