Spring Evaluations (Doctoral and MFA students only)

The Spring Evaluation is a requirement set by Graduate Council and overseen by GEPA. The evaluation serves as documentation of the student's progress in the graduate program. Evaluations are an important tool for students and their faculty advisors in assessing student progress and in providing suggestions for the students’ successful completion of the program. Graduate Council policy states: "This evaluation will indicate: the degree to which students are, over-all, progressing satisfactorily in their studies; their strengths and weaknesses as students and, where applicable, as teaching and/or research assistants. These evaluations should contain cogent and clear advice to students."

Spring evaluations are always due at the end of Spring quarter.

The Spring Evaluation tool is accessed by staff through GEPA’s Student Database or by faculty through the Faculty Spring Evaluation tool (graduate students access it through the Graduate Student Portal).

For additional information on Spring Evaluation policy and to link to the online evaluation tool, please see our webpage here.

See PDF below for an overview document of the process for routing the evaluations and some helpful hints.

FAQs

All doctoral and MFA students are required to have an evaluation completed by the end of each Spring quarter. The tool is generally opened in late March/early April.

Spring evaluations need to be completed by the end of each Spring quarter. For students who are on leave in Spring quarter, the evaluation needs to be completed by the end of Fall quarter.

Both faculty and the student are required to provide input on and sign (via SSO) the evaluation.

For students who have not advanced to candidacy, 2 signatures are required: 1) the student’s advisor or faculty designate (chair/vice chair/director of graduate studies); 2) the student.

For students who have advanced to candidacy, 5 signatures are required: 1) the student’s advisor/committee chair; 2) a committee member; 3) another committee member; 4) the department chair/vice chair; 5) the student.

It is strongly recommended to complete an evaluation to document the student’s status and plans.

This depends on when the leave of absence starts and ends.

If the leave is for the entire academic year (Fall, Winter, and Spring), no evaluation is required.
If the leave is for Spring only (or for Winter and Spring), an evaluation is due at the end of Fall. A hold will be placed on the student's registration in November to prevent Winter enrollment. (*Note: if the leave is extended through Fall no evaluation is required)

Please contact Graduate Academic Affairs for any other specific scenarios.