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The purpose of these tools is to help faculty and graduate students in the College of Engineering make the advising relationship as productive and positive as possible. Many of the difficulties in the advisor-advisee relationship stem from unclear communication or a discrepancy in expectations. These tools are designed to help set clear expectations for both the advisor-advisee and assist with clear communication and goal-setting. The tools and/or their mode of use may be tailored to individual situations as desired. Use of the tools is strongly encouraged for all faculty and graduate students.

A. Individualized Development Plans

When to use: Every six months-one year
Goal: To assist with long-term planning and progress evaluation.
How to use: This document will ideally be used once or twice per year. Detailed instructions are provided with the document. In brief, the student and advisor both fill out the document separately detailing accomplishments since the last meeting, research goals for the upcoming timeframe, personal and professional goals, and feedback. This is one of the few clear opportunities for students to give feedback to the advisor, so faculty are strongly encouraged both to use these documents and to accept feedback from the students graciously. Both parties comment on each other’s documents and create a yearly plan together.

1. How to use an Individualized Development Plans
2. Download the Goals and Planning Worksheet
3. Sample of Completed Goals and Planning Worksheet

B. Student-Advisor Expectation Scales

When to use: Advisor selection (if applicable) and new student onboarding
Goal: To set clear expectations between the advisor and advisee. This helps the relationship get off to a good start and helps the advisor and advisee determine if the student is a good fit for the research group.
How to use: Both parties should fill this document out separately. There are no right answers. The student and advisor can then discuss points on which they differ. This will help set mutually-agreeable expectations from day one.

C. Research Group Expectations

When to use: Advisor selection (if applicable) and new student onboarding
Goal: To outline policies and procedures in the lab/research group as well as the expectations that the advisor has for the student. This will also help students assess their potential fit with a research group.
How to use: Faculty are strongly encouraged to create such a document for their labs/research groups and to share it with new and prospective graduate students. They are free to modify the example document or write their own.

D. Weekly or Biweekly Individual Meeting Template

When to use: Weekly/biweekly individual meetings
Goal: To help both parties keep track of the student’s progress and assist with short-term goal setting and accountability for both the student and advisor.
How to use: The graduate student should fill out the template before the meeting. During the meeting, the student and advisor can modify the document as needed. We recommend either printing out these sheets and keeping them in a folder or creating a shared Google doc. This will allow both parties to keep track of progress.

E. Publication and Authorship Agreement

When to use: When multiple authors are collaborating on a research project and need to establish guidelines for authorship credit and publication responsibilities
Goal: To ensure clarity and fairness among all co-authors regarding their contributions to a research publication and the process of submitting, revising, and finalizing the manuscript.
How to use:  Co-authors involved in a research project are strongly encouraged to collaborate and complete this agreement. It is advisable to discuss and finalize the terms before commencing the research and throughout the publication process. A signed and dated copy should be kept by all co-authors as a reference. This agreement can be customized to suit the specific needs and expectations of the research team.

Advisors begin engaging students as prospective students, regularly interact with them throughout the admissions process & new student orientation and have frequent contact thereafter in the form of academic advisement and problem-solving support through their graduation.  Alongside a department’s faculty, department academic advisors are a graduate student’s first point of contact for questions and concerns around program procedures, contract questions, administrative steps toward degree completion, and can refer the student to either the College of Engineering Graduate Affairs Office or University entities.

The Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs in the College of Engineering develops and implements policies and programs to foster successful graduate student outcomes.  We offer a diverse engineering environment with specific emphasis on recruitment, retention, and training of graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in engineering and computer science.
 

The organizational communication pipeline was developed by the College of Engineering to help navigate contacts, roles and responsibilities within the University for graduate student educational needs.

Who Does What?

Established in 2019, the University of Delaware Graduate College is an expression of the will of the faculty and administration at the University to dedicate itself to the needs and aspirations of our graduate students and postdocs. We will advocate for our graduate students’ and postdocs’ success and well-being in all parts of their lives on and off campus.

Graduate College Team Members

Academic Regulations for Graduate Students

Graduate Catalog