Graduate Program Advisor (GPA)
The GPA is a key administrative and advising position that supports graduate students throughout their academic journey. This position serves as a primary point of contact for both current and prospective students, offering guidance on academic requirements, university policies, and departmental procedures. Through fostering a supportive and well-informed academic environment and ensuring clear communication and consistent policy application, the GPA helps maintain the integrity and success of the graduate program.
Key Responsibilities
- Student Advising:
- Advise students on degree requirements, course registration, and academic planning.
- Assist with the submission of petitions, forms, and other academic documentation.
- Monitor student progress and ensure timely completion of program milestones.
- Communication & Liaison Work:
- Serve as the main communication bridge between students, faculty, and the Graduate School.
- Facilitate understanding of departmental policies and expectations.
- Address and help resolve conflicts or misunderstandings between students and faculty.
- Administrative Duties:
- Approve student requests such as leaves of absence, exam scheduling, and degree submissions.
- Communicate individual status of students to the Graduate School.
- Maintain accurate records of student progress and program compliance.
- Disseminate important updates and deadlines to students and faculty
The current GPA, Sadie Reitz, can be reached at microgpa@uw.edu, (206)543-3812. Office hours are Monday & Friday, 1:00-5:00pm (SLU F508 and remote).
Graduate Policy and Advising Committee (GPAC)
Mission Statement: The GPAC is responsible for reviewing and updating the Microbiology Graduate Program curriculum, guidelines, and requirements. During a graduate student's career, the GPAC provides advice and mentoring concerning coursework, lab rotations, choice of a thesis lab, and exams. The GPAC also supports students and faculty in navigating challenges that arise from any aspect of graduate education.
Membership: The GPAC is chaired by the Departmental Graduate Program Coordinator (GPC) and includes one or two additional faculty members. Current members are Jason G. Smith (GPC), Beth A. Traxler, and Alex Meeske. The GPAC can be reached at microgpc@uw.edu.
Scheduled Advising:
First-year students:
- Orientation: Prior to the beginning of Autumn Quarter, GPAC will provide an overview of the Program and Program Requirements and will convene a panel of current students to discuss class choice and thesis lab choice with the incoming class.
- Autumn Quarter: The GPAC will meet with students in the 7th or 8th week as a group to discuss common concerns with curriculum and choosing rotations.
- Winter Quarter: The GPAC will again meet with students in the 7th or 8th week as a group to discuss common concerns with curriculum and choosing rotations.
Second- and third-year students:
- The GPAC will meet with all rising second- and third-year students as a group in Summer Quarter to review Program requirements, discuss common concerns, and promote discussion between the classes on strategies to successfully navigate expectations and requirements for the second year.
All students:
- The GPAC, with help from the GPA, will solicit feedback on student progress from Thesis Advisors in Summer Quarter. Upon review of this feedback or at the suggestion of the Thesis Advisor, the GPAC may reach out to individual students for follow-up advisory meetings.
Open Advising: The GPAC is available at any time during a student’s career for individual advice and counseling and is best reached at microgpc@uw.edu. Students should consider either the GPA or GPAC as their first point of contact for any concern and should not hesitate to contact someone if they feel they need advice. Students may choose to meet with individual members or with GPAC as a group.
Departmental Community Programs and Events
Seminar Series
During the academic year, the Department hosts a weekly seminar series in which speakers are invited from outside institutions to present their latest research in microbiology. Speakers are invited by individual faculty as well as the postdoc and student communities. Audience members have the opportunity to engage with the speaker in Q&A after the talk concludes. The seminar series is an excellent source of exposure to diverse areas of microbiology and is a core component of the Microbiology Graduate Program.
Work in Progress (WIP) Seminars
During the academic year, the Department hosts a weekly Work in Progress seminar series, in which two students or postdocs affiliated with UW Microbiology labs each present a ~30 minute update on their research. The WIP seminar series is a great forum for trainees to hear about the research of their colleagues and an excellent opportunity to hone their science communication skills. Faculty provide private feedback to speakers after the talks conclude.
Department of Microbiology Annual Retreat
The Department gathers annually before the start of Fall Quarter at an off-site location to socialize and discuss ongoing science. Faculty, students, and postdocs participate. The program consists of multiple sessions of short research talks divided by refreshment and meal breaks, leisure time, a poster session, and organized entertainment. The format is either a local one-day event or a more distant, two-day event. Transportation is provided to the retreat for students.
Microbrews
Core Microbiology labs take turns hosting an informal gathering to socialize once a month during the academic year. The host lab determines the location. The schedule is organized by students (see Student Jobs and Student Retreat below).
Faculty-Student Coffee & Chat
This initiative was enacted in response to student requests for improved faculty and student relationships and seeks to promote engagement, communication, and trust between our faculty and graduate students. These informal gatherings also provide a space and mechanism to address student concerns and provide a forum for career advice and professional networking. More generally, enhanced engagement breaks through the hierarchical nature of faculty/student interactions, which serves our community enrichment mission by allowing us to better understand the unique experiences and challenges that our students are facing and how we might mitigate those issues programmatically to create a more supportive and effective training environment.
Student Community
Microbiology Peer Mentor Network
This is an optional program where incoming students are paired with a more senior Microbiology graduate student (2nd-5th years). By sharing 'hidden' institutional knowledge, these interactions bridge experience/knowledge gaps, strengthen graduate student support networks, build community identity, and decrease isolation. Student pairings are coordinated by a faculty member and a senior graduate student.
Student Jobs and Student Retreat
After their first year, graduate students annually volunteer for student jobs that support the department, student life, and networking. These jobs include acting as graduate student representation on the Admissions Committee, the Committee on Community Enrichment, and at monthly faculty meetings. Student-led committees organize events such as recruitment, Microbrews, welcome week for incoming first years, and a yearly student retreat at Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. Student retreat is an important event that fosters connections, camaraderie, and collaboration between graduate students of all years in a judgement-free space. Students also help with organizing networking events. This includes weekly events where graduate students meet with the Department-invited seminar speaker in an informal setting and monthly opportunities to attend a small-group lunch with two intradepartmental professors. These student jobs allow trainees to directly influence the community and culture not only amongst themselves but throughout the Department.