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Graduate Student Handbook and Forms

EES Graduate Student Handbook

The current Graduate Student Handbook is the 2022 edition. All students matriculating Fall 2022 or later should look to this handbook for guidance. If a graduate student matriculated prior to Fall 2022, then they may use either the current handbook or the handbook that was current when they matriculated.

Current and past editions of the EES Graduate Student Handbook


EES Graduate Degree Milestone Record Forms

As EES graduate students complete degree milestones, these events must be officially recorded via the following forms:

These record forms should be submitted to the EES department office promptly after completion of the milestone.


EES Graduate Student Annual Progress Report

All EES graduate students must complete an annual progress report each spring semester in conjunction with an annual committee meeting. There are two possible versions of the annual progress report: one that only the student and their thesis advisor (major professor) must sign (MS Word or Adobe PDF versions*) and one that provides additional space for the student's entire committee and the department chair to sign as well (MS Word or Adobe PDF versions*). Beyond the differing space for signatures, they are otherwise identical. Regardless of which form is used, it must be converted to a pdf and uploaded into MSU's Student Information System. Within that system, there is a tab called Annual Review, where the report should be uploaded. Please make sure any other GradPan required updates are made as well.

The EES department requires that the annual progress report be signed by both the student and the thesis advisor. This is to certify their contributions to the report and acknowledge the other's contribution. There is no EES department requirement to have all committee members and the department chair sign the annual progress report. All committee members should be sent the annual progress report for their consideration and approval, but this committee approval process can be completed by acknowledgement over email. If the purpose of the annual review is to only satisfy graduation requirements, use of the version with just the student and advisor signature space is appropriate. 

However, if the student is considering applying for the Graduate School's Dissertation Completion Fellowship (which is administered by the College of Natural Sciences) or the College of Natural Sciences' Outstanding Scholar Award Fellowship, then it is necessary for the annual progress report to be signed by the entire committee -- it is a requirement of these fellowship applications that the most recent annual progress report be included and it must be signed by the full committee. Both of these fellowships are solicited throughout the year by the college via the EES graduate chair. If a student is not sure if they should be considering applying for either fellowship, then they should talk to their advisor.

Lastly, the signature space on the form for the department chair is reserved for specific circumstances when it may be appropriate for the department chair to sign off on the annual report, for instance, in lieu of the advisor or another committee member.

*Both MS Word and Adobe PDF versions of the annual progress report are provided for your convenience. The MS Word version allows for longer responses, but the student should convert it to a PDF before obtaining signatures and uploading it into MSU's Student Information System. The Adobe PDF version is already a .pdf file, but responses must be limited in length and it requires the use of Adobe Acrobat for the form's editable boxes to work properly—the use of another .pdf editor can lead to unfortunate formatting and display issues.


For additional information or questions about EES Graduate Student Forms, please contact the EES Department office.