Tenth Edition * November 2016...Graduate Admissions Quarterly NEWSLETTER Tenth Edition * November 2016 • Graduate College Important Dates to Remember • Dean’s Corner • Program

Graduate Admissions Quarterly

NEWSLETTER

Tenth Edition * November 2016

Graduate College Important Dates to •RememberDean’s Corner•Program Changes for Spring 2017•Questions Asked by a Program Director•Grad College 3 Minute Thesis •Competition

Recent Issues Raised by a Program •CoordinatorSurvey Results - IELTS•Recap of Fall Recruitment•Spring 2017 Recruitment Events•Grad Admissions Reminders•

In This Issue

Graduate College Important Dates to Remember

Deans’ CornerYou and your colleagues have been busy! Our new Master of Science in Agriculture has received all of the necessary approvals and is now accepting students for Spring, 2017. We also have new graduate certificates in Hospitality Administration, Statistics and Research Design, Environmental Monitoring and Sampling, Elementary Curriculum and Instruction, and Education of the Gifted and Talented Students that will be offered for the first time this spring. There are several other new degrees and certificates that have received approval at various stages, and I am optimistic that these will be on our menu for next fall. Agreements for dual degrees in partnership with international institutions are being formed for the Master of Professional Studies (even that is a new name… used to be the MSAS), and I suspect we may see additional degrees involved in the future. Your willingness to be innovative and think creatively will help us meet the important goal of increasing the number of graduate awards we confer over the next five years. Work to offer new programs and expand existing ones continues at a variety of levels, and I look forward to seeing them come to fruition. We will turn our collective focus next to ways to view individual program data on enrollment and retention to determine optimal strategies for recruitment and monitoring academic progress. I’ve already started these conversations with a few departments. The meetings were similar in that faculty were all interested in discussing data and motivated to make their programs the best they could be. Everything else, however, seemed to be different, which is another thing that makes my job so fun! Some folks thought they needed some new recruitment strategies, others identified some internal operational tweaks that would help, and still others emphasized the need for additional collaboration with departments across campus. The GC staff and I will be working with you over the spring semester to help you and your department with these important issues.

I can’t believe that my two-year anniversary in this position is approaching. Thank you all for making these the best two years of my career, and I anticipate many more in the future. I hope the end-of-semester activities go smoothly and that you have a joyous, relaxing, and rejuvenating winter break.

Program Changes for Spring 2017

New Programs Master of Science in AgricultureGraduate Certificate in Hospitality AdministrationGraduate Certificate in Education of the Gifted and Talented StudentsGraduate Certificate in Elementary Curriculum and InstructionGraduate Certificate in Envirionmental Monitoring and SamplingGraduate Certificate in Statistics and Research Design

Changes in program name: All programs for Administrative Studies (MSAS) will now be titled Professional Studies (MPS)

Master of Professional Studies in Applied CommunicationMaster of Professional Studies in Criminal JusticeMaster of Professional Studies in Environmental ManagementMaster of Professional Studies in Homeland SecurityMaster of Professional Studies in Hospitality AdministrationMaster of Professional Studies in Producing & ScreenwritingMaster of Professional Studies in Sports MangementMaster of Professional Studies - Individualized OptionGraduate Certificate in Professional Studies

Programs No Longer OfferedMaster of Nurse AnesthesiaGraduate Certificate in Religious Studies for the Professions

Questions Asked by a Program Director

1. I have an international student who cannot attend this semester due to visa issues but she is already registered for classes. She is unable to drop her classes. How can we go about dropping her from her classes?

Due to visa requirements outlining that a student be enrolled in 9 hours of graduate coursework or more each semester, the registration system is setup in such a way that an international student cannot drop below 9 hours. An international student trying to withdraw from a program and drop all of his/her classes must work with the Office of International Services ([email protected] or [email protected]) to drop below the required 9 hours.

2. Some of my recently admitted students are showing up in my Advisor List as though they do not have an email address. Why?

Because all communication with MSU students must take place with the Missouri State email address, Advisee’s will not have an email in the Advisor system in

My.MissouriState until the student has gone through the steps of creating an account and creating an email. They will appear like the following:

Graduate College 3 Minute Thesis Competition

The 2nd Annual Missouri State University 3-Minute Thesis (3MT) competition was held on November 4th, showcasing students who were nominated by their college to present their research because they represent the breadth and quality of graduate research on campus. These students had 3 minutes and one slide to explain their research to the judges and audience. The winner of this competition will represent MSU at the Midwest Association of Graduate Schools (MAGS) annual conference in April. We would like to congratulate all the students who participated in the event, as they all did a fantastic job.

Our winners are:1st place: Cassandra Sherwood, Master of Arts in Communication Research: Athletic trainers need training too: Communication skills training to improve the patient interview

2nd place: Arthur Guslim, Masters of Business Administration Research: Boost your Entrepreneurial Success

3rd place: Evan Wilson, Master of Science in Cell & Molecular Biology Research: Studying the DNA Repair Protein Rad23 in Tetrahymena

4th place: John Chatwell, Doctor of Physical Therapy Research: Effects of posture on fall risk in community dwelling, older individuals

People’s Choice Award: Rubecca Wilson, Master of Science in Communication Sciences and Disorders/Education of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

We would also like to thank the judges for participating in the competition,• Jon Baker – COB Executive Advisory Board, CEO (RET) of Wiese USA • Harold Bengsch – Greene County Commissioner 1st District

• Donna Christian – Director of Internal Audit and Compliance • Bob Cirtin – Greene County Presiding Commissioner• Regina Cooper – Executive Director, Springfield-Greene County Library • Chris Coulter – Greene County Administrator• Rachelle Darabi – Associate Provost for Student Development & Public Affairs, MSU• Ken McClure – Mayor Pro Tem• Debi Meeds - President/CEO, United Way of the Ozarks • Scott Miller – General Manager, City Utilities of Springfield• Jill Patterson – Title IX Coordinator, MSU• Carol Taylor – President, Evangel University

In Honor of our Veterans Everywhere

Recent Issues Raised by a Program Coordinator

Have you noticed that all of a sudden a number of options such as moving between pages is missing when trying to view transcripts?

Solving Internet Explorer compatibility issues:

1. Open Internet Explorer and go to the tools section in the top right

3. Enter MissouriState.edu in the Add this Website box. Click Add.

4. With any luck this will fix any compatibility issues you might be having when you try to access transcripts or documents through GRADS Dashboard.

2. Click on Compatibility View Settings.

Survey Results: International English Language Test System (IELTS)

Responses to our English Language Proficiency test showed that over half of our Graduate Program Directors indicated not understanding the IELTS English Proficiency test either not well at all or only slightly well. For this reason, we will do our best to provide as many resources as possible in the coming year to help you better understand the IELTS test.

Credential Evaluation is just a snapshot. Be sure to also check the View Application Materials section in GRADS Dashboard in order to view the actual IELTS Test Score Report.

View Application Materials – Be sure to check in the ‘V – View Application Materials’ section for detailed information about how the applicant did in each of the four bands of the IELTS exam: Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking.

Click on the small image to the left of Admissions Reqs in the row labeled TOEFL or IELTS Test Scores. This will open up the scanned English Proficiency Test Report which will provide a breakdown. Remember that a high score in one section can offset a low score in another in the overall average. If your program is reading and writing intensive then those scores might be more critical than the other scores.

Additional Resources for IELTS consumers:What is the IELTS? - https://www.ielts.org/what-is-ielts/ielts-introduction IELTS Scoring in Detail - https://www.ielts.org/ielts-for-organisations/ielts-scoring-in-detail Test Taker Performance in 2015 - https://www.ielts.org/teaching-and-research/test-taker-performance

Understanding the IELTS 9-band scale

There is no pass or fail in IELTS. Rather, all test results are reported on a clear 9-band scale (from 1, the lowest, to 9, the highest). The scale has remained consistent and acquired currency around the world over the past three decades. Test takers receive an overall band score as well as individual scores for each test component (Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking).

Recap of Fall RecruitmentWe attended 14 events this fall, which included career/graduate/professional school fairs, one McNair Scholar research conference, and one pre-fair presentation. From these events we talked to approximately 152 prospective students. In comparison, fall 2015 we attended 24 events and made contact with approximately 190 students.

We also hosted our first Graduate College Campus Visit Day on November 4th, which resulted in 25 prospective students and 12 of their guests visiting us from Texas, Kansas, Illinois and Missouri. The day consisted of round-table discussions about application/admission processes and financial aid, a graduate assistantship panel, campus tour, meetings with individual program directors and ended with the “3-Minute Thesis” competition.

Survey results from the prospective students indicate 86% “Strongly Agreed” the Graduate College Campus Visit Day was beneficial in helping them decide on attending MSU for their graduate education with 67% being “Very Likely” to apply to MSU and 33% “Likely” to apply to MSU.

Spring 2017 Recruitment Events

Moving forward, after careful consideration of past events attended and the number of applicants from different institutions, here is the event schedule for spring:

Feb. 8 .........................................................................University of KS Career Fair Feb. 9 ...................................................... Central Methodist University Career Expo Feb. 28 ..................................................................................... MSU Career Expo Mar 1-2 ............................... .................................................. OK State University March 2 ................................................................... Northeastern State University March 29.................................................................................MSU Education DayMarch 30.............................................. ..... College of the Ozarks Spring Career DayApril 5.......................................... ............MO Southern State University Career FairApr. 6-7........... ............. National Conference of Undergrad Research Grad School Fair

Most of the events are close by, even NCUR (National Conference on Undergraduate Research) this year! There will be a special announcement regarding this at the Program Director’s meeting on Dec. 6th.

Also if there are any recruitment opportunities which specifically pertain to your program area, Misty will be forwarding the information to you to consider attending.

RemindersGraduate Progra• m Webpages: Graduate Programs are responsible for keeping their graduate program webpage as up to date as possible, but Graduate Admissions is trying to help as much as possible. If you receive an email from us pointing out an error we found but do not know who updates/fixes your program’s webpage please let us know and we can contact the Office of Web & New Media to help figure out who updates your webpage in order to resolve the issue.

Suggestions: • Graduate Admissions always accepts suggestions on the admissions process as well as suggestions to make GRADS Dashboard more user-friendly. Send suggestions to Michael Edwards at [email protected].

Training: • The Graduate College offers two options for new Program Directors:Make an appointment with Michael Edwards (1. [email protected]) to have him come to your office to give you a run down on GRADS Dashboard and the admissions’ process.Make an appointment with Michael Edwards for you to come to the Graduate College (Carrington 2. Hall, Rm. 308) to have a sit down with Christy Graham (Degree Audit, Graduation), Misty Stewart (Recruitment), Lisa Taylor(C Grade Letters), Tom Tomasi (Associate Dean) and Michael Edwards (Admissions).

Graduate College Admissions OfficeAdmissions Coordinator: Michael Edwards 836-5330Admissions Evaluator: Sue Dover 836-5331Graduate Assistant: Preston Scherer 836-5331Marketing & Recruiting Coordinator: Misty Stewart 836-6079Graduate Assistant: Alise Kottman836-8829Graduate Assistant: Garrett Nevels 836-8829

Graduate College Admissions Email: [email protected] College Web page: http://graduate.missouristate.edu/GRADS Dashboard: https://www.secure.missouristate.edu/AuthPin/Signon.asp

Holiday greetingsfrom all of us at theGraduate College