Dear Colleagues,

At the heart of the Graduate Division is our collective goal of supporting graduate student opportunities and success at UC Riverside. Driven by this purpose, we partnered with Information Technology Solutions (ITS) to develop a new and improved system for graduate student funding and employment. Today, I am pleased to introduce the Graduate Student Management System (GSMS).

This comprehensive solution will enhance our current processes by:

● Unifying graduate student admissions and funding processes, replacing current tools

such as GradSIS and GradESS.

● Centralizing the hiring process for various graduate student positions, replacing the

decentralized, manual processes currently used across colleges and schools.

Why is this change important?

Having a user-friendly system that integrates with existing UCR systems enables the Graduate Division and our colleagues across campus to be more efficient in managing graduate student funding and employment. GSMS allows us to:

● Reduce the administrative burden and increase operational efficiency for staff providing graduate student management services through automation and data integration

● Enable data-informed decisions and ensure compliance with regulations and agreements through improved document management, data analytics, and reporting

● Deliver a common experience and shared understanding through process standardization and tool centralization

Ultimately, these will help us improve the experience of our graduate students and the faculty and staff that support them.

When will we start using GSMS?

GSMS will be implemented in phases:

Summer 2025

● How you can prepare for GSMS:

○ Join informational sessions with Graduate Division and ITS leadership

○ Participate in user acceptance testing (UAT) for select users

○ Complete the training on the new system for position and offer management (this will come in the form of recorded demos and documentation)

○ Join the open office hours before and after Go-Live

○ Review the job aids

● Launch of the Position and Offer Management system

Fall 2025

● Admissions processes will move to GSMS

● Launch of the new employment application process in GSMS

● Retirement of GradSIS, TAOnline, and other college processes

Winter 2026

● Financial offer management will move to GSMS (GradSIS and GradESS will be consolidated within GSMS)

● Retirement of GradESS

● Financial offers for Spring 2026 quarter will be awarded using GSMS

Your support is crucial

As with any new system implementation, there is a learning curve involved. The project team is developing GSMS training and documentation resources to ensure that you are equipped to leverage the new system once it’s live. Your active support in completing the necessary training and providing feedback are key to making this project successful.

I invite you to visit the GSMS website for more information and to get the latest news on this initiative. If you have questions or concerns, please email the project team at gsmsfeedback@ucr.edu.

I look forward to your partnership as we continue to support graduate student opportunities and success at UCR.