Graduate Student Services

Graduate Student Services

• Admitting new and matriculating graduate students
• Facilitating written and oral exams, including prelims and dissertation/thesis defenses
• Communicating academic regulations, processes, and deadlines to students and faculty
• Processing graduate petitions, degree certifications, dissertation/thesis deposits, and fellowships
• Serving as primary graduate liaison with the Graduate College and the Office of the Registrar
• Primary responsibility for maintenance and archival of graduate student records

Directors of graduate study

Classics
Brian Walters

Comparative & World Literature
Stephanie Hilger

East Asian Languages & Cultures
Kai-wing Chow

Foreign Language Teacher Education (FLTE)
Jude Krushnowski

French & Italian
François Proulx

German
Anke Pinkert

Linguistics   
Tania Ionin

TESL
Randall W Sadler

Religion
Alexia Williams

Adam L Newman

Second-Language Acquisition & Teacher Education (SLATE)
Kiel Christianson

Slavic
Richard Tempest

Spanish & Portuguese
Jonathan MacDonald

Program in Translation & Interpreting Studies
Xiaojuan (Melody) Qian

 

Schedule an exam

Please click here to see a brief overview of Student Services' exam process (updated May 2020).

• Schedule a written exam (new online form)
• Schedule an oral exam (new online form)

It's also okay to use the older PDF forms if you prefer:

• Request to Schedule MA Exam

• Request to Schedule PhD Exam

If you are filling out a request for a dissertation defense or for an MA thesis, please also see the Thesis & Dissertation section below for important information about format review and depositing.

 

Independent Study

• Independent Study Approval Form (Spanish and Portuguese only)

• Independent Study Approval Form (all other departments)

Advisor form

• Declare or change advisors

Department Forms

EALC

• Declaration of Thesis Option
• Course Approval Form

MATESL

• Declaration of Thesis Option

Spanish & Portuguese

• 595 Special Topics (Independent Study)
• Guidelines

 

Fellowship Opportunities

Please note: the maximum length of nomination letters for Grad College  fellowships is 6,600 characters, including spaces

Illinois Distinguished Fellowship

The Graduate College's Illinois Distinguished Fellowship program is intended to help the University of Illinois recruit exceptional applicants into its doctoral programs.

Admission decision must be submitted as soon as -- or before -- fellowship nomination is made.

• Round 1 - SLCL deadline Jan. 10; Grad College deadline Jan. 14
• Round 2 - SLCL deadline Feb. 14; Grad College deadline Feb. 18
   

Graduate College Fellowships (PhD only)

The Graduate College Fellowship program at the University of Illinois aims to strengthen the institution and its doctoral programs by increasing the enrollment of outstanding students from populations that have been historically underrepresented in graduate study.

Admission decision must be submitted as soon as -- or before -- fellowship nomination is made.

• Round 1 - SLCL deadline Jan. 10; Grad College deadline Jan. 14
• Round 2 - SLCL deadline Feb 14; Grad College deadline Feb. 18
   

Graduate College Master's Fellowship (Master's only)

The Graduate College Master's Fellowship program is a counterpart to the Graduate College Fellowship program.

Admission decision must be submitted as soon as -- or before -- fellowship nomination is made.

• Round 1 - SLCL deadline Jan. 10; Grad College deadline Jan. 14
• Round 2 - SLCL deadline Feb 14; Grad College deadline Feb. 18
   

Distinguished Graduate Fellowships in the Humanities and Arts (DGF-HA)

DGF-HAs are intended as campus recruitment fellowships for first-time students being offered admission into a PhD program. Only those students who are seeking first-time graduate-level admission to UIUC are eligible.

Admission decision must be submitted as soon as -- or before -- fellowship nomination is made.

• Round 1: SLCL deadline Jan. 10; Grad College deadline Jan. 14
• Round 2: SLCL deadline Feb. 14; Grad College deadline Feb. 18
   

SLCL Dissertation Completion Fellowship

With the support from the estates of Donald and Barbara Smalley and Edward McBroom, the School of Literatures, Cultures, and Linguistics Dissertation Completion Fellowship aims to support students in SLCL doctoral programs to complete their dissertation.

Eligible candidates must be nominated by their home department. See here here for complete information and application instructions.

• Deadline for departments: February 23 (send complete application materials to slclgradservices@illinois.edu)
• Deadline for students: please contact your DGS for your department's internal deadline
   

Graduate College Dissertation Completion Fellowship

The Graduate College's Dissertation Completion Fellowships help outstanding UIUC graduate students complete the doctoral degree.

• SLCL deadline March 25, 2022; Grad College deadline April 1
   

Conference Presentation Award

The Graduate College provides awards for students to travel to professional conferences to present papers, posters, or creative work. Awards may be offered as reimbursement for recently-completed travel or for upcoming travel.

**Check with your department for internal deadlines**

Fall 2021 competition (Note: Grad College has not yet updated their information beyond the dates below)

• Open for submission: October 12
• Grad College deadline: November 1 @ 5:00pm
• Funds become available: November 15

Spring 2022 competition

• Open for submission: January 27
• Grad College deadline: February 18 @ 5:00pm
• Funds become available: March 15
   

Graduate College Dissertation and Master's Project Travel Grants

Travel Grants provide reimbursement to students for travel-related costs incurred during off-campus travel related to their master's thesis or doctoral dissertation. Details vary between PhD- and master's-level grants, so please see the appropriate page at the link above.

Fall competition

• SLCL deadline November 8, 2021; Grad College deadline November 12

Spring competition

• SLCL deadline March 7, 2022; Grad College deadline March 11
   

Search for other Graduate College fellowship opportunities

 

Deadlines & Important Dates

• Current Graduate College Academic Calendar

• Academic Deadlines (Office of the Registrar)

 

Petitions

• Graduate Student Request Form

 

Registration

Note: in most cases we would prefer that students submit a form to us rather than directly to Grad College. This allows us to check the form and to keep a copy in the student's file in case we need it for future reference.

Commonly used forms:

• Credit-No Credit Form
   
• Late Registration & Late Course Change Form
   
• Visitor's Audit Permit
   
• In absentia Registration Form
   
• Withdrawal/Cancellation Form
   
• Add / remove from the graduation list
   

The complete list of grad forms can be found here.

The Graduate College Handbook can be found here (PDF).

Thesis and Dissertation

The Thesis Office, part of the Graduate College, has an extensive list of resources for students writing a master's thesis or doctoral dissertation. Please take time to look at them. For an overview of what to expect during this last stage of your thesis or dissertation, please see our detailed explanation of the steps involved in completing your deposit (link below). Be sure to speak to your graduate advisor and to SLCL Student Services if you have questions about any part of the process.

Dissertation and thesis deposit information

 

Graduation

• Graduation information (Office of the Registrar)

• SLCL Convocation

• Campuswide Ceremonies

 

Questions? Email us. Or, contact one of the following staff members:

Robb Larson, (217) 244-5783
Lynn Stanke, (217) 333-6269
Jessy Ruddell, (217) 244-9418