Proctors bring their discipline-specific skills and expertise to these campus units, gain collaborative team experience, explore potential career paths, and receive hands-on mentoring. Proctors gain valuable experience working on journals, research, documentaries, conferences, strategic initiatives, and many other types of academic projects. 

Proctor positions complement the academic program of the student by expanding professional training. All proctors have a mentor within a host unit, who supervises a student’s work and guides the student’s professional development. 

Proctorships are non-instructional academic appointments. Proctorships can last for one-semester or a full academic year. Some are offered through doctoral degree programs with eligibility limited to students in that program, and others may be campus-wide with wider eligibility. 

Information for Host Units of Proctorships

Proctorships are academic appointments intended to foster the professional development of graduate students. Under no circumstances are proctors to be used for general administrative work. Doctoral programs or other units interested in establishing a new proctorship must submit a proctorship form to the Graduate School. The Graduate School reviews the responsibilities, learning outcomes, and professional development goals of each proposed position.

In general, there are two proctorship types: doctoral program proctorships and proctorships hosted outside of a PhD program, often in a center, institute, or administrative office. 

Doctoral program proctorships typically appoint students in the same department. Departments must review with the Graduate School if they wish to appoint students in a different department. Doctoral program proctors receive full tuition or a tuition scholarship, health insurance, the health services fee, and a stipend. The funding for these proctorships comes from the standard sources of support for the program’s PhD students.

Non-doctoral program units may host proctorships. Proctors may provide assistance in research, program development, special projects, and other related activities. These are typically funded by the host unit, which covers the costs of a student’s stipend and health-related expenses. When available, endowed funds or grants may be used to fund these proctorships. Units may request tuition scholarship cost-share from the Graduate School, including where grant funding provides no or partial tuition support. 

For recurring proctorships, host units do not need to reapply for the same proctorship each year, as long as the responsibilities and parameters remain the same. (A host unit may request access to a prior proctorship submission for their department, center, institute, or office.) Updates to proctorships, including  changing the name of the proctorship, can be made by notifying the Graduate School. Significant changes may require a resubmission of the proctorship request form. 

Application Information for Students and Hosts

Applications from students for existing proctorships are decentralized and specific to each proctorship. 

For doctoral program proctorships, the department should advertise the opportunity to all eligible students, which may or may not be all current students in the program. The department decides the selection criteria and selection process. Once a proctor is identified, host units notify the Graduate School of the selection in the appointment process (in GSIM). 

For non-doctoral program proctorships, the host manages the application process, including advertising the position, receiving applications (e.g., as a Google form or via email), and selecting the proctor. These units should include a DGS note of support in application requirements, in order to ensure 1) DGS has no concerns that the proctorship will affect the TA pool of the department, 2) that the degree requirements of the proposed proctor will be met, and 3) that the proctorship aligns with student’s course of study. Once a proctor is identified, these host units should notify the Graduate School and the student’s doctoral program of the selection.