By Jeff Samoray, OU Web Writer

Oakland University's Graduate Admissions and Student Services Office has redesigned the Graduate Study Web site to help future and current graduate students more easily obtain the information they need.

"The site puts information at the students' fingertips when it's convenient for them," said Christina Grabowski, associate director of Graduate Study and Lifelong Learning. "Graduate students typically are busy people with their work and family lives. We can't have staff available 24 hours a day, but we can make the information available to them on the Web."

The site is organized into four sections: information for future graduate students, current graduate students, general information, and a faculty and staff section where designated personnel can access academic policies, graduate council information and administrative tools via a secure link.

Students can obtain program descriptions, requirements for degree completion, application requirements and deadlines, and adviser contact information for each of the 78 graduate degree and certificate programs at OU. Links also are provided where appropriate throughout the site to the online graduate catalog and to forms that can be downloaded.

"One of the goals of the new site is to offer more services to our constituents," Grabowski said. "We've consolidated information by program to make it easier for students to obtain the information they need. When applying to a particular program, a student can find out exactly what will be required for their application materials.

"We created a forms page because we wanted there to be one place for all downloadable forms. And academic policies are presented in a friendly format. The site is really a repository of information in one place and an extension of the one-stop model represented by our office itself."

The launch of the site coincided with the opening of the Graduate Admissions Office at 160 North Foundation Hall. The office opened on Founders' Day, April 17 and houses both Graduate Admissions and Graduate Student Services. The center's functions include graduate admissions, graduate student services and lifelong learning and allows students to complete their university business in one place. The opening of the center and launch of the site represents OU's continued commitment to offering outstanding student services.

"There's a nice balance between form and function on the site," said Steve Szalay, electronic resources manager for Research and Graduate Study. Szalay, along with Electronic Resources Developer Eva Szadowski, worked with staff from the Graduate Study Office to develop the site.

"I'm particularly proud of the organization of the site," Szalay said. "The list of materials students will need to apply for admission is something unique. We looked at a lot of other university sites and that was something missing on most of them. It might be there, but it was something you had to search for, unlike our site where it's up front and accessible. I like pure functional sites, but we also wanted to design a site to attract future graduate students, and I think we’ve achieved that."

For more information on graduate study at Oakland University, visit the Graduate Study Web site, call (248) 370-3167 or e-mail gradmail@oakland.edu.