Annual Reviews

Each fall the Graduate Program Committee will solicit brief status reports from each student in the program, along with a written response from the student’s advisor, to serve as the basis for an annual review of students’ progress through the graduate program. The primary goals of the Annual Review are (1) to check for and address significant concerns of students and/or advisors that may significantly affect a student’s timely progress to the Ph.D. and (2) to facilitate advisor feedback on issues or skills important for students’ future career development, particularly those that may otherwise fall into the background during the year. The major components of the review process are:

The status report, approximately 1–2 pages long, addressing specific questions distributed in advance. ABD students (28k Microsoft Word file) and non-ABD students (28k Microsoft Word file) complete different status reports.
Advisors meet each student prior to submitting written feedback to both discuss the student’s status report and to enable the student to ask questions about the advisor’s written feedback.
Upon agreement of the advisor, the brief status report, along with the advisor’s written feedback and other relevant data such as grades and ICC work, will serve as the basis for review by the Graduate Program Committee.
The GPC provides brief written feedback including the student’s standing in the program, strengths, and suggestions for improvement.

Since students do not attend the annual review meeting, they are encouraged to meet with the GPC Co-Chairs prior to the review if they wish to share additional information with the committee relevant to the review. Advisors or students who have concerns that are difficult to express in the written status report or advisor feedback should consult with the GPC Co-Chairs to discuss how to best communicate their concerns.

See Supplemental Materials for:

Sample Template for Student Status Report (non-ABD) (28k Microsoft Word file)
Sample Template for Student Status Report (ABD) (28k Microsoft Word file)
Checklist for Faculty Feedback to Students (28k Microsoft Word file)