A Message from the Dean
Because of its many strengths, graduate education at UNF is widely recognized as among the best. In addition to the many programs that receive top accreditations, UNF has received numerous other honors. U.S. News & World Report names UNF on its list of Best Graduate Schools, including recognition as a Best Online Graduate Education Program. UNF's Coggin College of Business is considered a Best Business School by Princeton Review, with the Master of Accountancy ranked in the Top 30 Affordable Masters programs. The School of Nursing received Stellar School Recognition by the National Student Nurses' Association, and the MS in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and Doctor of Physical Therapy degrees are on the top-25 lists at GraduatePrograms.com. And that's just a small sampling of our many accolades.
Graduate students from UNF are highly successful, both during their time on campus and in their career placement. One testament to this is how well our students perform on certification tests. In 2013, for example, certification scores for nurse anesthetist students far exceeded the national mean in every category. And UNF graduate students, with the assistance of our graduate award opportunities and other internal support, travel across the country to present their work at professional conferences and publish in high-impact professional and scholarly journals.
To achieve all this, we challenge you to think in novel and creative ways, to enrich your talents at communicating and thinking critically, and to discover a wealth of new knowledge and skills. We are here to help you succeed. Reach out to us; we are here for you!
Renowned journalist Sydney J. Harris noted that "the whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows." A graduate degree from UNF takes the strengths and talents you already possess and opens up a world full of possibility, opportunity, and success.
John Kantner, PhD RPA
Dean of the Graduate School
Associate Vice President for Research
Our Mission
Goal 1
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Cultivate a learning environment that supports intellectual curiosity, academic achievement, and personal growth.
Action 1.1
Promote the development of new graduate programs that are appropriate to UNF’s mission, students, faculty, and the region; ensure the relevance of our programs to our students.
Anticipated Outcome
- New promising graduate degree programs.
Action 1.2
Foster the maintenance of graduate programs that are appropriately sophisticated, rigorous, and current in both academic content and pedagogical/andragogical presentation.Anticipated Outcomes
- Enhanced program review and assessment.
- Improved curricula in all programs.
- Accreditation of all programs that have discipline-specific accreditation bodies.
Action 1.3
Cultivate students' advanced knowledge and skills in their chosen fields.
Anticipated Outcomes
- Stronger student educational and scholarly experiences and products in all programs.
- Better Graduate School policies and processes related to the quality of student work, in particular theses and dissertations.
- Editorial support for theses and dissertations; support for statistical analysis.
Action 1.4Foster instructional excellence in our graduate faculty.
Anticipated Outcomes
- New initiatives in the Office of Faculty Excellence focused on graduate level andragogy.
- New initiatives that financially support graduate faculty teaching enhancement.
Action 1.5
Promote the relevance of the Graduate School to graduate students.
Anticipated Outcomes
- Better communication between the Graduate School and graduate students.
- Ombudsman services for graduate students.
- Enhanced career placement services for graduate students.
- New initiatives to assist graduate students seeking admission to still more advanced educational opportunities.
Goal 2
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Recruit and support a diverse community of students, faculty, and staff who will contribute to and benefit from the university's mission.
Action 2.1
Recruit graduate students of high promise, with the evidenced potential to accomplish goals appropriate to graduate study and to succeed in their chosen degree programs.
Anticipated Outcomes
- Refined and streamlined Graduate School admissions policies, processes, and practices.
- Added scholarships, fellowships, and assistantships; development initiatives; better use of available funding for recruiting and retaining students.
- Strengthened recruitment partnerships with colleges and other campus agencies.
- New markets identified.
- Stronger online, print, and radio marketing.
- Stronger marketing through Grad Expos and similar events.
- Better retention and progress toward graduation.
- Greater awareness and visibility of UNF’s graduate educational opportunities.
Action 2.2
Ensure that the graduate student body profile is diverse (with “diversity” broadly interpreted).
Anticipated Outcomes
- Greater recruitment efforts and strategic funding to enhance diversity.
- Strengthened diversity-recruitment partnerships.
Goal 3
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Support and recognize research and creative endeavor as essential university functions.
Action 3.1
Foster scholarly excellence in our graduate students.
Anticipated Outcomes
- Enhanced funding initiatives to support graduate student scholarly activity, particularly self-initiated activity, including support for participation in professional conferences and other research-focused activities.
- Enhanced funding initiatives to support graduate student scholarly events, such as campus presentations, lectures, symposia, colloquia, and conferences.
- An annual doctoral research symposium.
- Research mentor programs.
- An online graduate student scholarly journal.
Action 3.2
Foster scholarly excellence in our graduate faculty.Anticipated Outcomes- Enhanced Graduate School policies and processes concerning graduate faculty status appointment and review.
- New initiatives that financially support the scholarly activity of graduate faculty.
Goal 4
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Affirm the university's public responsibility through civic engagement and community-based learning and research.
Action 4.1
Ensure the relevance of our programs to the communities we serve.
Anticipated Outcomes
- New programs are developed with a focus on regional needs.
- Greater communication between the UNF Graduate School and employers (marketplace and academic), civic leaders, regional stake-holders, and other community members.
- A UNF Graduate School annual community report.
- A community advisory board.
Policies & Regulations
Responsibility of the Student to Stay Informed
It is the student's responsibility to keep informed of all rules, regulations, and procedures required for graduate studies. Graduate program regulations will not be waived or exceptions granted because students plead ignorance of the regulations or claim failure of the adviser to keep them informed.
If you feel that there are extenuating circumstances that warrant a waiver or exception, a Student Petition of Academic Policy may be submitted.