Mar 29, 2024  
Graduate Catalog | 2019-2020 
    
Graduate Catalog | 2019-2020 Previous Edition

Graduate Student Life


Center for Graduate Life

The Graduate School is committed to providing graduate students at UNC Charlotte with the highest caliber of graduate education.  While academic instruction and scholarly research are the ultimate foundation of any graduate education, the Graduate School also recognizes the importance of providing students with the resources and services needed to develop themselves professionally.  The Graduate School’s Center for Graduate Life (CGL) supports the success of all graduate students.  Located in the Cone University Center, the CGL offers space for community building and interdisciplinary exchange. The center offers professional development in the form of credit-bearing courses and workshops to build core competencies among students in communication, leadership, teaching, cultural engagement, and ethics and scholarly inquiry.  

Doctoral Writing Support

The Center for Graduate Life supports the writing efforts of master’s students and doctoral students who are actively writing their dissertations.  The CGL’s Faculty for Graduate Writing offer one-on-one coaching sessions to help dissertation students improve their academic writing skills, understand the dissertation process, work more effectively with their chairs and committee members, manage their time, set realistic writing goals, and deal with barriers to writing.  Graduate students are encouraged to participate in Graduate Writing Retreats offered several times each academic year.

Graduate Life Fellows

Each year, the Center for Graduate Life appoints a group of master’s and doctoral-level students from across degree disciplines to serve as Graduate Life Fellows (GLFs). GLFs enjoy the opportunity to gain important leadership and communication skills while having a meaningful impact on the graduate student experience.  For more information on the GLF program, visit gradlife.uncc.edu/about-us/graduate-advocates.

The Graduate Center

The Graduate Center, part of the Graduate School at UNC Charlotte, hosts graduate programs from partner Universities across the state and throughout the UNC system on our campus.

Since the 1980s, the Graduate Center at UNC Charlotte has served as host to a variety of graduate programs from across the state and throughout the UNC system.  The mission of the Graduate Center is to identify unique programs within the UNC system to meet the growing demands of the Charlotte community.  Graduate Centers were first authorized by the General Assembly and established by the UNC General Administration to facilitate inter-institutional graduate programs.  In Charlotte, this initiative has allowed residents to pursue advanced degrees from other UNC institutions without having to stray far from home.  Classes are taught by faculty from our partner institutions on UNC Charlotte’s main campus and at Center City campus.  Programs are offered on evenings and weekends, making them easily accessible for working professionals. 

Currently, North Carolina State University offers a doctoral program in Adult and Community College Education. The Graduate Center also supports the Teach for America program, in collaboration with the Cato College of Education.

The Graduate Center is located in the Center for Graduate Life within the Cone University Center.

New Graduate Student Orientation

The Graduate School conducts University-wide orientation programs for new graduate and post-baccalaureate students at the start of each Fall and Spring semester.  Information about the dates and times of these programs can be found online.  Information is also sent directly to newly enrolled students at the time of matriculation.

The orientation programs offer information about various University programs and services for graduate students; highlight important policies and procedures; provide publications, including resources available to support graduate students academically and socially; various content workshops on issues relevant to graduate education and graduate student life; and provide opportunities for students to ask specific questions.  Students are also encouraged to complete an online Orientation module at to prepare for their arrival on campus.

Many individual graduate programs conduct discipline-specific orientation programs for their new graduate students. Degree students should contact their major department for information on programs that may be available. In addition, the International Student/Scholar Office (ISSO) conducts orientation sessions specifically designed for international graduate students.

Graduate Teaching Assistant Training

In an effort to ensure all Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTA) have the necessary information and policies needed to be successful in their teaching role, the Center for Graduate Life requires each new GTA to complete online training prior to the start of their assistantship.  This training, available in Canvas, includes modules on FERPA, Discrimination/ADA, Common First Amendment Issues, Title IX, Classroom Management, The Art of the Rubric, and more.  The online training is required by UNC Charlotte, in addition to any TA Training offered at the department level.  More information can be found online.

Student Involvement

Students at UNC Charlotte are encouraged to participate in co-curricular activities.  UNC Charlotte acknowledges that graduate students have many, many priorities in their lives.  However, as with so many other aspects of one’s life, active involvement enhances the experience and helps individuals develop skills needed for professional success.

Graduate students are encouraged to participate in student leadership at some point during their academic career. In particular, graduate students may hone skills that will be useful in a variety of academic and industry professions. An active student body contributes to the vibrant community of graduate students and scholars at UNC Charlotte, making graduate education more relevant to students across disciplines.

Graduate and Professional Student Government

The Graduate and Professional Student Government (GPSG) is the governing and primary organization for graduate students to present their needs to the University.  The purpose of the Graduate and Professional Student Government (GPSG), according to the by-laws, is to serve as an appropriate voice on campus for graduate students, to meet the various needs of graduate students, and to establish a liaison between graduate faculty, graduate students, and the University. All graduate students are members of the GPSG.

In the spring of 1998, the Graduate Student Association successfully petitioned the student body through a referendum on the spring student body elections.  The results of this referendum provided a significant change in the student body constitution and provided for the Graduate and Professional Student Government to become a separate governing body and representative organization for graduate students.  In outlining the reasons for this separation, the GPSG cited the need for a GPSG office and the graduate student share of student activity fees to support: departmental graduate student associations, graduate student travel to read papers and present research at academic conferences, and developing a Graduate Student Research Fair.

During the 1998-1999 academic year, GPSG began functioning as its own governing body.  In the 1999-2000 academic year, the recognition of current (and new) graduate student organizations and the funding of these groups, including the GPSG, became the responsibility of the Graduate and Professional Student Government.  In 2019, GPSG formally separated from SGA to become its own separate organization. Since the inception of the GPSG, the availability of student activity fees to graduate students directly have increased dramatically. GPSG has been very successful in advocating for and supporting graduate student needs. An annual Research Symposium competition was begun in the spring of 2001 to showcase and reward excellence in graduate student research across all disciplines.  GPSG continues to be active in new graduate student orientation, encouraging and recognizing graduate student organizations and increasing the amount of student activity fee support for graduate students.  Each graduate program has the opportunity to be represented on the GPSG senate.

The GPSG Office is located in the Student Union.  More information can be found online at http://suar.orgsync.com/org/gpsguncc/home.

Graduate Student Organizations

There are a number of graduate student organizations directly associated with academic programs.  These include:

  • Advocates for Change
  • American Society for Precision Engineering
  • Anthropology Graduate Student Association
  • Association of Biology Graduate Students (ABGS)
  • Association of Chemistry Graduate Students
  • Association of Nanoscience Graduate Students
  • Bioinformatics Assembly of Students
  • Black Graduate Student Organization (BGSO)
  • CCI Grads
  • Charlotte Healthcare Executive Student Organization
  • Children’s Literature Graduate Organization
  • Communication Studies Graduate Student Association (CSGSA)
  • Data Science Initiative Student Organization
  • English Graduate Student Association (EGSA)
  • Geography and Earth Science Graduate Organization
  • Graduate and Professional Student Government
  • Graduate Business Association
  • Graduate History Association
  • Graduate Public Health Association
  • Graduate Public Policy Association
  • Graduate Social Work Association
  • Graduate Student PRIDE Association (gsPa)
  • Health Psychology Graduate Student Association
  • Master of Architecture Student Society (MASS)
  • Master of Public Administration Student Group (MPASG)
  • Mathematics Graduate Student Association
  • Minorities and Philosophy
  • Mu Tau Beta (Counseling)
  • Muslim Graduates Association at UNC Charlotte
  • Neuro Niners
  • Organizational Science Graduate Association
  • Philosophical Union UNCC
  • Power and Energy Society Student Branch Chapter of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) at UNC Charlotte
  • Sociology Graduate Student Association
  • SPIE/OSA Student Chapter at UNC Charlotte
  • Urban Educators for Change

Information on each group is available from the individual academic program department. Some groups have information available on the Student Organizations website.