11 Graduate and Professional School - Faculty/Staff Forms

11.1    689 SPECIAL TOPICS COURSE REQUEST

Special Topics Course Requests are now submitted via the online Section Request system at https://sectionrequest.tamu.edu/. For access to or questions about the system, please contact scheduling@tamu.edu. All course requests should be approved by the college at least 5 working days prior to the class schedule inclusion registration deadline published by the Office of the Registrar each semester. 

Per TAMU published rules, a new graduate course may be taught under the designation of special topics (689) twice following the initial approval for that designation. The course should then be given a regular course number and submitted for approval as a new course. A course may be taught as special topics for a third time providing it has been submitted for approval as a regular course. 

11.2    AUTHORIZED SIGNATURES FOR GRADUATE AND PROFESSIONAL: FOR COLLEGE/DEPARTMENT/IDP

Each college, department, and IDP is required to have an Authorized Signature Form on file with the Graduate and Professional School. These forms are used to verify signatures on all graduate and professional student documents across the University.

The Authorized Signature Form is also used for DPSS and Graduate Committee Faculty approvers and nominators and to give access to view student documents in ImageNow. 

For DPSS

The faculty member(s) designated as the Department or Dean Approver will be required to approve all degree plans and petitions submitted in DPSS for their unit. The other designees on the forms will be able to Proxy Approve in the event the Departmental Approver or Dean Approver are unable to approve.

The Pre-Committee Staff Approver is the departmental “pre-check” to ensure that the degree plans and petitions submitted follow the department/unit rules before being sent to the students’ committees.

For Graduate Committee Faculty

The faculty member(s) designated as the Department or Dean Approver will be required to approve all Graduate Committee Faculty nominations submitted for their unit. The other designees on the forms will be able to Proxy Approve in the event the Department Approver or Dean Approver are unable to approve. 

The staff members are able to select to have “Access to Enter/View Nominations” for their department/ unit. Individuals who only have this access will not be able to approve nominations but will be able to see all nominations for their unit.

By default, the Department Approvers will have access to enter and view nominations as well. The Graduate and Professional School recommends more than one Authorized Signer for each college, department, or IDP; however, this is not mandatory.

NOTE: Only members of Graduate Committee Faculty may be listed on page 1 (Figure A). Staff members are not considered Authorized Signers and must be listed on page 2 (Figure B).

1. Type/print the name of the College/Department/IDP
2. Type/print the date the form is being completed
3. Type/print the full name of the Authorized Signer
4. Type/print the title of the Authorized Signer if not already printed
   1. NOTE: The pre-printed titles are to ensure that the forms have the required contact information for the designated faculty positions, but units do not have to limit their Authorized Signers to those with these titles.
5. Type/print the TAMU email address of the Authorized Signer
6. Type/print the UIN of the Authorized Signer
7. Type/print the NetID of the Authorized Signer
8. Type/print the phone number of the Authorized Signer
9. The original signature, as signed here, will be compared to signatures submitted on all Graduate and Professional School documents.
10. Select if the user will be designated Dean/Department Approver or Proxy Approver for DPSS 
    1. NOTE: Proxy Approvers will have access to approve but will not receive notification of new approvals. Only the Dean/Department Approver will receive notifications. 
11. Select if the user will be designated Dean/Department Approver or Proxy Approver for the Graduate Committee Faculty system
12. Select if the user will be given access to enter and view nominations in the Graduate Committee Faculty system
13. Select if the user will need access to view student documents in ImageNow (for departments and IDPs only)

Related knowledge