Graduate Education Candidacy Specialist

About the role

The Graduate Education Candidacy Specialist supports graduate students, faculty, and staff by managing academic policies and procedures related to degree completion. This position ensures accurate degree progress, maintains university standards, and provides comprehensive administrative support for graduate education processes.

Key responsibilities

• Conduct degree audits for doctoral and master’s students and verify fulfillment of university requirements.
• Review theses and dissertations for quality, formatting, and publication standards; prepare documentation for oral examinations and defenses.
• Advance eligible students to candidacy status, monitor continuous enrollment, and authorize diploma release.
• Evaluate petitions and academic changes, ensuring compliance with policies.
• Provide background materials, benchmarking data, and analytical support for Graduate Academic Affairs Committee (GAAC) discussions.
• Prepare GAAC agendas, take minutes, and maintain official records of graduate faculty status.
• Design, administer, and analyze internal surveys of graduate students and assistants; compile results for program evaluation.
• Prepare regular and ad‑hoc reports for the Associate Provost for Graduate Education and create program‑level reports for stakeholders.

Required profile

• Strong knowledge of MLA, APA, Turabian/Chicago, and department‑specific journal citation styles.
• Familiarity with graduate academic policies, degree audit processes, and graduate faculty appointment procedures.
• Ability to design surveys, analyze data, and produce clear reports for decision‑making.

Required skills

• MLA citation style
• APA citation style
• Turabian citation style
• Chicago citation style