Grad programs staff contribute to student success

8/24/2016 Julia Cation

  Kathy Smith, Katrina Hagler, and Stacy Walker administer MechSE's Graduate Programs Office.For many of MechSE’s graduate students, the department can quickly become their home away from home.

Written by Julia Cation

Kathy Smith, Katrina Hagler, and Stacy Walker administer MechSE's Graduate Programs Office.
Kathy Smith, Katrina Hagler, and Stacy Walker administer MechSE's Graduate Programs Office.
For many of MechSE’s graduate students, the department can quickly become their home away from home. And the staff in the Graduate Programs Office often play a vital role in their lives. 
 
Gone are the days of an engineering department simply recruiting students and reviewing applications. The responsibilities of MechSE’s grad programs staff have evolved to encompass so much more. Katrina Hagler, associate director of student recruitment and admissions; Kathy Smith, admissions and records supervisor; and Stacy Walker, office support associate, all help administer one of the largest graduate offices on the Illinois campus. 
 
Though the application process begins each fall, the journey really starts long before a student submits an application. The typical student usually scouts graduate degree programs during the second or third year of their undergraduate studies. This means Katrina, Kathy, and Stacy market MechSE’s programs and communicate with potential applicants early—through on-campus recruiting efforts, targeted school visits, attending national conferences, and offering opportunities to highly recruited students to visit the Illinois campus. 
 
In the last year alone, the department received over 1,100 applications for its eight competitive graduate degrees, many of which require specific approaches to their admissions process. Students from more than 40 countries apply to MechSE, which means the team of three must also research degree requirements, descriptions, and program rankings from universities around the world to determine eligibility. 
 
But even after the best students are admitted into MechSE’s programs, the department faces major competition from equally strong peer institutions, so wooing students to MechSE requires constant communication from the team. 
 
With a strong cohort of students in place, they begin the complicated task of ensuring each student finds their place in a faculty research group. 
 
“In some ways, we’re kind of like brokers. We know from the faculty what their interests are, and we care a lot about what the students are looking for. So we really try our best to create a good ‘marriage’ among students and faculty,” said Kathy. 
 
They also play an important role in students’ lives beyond admissions. The team of three, along with Professor Taher Saif, associate head for graduate programs, are involved in such important aspects of grad life that many students see them as an invaluable part of successfully getting through the program. 
 
“Kathy, Katrina, and Stacy have been a significant influence in my life during graduate school. They have become my mentors, and continuously empower me to believe in my abilities and inspire me to see the finish line. They are always there to encourage, motivate, and uplift every student during their graduate journey,” said Svjetlana Stekovic, a PhD candidate in Professor Emeritus Scott Stewart’s group.
 
In addition to managing TA applications and class assignments, reviewing theses, new student advising and course registration, graduate petitions, continuous degree audits, and leading orientation sessions, the team also coordinates annual student evaluations – a mandate through the Graduate College at Illinois that Kathy said helps with student retention and satisfaction. She also leads the team in administering qualifying and preliminary exams, a departmental requirement that all PhD candidates must fulfill. 
 
And MechSE’s graduate program is growing. Katrina said one recent effort in development is to help students apply for academic jobs and establish a better connection to all the career services resources available to them. 
 
“Even though we are a very lean team, we’re always looking for ways to increase our efficiencies so we can both improve our services and offer new services to students. We regularly tackle new initiatives that begin as opportunities identified by our students,” she said. 
 
Saif agrees, and said the department’s focus on fostering an environment in which its grad students experience the benefits of a large department while still receiving personalized support starts with the staff. 
 
“Katrina, Kathy, and Stacy are not only the most competent and knowledgeable, but they always go well beyond their call of duty to respond to the needs of the program and the students it supports,” he said. 

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This story was published August 24, 2016.