The following faculty and staff members will assist you throughout your doctoral studies at CU:

1. Graduate Program Assistant: The Graduate Program Assistant will assist you from the application process through to graduation.Ìý He or she can help you with registering for courses (including late add/drops), transfer credit forms, and graduation forms. The Graduate Program Assistant will also work with you to schedule your PhD comprehensive exams and dissertation defense.

2. Graduate Associate Chair: The Graduate Associate Chair will contact you before the beginning of your first semester to discuss your academic interests, previous experience, secondary area of specialization, and fall semester schedule, and to go over program requirements, deadlines, and scholarship opportunities. In the first semester, the Graduate Associate Chair will consult with you to decide who would be the best faculty mentor. If your research interests are already firmly established, you can already choose a dissertation director.Ìý The Graduate Associate Chair also monitors your progress in the program and keeps you informed about departmental and university deadlines. You will meet with the Associate Chair each semester to discuss academic requirements and coursework.

3. Faculty Mentor: Your faculty mentor will be a member of the German graduate faculty, and you will meet with him or her at the beginning of your first semester to review course choices, designate your secondary area of specialization, and discuss comprehensive exams and dissertation writing. ÌýÌýYou will work with your faculty mentor until you have a director for your comprehensive examinations and dissertation (or comprehensive exams and thesis, if you are entering with a BA). Because you will be assigned a faculty mentor whose research profile best matches your own academic interests, there is a strong possibility that your faculty mentor will later become your exam and dissertation director.ÌýÌý