GradPlan: The web-interactive system for PhD students to create and store their PhD Degree Plans and subsequent graduate program activities. In spring 2017, this will replace all Reports of the Guidance Committees and will be the pathway for final degree certification for PhD students.  Click here for the faculty training resources.

Annual Reviews: Does your department have a form it uses for annual progress reports for your advisees? You might consider these evaluation forms recommended by the University Graduate Council.

Do your students need courses that aren’t available at MSU? Several cooperative arrangements make it possible for students to register for courses at other institutions receive credit at MSU.

Michigan Intercollegiate Graduate Studies (MIGS): Students in good standing are eligible to elect courses at several graduate schools in Michigan with the approval of both the home and the host institutions.

Big Ten Academic Alliance Traveling Scholar Program: This cooperative agreement enables doctoral students at any Big Ten Academic Alliance university to take advantage of educational opportunities at any other Big Ten Academic Alliance university without change in registration or increase in tuition.

Do you know your college’s or department’s plan for required Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research Training? MSU requires that all students be trained under the plan approved for your unit.

All Approved Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research Plans: This resource compiles each MSU unit's approved plan. Search for your department (list can be narrowed down by college).

Graduate School Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research Workshops: The Graduate School offers an annual series of workshops on Research and Scholarly Integrity.

2016-17 CARMA (Consortium for the Advancement of Research Methods and Analysis) Webcast Program Michigan State University has an institutional membership for the CARMA Webcast Program. A library of previously recorded lectures can be found at: https://razor.med.und.edu/carma/video. All faculty and students from member universities will have individual access to these recorded lectures at any time from any machine, as long as they are registered CARMA Website Users. Sign-up to be a Website User.

Center for Statistical Training and Consulting (CSTAT): A professional service and research unit at MSU whose aim is to support research and provide training and consulting in statistics for faculty, staff and graduate students through one-on-one consulting and training workshops.

Quick Reference Guide to MSU's Research and Creative Activities Resources: The Office of the Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies (OVPRGS) created this convenient resource identifying important units that support research and creative activities, including training.

Code of Teaching Responsibility: This document dictates the expected duties and responsibilities of all instructors.

Graduate Employees Union Contract: The GEU contract dictates terms and conditions of employment for graduate teaching assistants at MSU, and includes agreements on rates of pay, hours, health care, and procedures for the resolution of differences.

Health Insurance Benefits Associated with Graduate Assistantships: This website details the health insurance options available to MSU Graduate Assistants.

Academic Programs: Research Assistantship Policies: This document outlines the responsibilities associated with MSU Research Assistantships.

Health Insurance Benefits Associated with Graduate Assistantships: This resource details the health insurance options available to MSU Graduate Assistants.

Students' Intellectual Property: This information contains instructions for anyone having responsibility for a course at MSU during which undergraduate or graduate students will be asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement (“NDA”) or an assignment of intellectual property rights.

Academic Programs: Graduate Education: Academic Programs is the listing of programs, policies and related information for all students at MSU. This section pertains solely to graduate education.

Graduate Student Rights and Responsibilities: The GSRR specifically addresses student conduct, academic pursuits, keeping of records, publications, the formulation of regulations governing student conduct, providing due process in the adjudication of student disciplinary cases, and defines channels and procedures for student complaints and grievances.

Medical Student Rights and Responsibilities: The MSRR contains guidelines to the rights and responsibilities of medical students in matters of conduct, academic pursuits, keeping of records, employment, procedures for adjudicating medical student disciplinary cases, and an outline for channeling medical student grievances concerns for appropriate action.

Law Student Rights and Responsibilities: This document and related documents contain guidelines to the rights and responsibilities of law students in matters of conduct, professionalism and ethics, academic pursuits, keeping of records, and employment.

MSU Student Rights and Responsibilities: This report (along with the GSSR document and the MSRR and LSRR documents) contains guidelines to the rights and duties of students in matters of conduct, academic pursuits, the keeping of records and publications.

Graduate Employees Union Contract: The GEU contract dictates terms and conditions of employment for graduate teaching assistants at MSU, and includes agreements on rates of pay, hours, health care, and procedures for the resolution of differences.

Procedure to Have Fixed-Term MSU Faculty, Academic Specialists, and Non-MSU Individuals Serve on Graduate Committees: This document outlines the procedure to have non-regular MSU Faculty, academic specialists, and non-MSU individuals serve on graduate student committees.

Health Insurance Benefits Associated with Graduate Assistantships: This resource details the health insurance options available to MSU Graduate Assistants.

Guidelines for Graduate Student Advising and Mentoring Relationships: These guidelines are intended to foster faculty-graduate student relationships that are characterized by honesty, courtesy, and professionalism, and that provide students with intellectual support and guidance.

Guidelines for Integrity in Research and Creative Activities: These guidelines are intended to promote high professional standards based on sound disciplinary practice, fairness, equity, and respect—practiced by faculty, staff, and students alike.

Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research Plans: This a complete listing of specific requirements for research integrity training for graduate students in each college and/or department.

Guidelines on Authorship: This document serves as a general guideline for consideration of important issues surrounding authorship as scholars construct a piece of work for public distribution. (Note that some programs have their own written policies.)

Research Data: Management, Control, and Access: Describes MSU's best practices for recording and archiving data.  Department and labs may have their own additional requirements.

Research Data Management Guidance: A joint effort of the MSU Libraries and University Archives, this service helps faculty create and excecute data management plans.  This includes an online template and tutorial for creating DMPS, a guide to research data management fundamentals, and a template for lifcycle data management planning.

The Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee: The IACUC advises the University President and the Institutional Official regarding all aspects of the responsible use of animals in university research and instructional activities.

The Human Research Protection Program: The HRRP’s primary mission is the protection of individuals who are the subjects of research. MSU has established three Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) that have oversight for all research conducted under its Federal Wide Assurance.

Procedures Concerning Allegations of Misconduct in Research and Creative Activities: This report details the procedures for the investigation and evaluation of alleged or apparent misconduct in order to safeguard the integrity of research and creative activities at MSU.

MSU’s Misconduct Hotline: If you have a concern about misconduct, don’t keep it to yourself. Discuss it with a supervisor or contact the Misconduct Hotline. See the Misconduct Poster (PDF) for more information on anonymous reporting.

Code of Teaching Responsibility: This document dictates the expected duties and responsibilities of all instructors.

Graduate Employees Union Contract: The GEU contract dictates terms and conditions of employment for graduate teaching assistants at MSU, and includes agreements on rates of pay, hours, health care, and procedures for the resolution of differences.

Health Insurance Benefits Associated with Graduate Assistantships: This resource details the health insurance options available to MSU Graduate Assistants.

Academic Programs: Research Assistantship Policies: This document outlines the responsibilities associated with MSU Research Assistantships.

Health Insurance Benefits Associated with Graduate Assistantships: This resource details the health insurance options available to MSU Graduate Assistants.

Career and Professional Development Workshops: The Graduate School and its partners offer workshops throughout the year, most of which are free for graduate students and postdocs. Highlights include the job preparation series, teaching seminars, and wellness programs and events.

Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research: With the Office of the Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies, we offer a workshop series that highlights key principles of research integrity and emphasizes that research and scholarly integrity is a fundamental characteristic of quality research/scholarship in all disciplines.

Graduate Teaching Assistants Program (GTAP): Michigan State University is committed to partnering with graduate programs, faculty and the Graduate Employees Union to provide a wide variety of professional development experiences in support of all MSU graduate teaching assistants (GTAs).

Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL): CIRTL is an NSF-funded, national network of 22 universities collaborating to enhance the preparation of future educators in science-based disciplines.  Local and network-wide opportunities for coursework, workshops, and exchanges are available throughout the academic year.

An Introduction to Evidence-Based Undergraduate STEM Teaching and Advanced Learning Through Evidence-Based STEM Teaching: Two MOOCs co-developed by MSU, Boston University, Wisconsin and Vanderbilt, and designed under an NSF WIDER (Widening Implementation & Demonstration of Evidence-Based Reforms) grant. The CIRTL MOOCs are designed to provide STEM educators with evidence-based strategies they can employ to improve their teaching as well as effectively conduct teaching as research projects. Students, postdocs and faculty can participate individually or they can work together in a facilitated learning community.

Teaching Essentials for Careers in Higher Education (TECHE): TECHE is a set of eight on-line courses available to MSU graduate students, postdocs, and faculty, and featuring international experts on education. They offer practical exercises, reflection, and resources for everyone from new instructors to practiced professors. 

MSU-BEST: a professional development program for postdocs and PhD students in biomedical sicence and engineering fields. Funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), MSU BEST helps students better understand the possible career landscape for biomedical PhDs through participation in a multi-year cohort program.

Certification in College Teaching Program (CCTP): The CCTP is an initiative of the Graduate School, in partnership with MSU Colleges, that helps graduate students and postdocs organize, develop, and document their teaching experiences. Through a series of focused workshops, a class on disciplinary teaching methods, and a mentored project, participants will build and consolidate their preparation for college and university teaching. The program culminates with the development of an e-portfolio that will help students prepare for academic job interviews and plan for their professional development as early career faculty.

Future Academic Scholars in Teaching (FAST) Fellows: The FAST Fellowship program is a training opportunity sponsored by the Graduate School and the NSF-funded Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL). The FAST Fellowship Program provides opportunities for a diverse group of graduate students to have mentored teaching experiences and to gain familiarity with materials on teaching and assessment techniques.

Lyman Briggs SUTL (Scholarship of Undergraduate Teaching and Learning) Fellows: Graduate students selected for this full-year program work with an LBC faculty member on a new or existing disciplinary-based edcuation research (DBER), scholarship of teaching (SoTL), or action research project.

RCAH Graduate Fellowship Program: The Residential College for Arts and Humanities and the Graduate School jointly sponsor graduate fellowship programs for doctoral students with interests in teaching, learning, engagement, and assessment in higher education. Each fellow undertakes a year-long project aimed at contributing directly to the scholarship of teaching, especially in the humanities, language proficiency, visual & performing arts and civic engagement.

Interdisciplinary Inquiry and Teaching Fellowship Program (IIT): The IIT fellowship program seeks to enrich the professional development experience of graduate students by placing them in an environment with a tradition of excellence in undergraduate teaching. Fellows work with James Madison faculty and engage in structured discussions about pedagogy and practice, interdisciplinary course design and curriculum development and general interaction with undergraduates.

Bailey Scholars Program Fellows: The BSP offers the opportunity for graduate students in any discipline to work in the Bailey Scholars program, an undergraduate learning community focused on innovative teaching and learning practices.  Graduate students spend a semester paired with a faculty member in the classroom, where they learn about the pedagogy of a learning-centered organization.

Graduate Certification in Community Engagement: This certificate program prepares students for academic and professional careers that integrate scholarship with community engagement. The Certification is designed to help graduate and professional students develop systemic, thoughtful, and scholarly approaches to their community engaged work.

Graduate School Writing Fellows in the Disciplines: Advanced doctoral students complete a short traiing in the fall semester that prepares them to facilitate graduate working groups within their departments or programs.  Over the course of the year, these groups will provide a peer context for refining professional writing, setting and meeting specific writing goals, and working through drafts of dissertations, proposals, and articles.

Graduate Writing Groups: Run through the Writing Center, graduate writing groups are open to all MSU graduate students.

Dissertation Support Groups: Facilitated by Counseling Center staff, these dissertation support groups run for 6 weeks, and follow a solution-focused model that utilizes short-term goal-setting in order to facilitate and maintain progress in the writing of the dissertation.

Chittenden Hall Write-Ins: Monthly writing days at the Graduate School, where students set writing goals, write in quiet rooms or in peer collaboration rooms, and check in with on-site writing consultants if needed.  Check our calendar for upcoming dates.

Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) Learning Community: The AGEP program at MSU applies funds from the NSF and the Graduate School to provide substantial support for graduate student recruitment, retention, and professional development.  AGEP fosters the emergence of an inclusive community of scholars among graduate students in STEM and SBE disciplines.

The Big10 Academic Alliance Professorial Advancement Program: The PAI program is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation. It provides to postdocs from underrepresented groups who are US citizens mentoring and professional development activities, as well as opportunities to network with faculty and postdocs from participating Big Ten Academic Alliance institutions. The Graduate School provides support for faculty and postdocs attending PAI activities. For additional information contact Associate Dean Antonio Nunez.

Professorial Advancement-NRMN-CAN: The NIH-funded National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN) – Big Ten Academic Alliance Academic Network initiative addresses the need for greater diversity in the biomedical academic research workforce across the country. This initiative is designed to support the academic career path of biomedical researchers, with emphasis on those from underrepresented backgrounds. The Graduate School provides support for faculty and postdocs participating in NRMN-CAN activities. For additional information contact Associate Dean Antonio Nunez.

Graduate School Office of Well-Being Leadership Academy: An intensive developmental experience for a cohort of selected fellows; the vision of the Academy is to create a learning community of engaged scholars from diverse disciplinary backgrounds who will apply theories and principles of leadership to their current contexts and beyond.

Summer Research Opportunities Program (SROP): A gateway to graduate education at MSU.  The goal of the program is to increase the number of domestic undergraduates who pursue graduate study and careers in teaching and research at colleges and universities.  MSU SROP helps prepare undergraduate students for graduate study through intensive research experiences with faculty mentors and through academic enrichment activities.

International Teaching Assistant Program: The mission of the ITAP is to help graduate students for whom English is a second language understand the culture and norms of college classrooms in the U.S., as well as to provide opportunities for teaching practices as they work on developing their langauge skills in their disciplines.

Pronunciation Workshops: Offered in spring and fall semesters, these workshops provide practice in fine-tuning your accent.