About the Graduate School
The Graduate School defines its mission as advancing graduate education and enhancing the graduate student experience, distinct but inseparable goals. Our overall strategic plan for accomplishing this mission is here.
The Graduate School assumes academic leadership for graduate education at the campus level and provides oversight for policies and standards for graduate education at the campus level; it provides administrative support for graduate education to other campus units, colleges, programs, graduate faculty, and graduate students; service to those constituencies as well as to prospective students and to alumni; and advocacy for graduate education and graduate students on campus, in the state capital, in the national graduate community, and in the profession at large.
In order to advance its mission collaboratively with colleges, programs, faculty, and students, the Graduate School works closely with a Graduate Council comprising roughly 40 elected and appointed graduate faculty and students; a council of College Associate Deans for Graduate Education (CADGE); a Dean’s Graduate Student Advisory Committee; and over 120 Directors and Coordinators of campus graduate programs. A portal to individual program websites is located on the homepage of our website. An alphabetical listing of all programs with essential information on each is located at within the Graduate Catalog.
Graduate education at University of Maryland has significant scale and complexity. The Graduate School leads it through a tight organizational structure built on the portfolios of its Senior Staff: Dean; Assistant Dean for Administration, Finance, and Strategic Planning; and four Associate Deans: AD for Academic Policies and Standards, AD for Diversity and Student Experience, AD for Fellowships and Awards, and AD for Student Academic Success. This Senior Staff is joined by the Ombuds Officer for Graduate Students and is supported by a highly professional administrative staff comprising the Assistant to the Dean; Director of Administrative Services; Coordinators for Admissions, Data, Electronic Admissions and Student Tracking Systems, Fellowships and Waivers, and International Admissions; two Post-doctoral Fellows in Graduate Education Administration; nine Graduate Administrative Assistants; and a Consultant on International Programs and Fellowships.
We invite you to peruse the Graduate School website to learn more about our unit and about graduate education at the University of Maryland.