Student & Academic Technologies, Curricular Affairs, Human Resources, the Graduate College, and University Analytics & Institutional Research (UAIR) have collaborated in recent years to improve the University of Arizona’s graduate degree auditing and tracking system, known as GradPath. GradPath, a component of UAccess Student, uses a series of electronic forms with built-in approval workflows. These forms allow students to plan their courses, identify their advisor, and specify which faculty members, if any, will serve on their graduate committees.

The Graduate Faculty Project streamlined this process by integrating data about employees’ eligibility to serve on graduate committees directly into UAccess Student. Before this integration, committee members had to be manually vetted to ensure they had the necessary qualifications to supervise graduate studies. Additionally, the project replaced an outdated Microsoft Access database that previously stored eligibility information.

The GradPath/GradVIP integration project enhanced GradPath by enabling the Plan of Study Form—the primary degree auditing document used by the Graduate College—to incorporate Advising Report data. Several departments are now piloting these hybrid forms, paired with professional advisors, for master’s programs with highly structured curriculums.

This project also introduced flexible customization options for forms, such as changing form order or titles and hiding unnecessary forms. Importantly, it ensures that downstream forms still become available as needed. Previously, these customizations required developer assistance, but they can now be managed directly by users through a self-service setup page.

Graduate Faculty data and GradPath Form data are now integrated into UAIR and accessible through UAIR dashboards. Authorized users can view Graduate Faculty memberships, and dashboards provide an aggregate view of GradPath Form statuses. For example, Graduate Program Coordinators can monitor all students in the programs they oversee, while college deans can track all students within their colleges. This level of data accessibility was not possible before the project.

Overall, this project significantly improved processes by reducing manual reviews of forms and committee memberships, simplifying the creation of Plans of Study for students, expanding the availability of graduate student data, and minimizing the need for development when alternative form progression or routing is required.