Providing support from matriculation to dissertation

For Terri Vadovski, Cody Phillips and Vanessa Wilcox, the best days are when the dissertations come in.

Students dropping off the papers — and yes, the dissertations still arrive in paper form — are often relieved, excited and proud. They’re usually also willing to chat.

“I always ask, ‘Aren’t you happy you’re done?’ And they say, ‘Oh, yeah,'” said Terri Vadovski, director of the graduate studies office.

“They’re so excited,” said Phillips, the graduate studies associate.

“Sometimes they’ll say, ‘You guys have done a good job — thanks for all your help.’ That’s always nice to hear,” said Vadovski.

It isn’t just a simple compliment, either. From application to dissertation, the staff of the Office of Graduate Studies is on hand to help UNMC students, from ushering them through the admissions process to accepting the final version of the dissertation that marks many students’ completion of the program.

Vadovski and her team — Phillips and admissions associate Vanessa Wilcox — solve problems every day, working with students and faculty to ensure that each student is on track and up-to-date with requirements as they work toward their advanced degrees.

Phillips is in charge of current student paperwork. He has to be conversant with the 17 different programs that the office oversees to serve as a resource for students, helping them stay on track with their program.

Wilcox is available to students as they prepare to apply, downloading 300 or 400 applications and application documents daily.

“I manually sort through them every morning,” she said. “I handle all of the GRE and TOEFL scores for whoever has submitted an application.”

As for Vadovski, she handles larger student issues — grade concerns or issues with faculty. She provides an ear, and possibly suggestions, to students who are having difficulty.

The office’s biggest strengths? Teamwork and customer service, Wilcox said. “We have amazing customer service skills, and we’re an amazing team. We always come together and find solutions — we’re very proactive.”

Vadovski described the team as “rule keepers.”

“Our job is to make sure that we’re adhering to policies established by the University of Nebraska Graduate College and UNMC Graduate Studies,” she said. “The departments or the programs can vary a little bit in their requirements, but they still must satisfy the broader campuswide policies.

“A good day to me is that we solved some students’ problems, and we had good communication with each other,” she said.