Commencement
The Commencement ceremony is held once a year on the third Saturday of May. Students who graduate in a Fall term are eligible to walk in the following Spring semester. Students who graduate in a Summer term should check with their college about which Commencement ceremony they are eligible to participate in. More information is available on the Commencement website.
Graduation Application Deadlines
All applications must be submitted via GUS by the stated submission deadline. The deadlines for each term’s graduation period are:
- Fall: November 1
- Spring: February 1
- Summer: July 1
Students needing to change their graduation information (i.e. expected graduation term, diploma mailing address, etc.) after the deadline must notify the Office of the University Registrar immediately by emailing registrar@uams.edu.
Graduation Dates
Summer 2024
- All graduates, excluding Physician Assistant students: Saturday, August 10, 2024.
- Physician Assistant Summer students: Friday, August 23, 2024.
Fall 2024
- Saturday, December 21, 2024
Diplomas
UAMS has partnered with Parchment for the distribution of official diplomas. Diplomas will not be distributed during Commencement or in-person at the Office of the University Registrar. Printed diplomas will be released and mailed directly to students following Commencement. In addition, graduates will have access to a secure, electronic version of the diploma that can be used to verify credentials with employers, residency programs, etc. Additional instructions will be provided by email to your UAMS and post-graduation email address as listed in GUS. Remember:
- Diplomas are not released to students with account holds in GUS (e.g., past-due balances). Check GUS regularly to determine the status of any pending holds.
- Diplomas are not released to students with missing or incomplete grades.
- Diplomas are not released to students whose degree conferral has not been posted in GUS for any reason.
- When diplomas have been generated and printed, graduates will receive an email to log into the Parchment account and confirm the mailing address within three business days following diploma printing. After that time, the diploma will be mailed to the post-graduation mailing address on file in GUS.
- Please log into GUS to verify that your post-graduation contact information is accurate.
Graduation Fee
Upon receipt of the application for graduation, the graduation fee will be applied to the student account in GUS. Additional fees may be required depending on the degree or college. Information related to degree fees can be found on the Bursar’s Website.
The fee(s) must be paid regardless of whether the student participates in the commencement activities.
In some cases you can use financial aid to cover your graduation fee. However, it comes down to timing. You must apply to graduate BEFORE your financial disbursement is released (usually prior to the start of the term). If you apply for graduation after your financial aid has disbursed and applied to your UAMS account balance, you will be responsible for paying any new or remaining charges.
Degree Audit
A Degree Audit will be conducted to determine if the student has successfully completed all the course requirements for the degree. Degrees will not be conferred until the Office of the University Registrar has validated that the following requirements have been successfully met:
- All grades are posted
- All program requirements are completed
- Inter-professional Education (IPE) requirements are met
- Required GPA is obtained
- Thesis, dissertation, or doctoral study is submitted, approved and received in the library
Beginning in Fall 2018, most students who began their programs after Fall 2013 will have access to an automated degree audit in GUS. Degree audits can be accessed by selecting Academic Requirements from the Academic tab in Student Self-Service.
All requirements must be set to “satisfied” in order for a student to graduate. If you discussed a course substitution with your program or advisor, an academic substitution form must be submitted to the Office of the University Registrar no later than two weeks before the graduation date. Additionally, all Incomplete or In Progress coursework must be graded before a student will be eligible to graduate.
If a degree audit is not available in GUS, the Office of the University Registrar will verify student requirements through a manual process. Manual degree audits are not available until an application for graduation is received and normally are produced a month before the graduation date. They are available upon request a month prior to the graduation date.
Transfer Credit
If transfer credit is applicable to use for the graduation requirements, the student must submit the official transcript(s) from the originating institution and the transfer credit approval form to the Office of the University Registrar. If coursework is being completed at another institution in the same term as expected graduation for the UAMS degree, the student must submit an unofficial transcript and pending transfer credit approval form (if applicable) to the Office of the University Registrar no later than two weeks prior to the graduation date for the term. Official transcripts must be received by the Office of the University no later than the day before the UAMS official start of the next term. The five year calendar can be found here.
Transfer credit will be awarded based on the individual and colleges academic standards for transfer credit. Information about requirements are available in your college’s catalog.
Inter-Professional Education Requirements
Students who began their program in Fall 2015 or later are required to complete Inter-Professional Education Requirements. These are documented in GUS as milestones.
All IPE activities must be completed by the day before the intended graduation date. Failure to complete all necessary IPE requirements by the graduation date will result in a delay of graduation to the following term.
Dissertation and Thesis
Beginning Spring 2020, all dissertations and theses will be submitted electronically. Any documents submitted prior to the publication of this document will be accepted following prior procedures. Development is underway to electronically sign dissertation materials using DocuSign, but until that component is configured, email will serve as the electronic “signature” as described in the process below. Submission deadlines for all Spring 2020 degree conferral dates are listed in this document. Questions should be directed to the University Registrar at registrar@uams.edu or to the student’s academic department (contact information below).
Submission Process
- Upon completion/defense of the thesis or dissertation, the student must submit the following documents to the Library (Libby Ingram, ingramlibbye@uams.edu) AND to the student’s academic department administrative staff (see later section for a complete listing of these contacts). The Library reviews the document(s) to verify completion and appropriate formatting based on college formatting guidelines (the student should contact her/his thesis/dissertation chair for formatting details for that academic program).
- Electronic version of the complete thesis/dissertation in Adobe PDF format;
- Completed E-filing form; and
- Committee Signature Page including names of all faculty on the defense committee. This page should be submitted even if not physically signed. See additional instructions in next step.
- While the document is under review at the Library, the student collects required signatures from the dissertation committee if not collected at the defense, with support and assistance from her/his department administrative staff (DAS).
- If a physical signature page was completed at the defense, the document is scanned and submitted to the Library with the dissertation/thesis. No additional faculty signatures are required for this step.
- If no physical signature page was completed at the defense (e.g., the defense was conducted online), the student submits the blank signature page to the Library (see step 1). The student then routes an electronic copy of the thesis/dissertation to all committee members AND the DAS via her/his UAMS email for “signature” collection. Each committee member must “reply-all” to the student’s email, indicating her/his approval and email “signature” for the document. The faculty email must come from either the official UAMS email account, or from the standard email account used by that faculty member. If the faculty member’s standard email account is non-UAMS, the college’s assistant/associate dean must also be included to “sign” that the non-UAMS email account is acceptable for that faculty member.
- All “signature” emails are collected by DAS as part of the student’s file.
- The student completes the Thesis/Dissertation E-Filing Form and submits to the DAS to add to the student file.
- When the Library’s formatting review is complete, Libby Ingram sends an email confirmation to the student and the DAS.
- The DAS ensures all required documents have been received from the student and signing faculty:
- Complete thesis or dissertation;
- All “signature” emails received from faculty, OR the scanned, signed committee signature page;
- Library review confirmation email; and
- Completed student Thesis/Dissertation E-filing Form.
- The DAS files all documents and related emails in the department’s student file, and routes a formal email stating that the student’s thesis/dissertation is officially approved and filed with the department. The DAS attaches copies of “sign-off” emails or the scanned signature page, a copy of the Library “sign-off” and a copy of the e-filing form to the official notification email. The DAS email notification date serves as the official time/date stamp for graduation and degree conferral purposes, and is sent to the following recipients:
- The student;
- The Library (Libby Ingram, ingramlibbye@uams.edu); and
- The Office of the University Registrar (registrar@uams.edu).
- Library saves the e-thesis to its thesis/dissertation repository and considers this the formal filing of the document complete.
Deadlines
Submission deadlines are based on the intended degree conferral date as follows:
- December 17, 2022 Conferral: December 2 Submission Deadline
- May 20, 2023 Conferral: May 5 Submission Deadline
- August 12, 2023 Conferral: July 28 Submission Deadline
- December 23, 2023: December 8 Submission Deadline
- May 18, 2024: May 3 Submission Deadline
- August 10, 2024: July 26 Submission Deadline
- December 21, 2024: December 6 Submission Deadline
- May 17, 2025: May 2 Submission Deadline
Department Administrative Staff
The following Department Administrative Staff (DAS) are the primary contacts for students in each academic program. Where multiple DAS contacts are listed for an academic program below, documents must be submitted to all DAS contacts for that program.
- Graduate School (All Programs): Latrina Prince
- College of Public Health
- Environmental Health Sciences: En Huang
- Epidemiology: Wendy Nembhard
- Health Behavior Health Education: Carol Cornell
- Health Policy and Management: T. Elaine Prewitt
- Master of Health Administration: Stephen Bowman
- Master of Science—Health Care Data Analytics: Clare Brown and Mandana Rezaeiahari
- Doctor of Public Health Leadership: Austin Porter
- Health Promotion and Prevention Research: Tiffany Haynes and Sarah Alexandra Marshall
- Health Systems and Services Research: Anthony Goudie
- PhD, Epidemiology: Mohammed Orloff
- College of Health Professions
- Genetic Counseling: Noelle Danylchuk and Lori Williamson Dean
- Communication Sciences and Disorders & Speech-Language Pathology: Laura Smith-Olinde, Greg Robinson, and Dana Moser
Comprehensive Exam (Master’s Students)
If a comprehensive exam is required for the degree, notification of successful completion of the comprehensive exam with all signatures must be submitted the Office of University Registrar at least two weeks prior to the graduation date for the given semester.
The thesis/comprehensive examination form must be submitted to the Office of the University Registrar. All signatures are required.
Graduation Honors
Department and University Honors are included in the Commencement Book, available at the Commencement website. Honors designations are not final until after degrees are conferred. Students may calculate their own honors by using the guidelines provided in their college’s handbook or catalog. The Office of the University Registrar will not confirm honors for any students until the graduation term is passed.
University Honors are posted on the official transcript.
Degree Conferral
Degrees are conferred three times a year – after the Fall, Spring and Summer semesters. The official dates for degree conferral are published in the 5-Year Academic Calendar.
The Office of the University Registrar makes every possible effort to post degrees to student transcripts within 7-10 business days of the degree conferral date. However, the efforts can be limited by missing information such as missing grades. All degree requirements must be recorded in GUS before a student’s degree may be conferred.
Transcript Requests
Transcripts may be requested and paid for prior to the graduation date. The transcript will be mailed out to the respective addressee once the degree has been posted if that option is selected. More information about transcripts can be found here.
Transcripts and degree verifications will only be sent out if a student has cleared campus.
Campus Clearance
At the end of a student’s tenure at UAMS, they must resolve all outstanding holds on their GUS account. Students should check GUS within a month of their graduation date as additional holds may be placed for outstanding parking tickets, library fines, and other various reasons. Transcripts, degree verifications, and diplomas (depending on the hold) will not be released until these holds are resolved.