ECE Advising and Staff

ECE Graduate Studies Committee (GSC) Chair, elected by the ECE faculty: Prof. Vijay K. Garg
The ECE GSC chair works primarily with the members of the ECE GSC and manages and administers the responsibilities and procedures associated with the Graduate Studies Committee of a graduate program. The ECE GSC Chair approves doctoral candidacy paperwork and signs certain doctoral documents. 

ECE Graduate Advisor: Prof. Leonard Franklin Register.
The ECE Graduate Advisor serves as an intermediary between students and the Deans in the Graduate School, and attends to some routine, and almost all non-routine, academic and non-academic matters and/or problems students may experience during their graduate studies. 

ECE Academic Track Advisors: https://www.ece.utexas.edu/academics/graduate/tracks
The ECE GSC has charged the Academic Track Advisors with some of the routine responsibilities of the administration of the ECE graduate program, and they serve as an intermediary between the student and the ECE Graduate Advisor. Consult the track advisor of your academic track for information about registration, details about courses and research topics, degree requirements, and advice concerning the overall ECE graduate program. Track advisors advise master’s students pursuing the no-thesis/no report (courses only) option, master’s students who have not yet found a willing supervisor for the report or thesis option, and PhD students who have not yet found a willing supervisor to guide them in their doctoral research.

ECE Graduate Advising: https://www.ece.utexas.edu/academics/graduate/advising

ECE Graduate Program Administrator: Tom Atchity, tomatchity@austin.utexas.edu     

ECE Graduate Coordinators: Barry Levitch, blevittch@mail.utexas.edu, and Melanie Gulick, melanie.gulick@mail.utexas.edu                                                                                                              

ECE Student Program Coordinator: Abigail Garza, abigail.g@utexas.edu                                                                                                                                                                                      

The Graduate Program Administrator and Graduate Coordinators administer routine operations of the graduate program and serve as partners and intermediaries with and between the faculty, the ECE Track Advisors, the Graduate Advisor, the ECE GSC Chair, and sometimes the Graduate School Deans. They usually have the most up-to-date information about administrative matters and policies, and are available to discuss any problems and concerns and to provide advice, direction, and resources. Their work involves interacting with colleagues in the Office of Graduate Admissions, the Cockrell School of Engineering, the Graduate School, International Student and Scholar Services, Human Resources, the Registrar, Student Accounts Receivables, Texas One Stop, and other offices.

Tom is the head administrator of the graduate advising office, and he has a hand in all aspects of the administration of the ECE graduate program, including registration, academic progress of ECE graduate students, maintenance of the ECE graduate student database, advancement to doctoral candidacy, master's and doctoral graduation, recruiting, and other matters.

Barry handles admissions and everything associated with applying for admission, including changing academic tracks within ECE and changing majors to ECE, funding awards for new students, coordination of fellowship awards and fellowship requirements, information about applying for the graduate period of the BSE/MSE Integrated degree program, and other matters.

Melanie assists current graduate students as they pursue their graduate studies, answering questions about degree requirements, including transfer of courses toward the MSE or PhD degrees. She manages various Graduate School processes and related forms (late registration, changes of grading basis to/from letter grade or credit/no credit, Q drops, leaves of absence) and assists with petition letters to the Dean of the Graduate School from the Graduate Advisor of ECE overall, as needed, to request exceptions or address problems. She assists international students with various matters such as CPT, OPT, and Degree Level changes and corrections.

Abigail Garza coordinates the ECE Partners Program for incoming ECE graduate students to provide support, connection, community, and guidance to MS and PhD students in their first year of enrollment. She also coordinates ECE Next, a yearlong series of workshops and mentoring activities for sophomores, juniors and seniors is aimed at providing mentoring and support for undergraduates interested in graduate education. Recruiting is another area of Abby's focus.  Her role continues to expand.

ECE Human Resources Representative: Alora N. Jones
alora.jones@austin.utexas.edu
The HR Representative assists students with Graduate Research Assistantships (GRAs); Teaching Assistantships (TAs); Graduate Assistantships, etc.; student employment paperwork such as applying for an SSN; updating the I-9; time sheets; and other employment matters. She also assists visiting scholars, researchers and postdocs. International students must enter Alora Jones’ name and email address in myIO for purposes of Financial Verification related applications to ISSS for extensions of stay. In addition, students applying for extensions of stay should send an email to Alora to inform her that they are applying for an extension of stay, and include their name, EID, and the name and email address of their supervising professor.

ECE Graduate Studies Committee:
Graduate education is the responsibility of the members of Graduate Studies Committees. The ECE GSC consists primarily of all the assistant, associate, and full professors who are active in the ECE graduate program.The ECE faculty elect a chair of the ECE GSC. One member of the ECE GSC serves as the Graduate Advisor and is responsible for administering the graduate program. The ECE GSC sets program-specific requirements for the ECE graduate degrees, and recommends students for admission to candidacy for ECE degrees. The ECE GSC delegates the responsibility to recommend students for admission to an Academic Track in the ECE graduate program to the faculty associated with each Academic Track within ECE. A link to the current ECE GSC roster is HERE.

Obtaining Signatures
Contact an ECE Graduate Coordinator for assistance with obtaining the approval and/or digital signature of the ECE Graduate Advisor or ECE GSC chair on Graduate School documents and forms. Some forms are available as DocuSign documents. In most cases, students must ask their Track Advisor if they have no supervising professor, or their supervising professor, to send an email to the Graduate Coordinator to confirm their approval of a process or a request before the ECE Graduate Advisor or ECE GSC chair reviews and possibly signs or approves a document, or before a Graduate Coordinator prepares a petition letter requiring the signature of the ECE Graduate Advisor or ECE GSC chair. Documents that require the signature of the "Graduate Advisor" or "Program Graduate Advisor" cannot be signed by the Track Advisor.