Graduation Help Desk
Our Newest Program!
Graduation Help Desk Project is an initiative here to help students persist on their path to graduation. The campus has many resources for student success, and sometimes knowing which one to use is the challenge. The Graduation Help Desk is one of the primary initiatives the make up the One-Stop Service Center and its focus on a culture for student advocacy. Visit STE 230 in person, call 903.566.7180, or email GHD@uttyler.edu for assistance, or to refer a student for assistance. Additionally, advisors can refer students through the EAB portal.
As part of a $10 million allocation by the Board of Regents, each of UT System's eight academic institutions also received funding to support Graduation Help Desks, which are One-Stop Shops (virtual or brick-and-mortar) for students who encounter barriers in the path to timely graduation and have nowhere else to turn.
A total of almost $1.7 million was awarded to fund dedicated staff and infrastructure to help students graduate on time by connecting them to the right people and resources across campus. Modeled after a successful program at The University of Texas at Austin, these centralized help desks allow institutions to identify barriers to graduation that might not otherwise be recognized by individual departments or colleges. The Graduation Help Desk Initiative was integrated into the One-Stop Service Center at UT Tyler and shapes the culture and focus of our approach to operations.
The role of the Graduation Help Desk (GHD) is to help undergraduate students graduate on time and remove barriers standing in the way of that. We work closely with departments, advisors, and students to support student progress at an individual level. The greatest strength of the GHD initiative is our ability to advocate for students with cross-departmental issues. Challenges that might seem a blend of multiple departments or ambiguous in nature are where we excel. Often we are able to find solutions to the barrier, by coordinating resolutions from multiple departments at one time. V
Visit the One Stop Service Center to remove barriers to timely graduation.
The Graduation Help Desk Model:
- Advocates for students to graduate on time.
- Cross-Collaborates with departments, advisors, and students to remove challenges to the student experience.
- Works with students directly, often referred by staff or faculty who have been unable to find a solution with their departments.
- Initiates conversations about systemic barriers, seeking to create changes in policy or process to help students populations as a whole.
- Designs creative solutions to help students get the coursework they need and have access degree plan requirements.
- Work with students holistically to solve not just the issue presented but to preempt the next challenge and the next question.
- Works with academic leadership to create and drive culture of policy and process changes that focus on ease of the student experience.
How to Engage with the GHD program:
- Identify an obstacle that may hinder the student’s progression towards graduation.
- Contact an academic advisor, the One-Stop Service Center, faculty, or other relevant office on campus to explore solutions.
- If the student, academic advisor, major department/faculty, or office assisting the student is unable to resolve the issue, the student, staff, or faculty can be referred to the Graduation Help Desk via GHD@uttyler.edu, through EAB, or in person at the One-Stop Service Center.
- The GHD Team will reply within 24-48 hours to indicate that we will begin working to find a resolution!