Say goodbye to lengthy email chains and endless games of phone tag. UC Davis Graduate Studies is excited to announce GradSphere, a new online platform that automates processes related to graduate student records and degree paperwork that launches April 1, 2024.

“We have heard the needs of our graduate education community and know that this new tool is an important step forward,” said Dean of Graduate Studies Jean-Pierre Delplanque. “GradSphere will bring many of our academic services into the 21st century, supporting the work of our faculty and staff and, most importantly, allowing our graduate students to focus their time on what matters most: their education.”

By transitioning from the existing system of paper forms, PDFs and time-consuming email correspondence, Graduate Studies aims to reduce the need for manual processing and engage community users through faster, more straightforward processes.  

Nearly 10,000 graduate students, faculty and staff will be impacted by this change – transforming how UC Davis approaches the entire graduate student lifecycle.

“GradSphere ushers in a wide array of potential to catalyze new ideas and approaches to graduate education,” said Jasmine Bonite, director of policy and programs at Graduate Studies. “The tool also allows us to offer the students we serve even more state-of-the-art capabilities for transparency, accessibility and security.”

GradSphere provides provides students, faculty, and staff access to a variety of responsive and secure digital workflows, making for an educational experience built on clear expectations of milestones and how student petitions and record updating is handled by administrative staff.

For example, GradSphere will give users a live view of who’s working on a given form, and has a comment channel for each process so that communication is more organized, efficient and easy to return to if needed. 
 

The Road to GradSphere

Graduate Studies has partnered with Appian, a software platform known for their accessible interface and track record of success in higher education, to build this new platform.

After closely collaborating with IET as well as faculty and staff partners across the UC Davis graduate education landscape, Grad Studies will launch this new tool April 1. All academic advising forms will transition over from Box to GradSphere. Other Graduate Studies forms, such as financial aid forms, will remain in Box for now.

Graduate Studies will offer various opportunities for training, including instructor-led workshops for “super users” and video tutorials for all users, including graduate students. For more information, including training schedules, please visit the GradSphere webpage.