Current Students Guide

• The Graduate School website has a list of prohibited behaviors.

• Matters that involve or may affect the student’s intellectual or professional life should primarily be handled by the student's major department.

• A student may choose to have the dean of The Graduate School hear matters related to the student’s conduct in addition to or instead of faculty members from the student’s major department. A student may also elect to have such matters reviewed and judged by a Graduate School Judicial Board instead of the dean of The Graduate School or members of the faculty in the major department.

• Actions that appear to conflict with Duke-wide rules and regulations will fall under the jurisdiction of the University Judicial Board.

• See the guide developed by The Graduate School, in collaboration with graduate students and campus partners, specifically for reporting and addressing such situations. It walks graduate students through various options for reporting and addressing misconducts, what happens after they file a report, and what confidential and nonconfidential resources they can turn to. It also lists resources for immediate help with emotional/mental support and securing your physical safety.

• The Graduate School website also addresses harassment, discrimination, and sexual misconduct in detail.

See the description of the student grievance procedures. The appeal process essentially goes: director of graduate studies --> department chair --> senior associate dean in The Graduate School --> dean of The Graduate School.

• Preparing, defending, and submitting your dissertation/thesis
• Graduation deadlines, including deadlines for submission and defense of dissertations/theses
• UMI/ProQuest

• Form for submission of the doctoral preliminary exam report (PDF)
• Form for requesting an extension for preliminary exam (Word)

Starting in the 2022-2023 academic year, all Ph.D. students in their first five consecutive years of study are guaranteed full 12-month stipends. The mechanism for providing this funding varies across programs. See The Graduate School's guide on how each program is providing the funding.

• The Graduate School offers a number of fellowships and other funding opportunities that provide academic-year, summer, or research travel support. You can find these through the Find Funding page on the Graduate School website.

• Your department may offer competitive fellowships and other funding opportunities. Speak with your director of graduate studies about these.

• Another frequent source of graduate student funding at Duke is the Office of Interdisciplinary Studies. 

• There are also many funding opportunities from organizations and institutions outside Duke, and the Find Funding page offers information on tools you can use to find these, such as the Duke research funding database.

The Graduate School has several resources that could help fund events for graduate students:

• The Office of Graduate Student Affairs provides funding for student groups each year.

• The Graduate School has a one-time sum of funds for supporting events and programming that help create a more diverse and inclusive environment for graduate education at Duke.
• The dean of The Graduate School will also consider individual student requests for funding for events or programs coordinated by current Graduate School students. 
• For departments/programs: The Professional Development Grant supports department/program and student efforts to offer professional development programming, and many recipients have used the funding to organize events such as speaker series, workshops, and other student activities.

The Graduate and Professional Student Government also offers funding to affiliated student groups.

• The Graduate School has a grant that provides assistance with medical expenses not covered by insurance or other forms of financial hardship.

• If you have children, be sure to look into The Graduate School's childcare subsidy.
• If you are facing a temporary, short-term financial need, The Graduate School has two short-term loans that might be useful.
• Also, please do not hesitate to reach out to The Graduate School's Office of Financial Aid (grad-finaid@duke.edu). Our team may be able to help you explore ways to address your situation.
• Personal Finance @ Duke is a university program aimed at helping Duke students and alumni make informed financial decisions.

If you have questions, problems, or concerns regarding your Duke funding (e.g., not receiving your stipend payment, funding disagreements within your department, etc.), please contact The Graduate School's Office of Financial Aid (grad-finaid@duke.edu), and we will help address the issue.

• Students in good academic standing may apply for a total of two semesters of leave of absence. 

• Leave of absence request form (PDF)

• Students contemplating leaves of absence should be aware that, for financial purposes, all guarantees of financial support are calculated from the date of initial matriculation. For example, if a graduate program has stated that a student will be supported through the fifth year of graduate study, and the student subsequently takes a personal leave of absence for one of those years, the student would forfeit a year of institutional support. Departments will provide deferral of funding to a subsequent term in the case of medical leaves of absence. Foreign students on visas should consult Duke Visa Services for the implications of a leave of absence on their legal status in this country.

Ph.D. students who are primary caregivers are guaranteed up to nine weeks off from full-time graduate studies and duties after the birth or adoption of a child (two of those weeks can be taken before the projected birth/adoption date if needed). Ph.D. students who are non-primary caregivers are guaranteed up to two weeks off. Students who are receiving stipend support continue to get that support during the accommodation period. See the accommodation policy for details.

The Graduate School has a policy that lays out how much time off Ph.D. and master's students can take from their duties as research, teaching, or graduate assistants. Graduate student RAs, TAs, and GAs on 12-month appointments can take up to 12 days off, and those on shorter appointments also receive varying amount of time off, which is listed in the policy. In addition, the policy emphasizes that graduate students should also be off from their assistantship duties on the days listed in the university staff holiday schedule.

There are many professional development opportunities for graduate students at Duke, including a robust slate of programming and resources offered by The Graduate School. See the professional development section of the Graduate School website to learn about each of these offerings. 

Ph.D. students should also check out Duke OPTIONS, an online tool to help doctoral students create a roadmap for their professional development throughout graduate school.

Master's student should start by checking out the professional development resources The Graduate School has developed specifically for them.

• For departments/programs: The Graduate School's Professional Development Grant provides up to $2,000 to support department/program and student efforts to offer professional development programming.

• For individual students: The Graduate School also offers funding to support Ph.D. students' travel to conferences where they are presenting a paper or poster.

The Graduate School has been publishing robust career outcomes data about our graduates for years. Take a look in the statistics section of our website to see what sectors graduates from your program are working in, what regions they are in, and who the top employers are. Also, check out the alumni profiles on our Professional Development Blog for insights into the career paths of alumni in a wide range of career paths.

All Graduate School students are required to complete a certain number of hours of RCR training (including a mandatory RCR orientation) before they can graduate. See the RCR section of the Graduate School website for details about the requirements and the various ways to complete the required training. 

Email grad-rcr@duke.edu if you have any questions.

Students' RCR participation is documented on their university transcript, and their progress toward completing the RCR requirement is monitored by The Graduate School. This information is in Duke Hub. See our instructions for how to check your own RCR credits and progress.

The Graduate School has a formal set of guidelines and policies for graduate students serving as teaching assistants and instructors. They cover the training that TAs and instructors should receive, the expected supervision and evaluation, stipends and hours, and other aspects. 

Graduate students interested in honing their teaching skills should consider the following:

• Certificate in College Teaching: This program takes about a year to complete and offers intensive training in college teaching through coursework, teaching experience and observation, and the building of an online teaching portfolio. It also provides a transcript notation that can help make graduates more competitive in the academic job market.
• College Teaching Workshops: Open to graduate students, postdocs, faculty, and staff. Speakers address topics relevant to classroom teaching, dealing with students, or faculty life and career paths.

• Preparing Future Faculty: This yearlong program offers graduate students and postdocs insights into the broad range of faculty roles and responsibilities at a variety of institutions.

• Teaching assistant training: The Graduate School collaborates with Duke Learning Innovation and other other campus units to provide workshops throughout the year for graduate student TAs.

• Duke Global Travel Policy
• Duke Travel Registry: People traveling internationally with Duke support must enter their travel information into the registry, which Duke uses to offer quicker assistance in case of emergency.

The Graduate School offers multiple resources to support travel related to a student's research and academic pursuits:

• Conference travel funding for Ph.D. students
• Dean's Research Award for Master's Students, which can be used to support travel
• A number of competitive fellowships offered by The Graduate School can be used to support travel. You can search for them using the Travel Support filter on our Find Funding page.