Automated Final Recommending List

Final Recommending Lists are how departments communicate to the University Registrar's office that a student has (or has not) satisfied all program major and/or minor requirements. Final Recommending Lists are submitted electronically through PeopleSoft, and require sign off by both a student services administrator and then department chair (or other approved faculty) before the list is routed to the Registrar's Office.

On this Page: Video Tutorial • SSO Role • Chair/Faculty Role • Permissions and Setup • Accessing/Viewing Final Recommending Lists • Approval Action Options • Deadlines • FAQs

Final Recommending List Tutorial

View a tutorial video that walks you through the Final Recommending List process.

Student Services Administrator Role

Student services administrators have primary responsibility for ensuring that final recommending lists are correct prior to routing to faculty for approval. Per University policy, a student’s academic record is considered final upon degree conferral and subsequent changes are not permitted. It is therefore critical that staff ensure that recommending lists are both accurate and complete. 

In reviewing final recommending lists, student services administrators must: 

• Verify all expected students are on the list(s) - if students do not display they either have not applied to graduate for that term or they have not yet been approved for the degree/minor/honors in question. Review STF Review Request by Plan in Axess to make sure no students have pending declaration requests prior to approving the list. Connect with students to remind them to apply to graduate if student intends to confer his/her degree that term.

• Verify students are on the correct list(s): students will appear on the list for which their current degree(s)/plan(s) are on record in Axess. If a student should receive honors (ex: BAH), but is appearing on another list (ex: BA), review the STF Review Request by Plan and/or STF Pending Request by Student panels in Axess to check for a pending major/minor/honors declaration. If no declaration exists, but you have held conversations with a student, please reconnect with the student to verify his/her plans prior to submitting the recommending list.

• Review students on the list(s): to determine whether program major and/or minor requirements have been, or are projected to be, successfully completed.

Faculty (Chair/Director) Role

The role of the department chair (or other approved faculty member) is similar to that of the student services administrator's: review the list of degree candidates and confirm whether those students have met the program major and/or minor requirements. Detailed instructions on how a Department Chair or faculty member can view and enter decisions for a Final Recommending List can be found on the Faculty (chair/director) instructions for Final Recommending List Approval.

How to Set Up a User (Student Services Administrators and/or a Department Chair) to Review/Sign Off on Final Recommending Lists

There are two required permissions needed in order for a user to access or enter decisions for a Final Recommending List:

1. In PeopleSoft Authority Manager: a user must have the "SR Department Users" role, under the Student Systems & Data category (please see below), which allows one to view student records. If a user does not have this permission, then they must contact the person within their School who grants this authority to request it.
2. In PeopleSoft, the user must also be set up as a recommending list approver. Please follow these steps to do so:

• In the "STF Notification Setup" panel in PeopleSoft (Main Menu > Set Up SACR > Product Related > Student Records > Curriculum Management > STF Notification Setup), search for the Academic Organization (this is your program or department name). Once you locate your program, click on the name under the Search Results list.

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• From here, you can enter the EMPL ID# directly or click on the magnifying glass to open up a user by other search criteria (like first/last name).

• Next, enter the user's email address, telephone number, and the type of Recommending List Role which is appropriate for you (see below screen shot and Recommending List Roles table).
  • IMPORTANT: please check the “Notify” box in order to receive emails when Final Recommending Lists are ready to be reviewed/approved. 

Available Recommending List Roles:

• RECOMMENDING LIST ROLE	WHO NEEDS THIS ROLE
  Department Chair - UG	The department chair/approved faculty member who will approve undergraduate degree candidates.
  Department Chair - GR/Prof	The department chair/approved faculty member who will approve graduate and/or professional degree candidates.
  Student Services - GR/Prof	The student services administrator member who will approve graduate and/or professional degree candidates.
  Student Services - UG	The student services administrator member who will approve undergraduate degree candidates.

SSOs or Department Chairs that will review both undergraduate and graduate/professional students: please click the "+" button to add the second Recommending List Role.

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How to View Final Recommending Lists

1. Go to STF View Recommending List in PeopleSoft (Home > Records and Enrollment > Graduation > STF View Recommending List)

2. Search for “Academic Org” or “Academic Plan.” Enter degree conferral term in the “Term” field. 

Approval Action Options

The below Final Recommending List student statuses are available from the application to graduate deadline until degree conferral:

• In Progress – Default value.

• Deny – Student has not completed department or school requirements. This value can be changed to approved until the list is routed to the Chair.  

• Approve – Student has completed department or school requirements. This value cannot be changed to denied once it is submitted.  (contact Registrar’s office staff if exception needed). Only move students to approved if grades have been submitted for required coursework.

• Comments – Enter any comments or leave blank. They comments will be seen by Department Chair and Registrar’s office. 

Buttons 

• Save – Button becomes available the day after the application to graduate deadline for the prior quarter (as soon as students can apply to graduate). The Save button does not submit information to Registrar.

• Submit – Button becomes available the day after the late application to graduate deadline for the degree conferral quarter. Multiple submissions are allowed, so that students can be cleared to graduate on a rolling basis. 

• Route to Chair - Button becomes available the day after the late application to graduate deadline for the degree conferral quarter. List should be routed to Chair after all students are in Denied or Approved status. Once list is routed to Chair, no changes can be made (contact Reg office for any exceptions).

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Key Deadlines for Final Recommending Lists

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Final Recommending List FAQ

1. The “route to chair” button is grayed out. When does the “Route to Chair” button become available?

• The Route to Chair functionality is available from the day after the late application to graduate deadline until the degree conferral date. All students must be in approved or denied status, and the “submit” button must be clicked to submit approval statuses to the Registrar’s office. Once all three of these conditions are met, the “Route to Chair” button will be available.

2. The “submit” button is grayed out. When will it become available?

• The Submit button functionality is available from the day after the late application to graduate deadline until the degree conferral date. Once the “Route to Chair” is selected, the submit button can no longer be submitted.

3. I cannot view the recommending lists in my department. What do I do?

• First, check the setup for the department in the “STF Notifications Setup” panel in PeopleSoft. Ensure that the EMPLID is entered correctly, and that the the “Department Student Services” role listed.  The “SR Department Users” authority role is also required, and is granted by the school authority manager.
• Note that the recommending lists are only available if students have applied to graduate for that term and department. If there are no degree candidates, there is no list.

4. How is the Chair approval handled?

• Degrees are not conferred without the Chair or Director’s approval of the recommending lists. The Registrar’s office audits that the Chairs have approved the lists.

5. What happens when the student services administrators submits the list?

• When the administrator clicks “submit,” the approval status is sent to the Registrar. Graduation clearance begins for that student.

6. Does the dissertation have to be submitted for the department to clear a PhD candidate?

• The Registrar’s Office checks whether the student has submitted the dissertation before approving degrees. Recommending lists can be submitted prior to dissertation submission.

7. Are students able to see the department graduation status?

• Currently students cannot see the departmental graduation status that is submitted through the Recommending List. However, the functionality will be available in a future quarter to allow students to see their department status as a “To Do” item in Axess.

8. How do I make sure my department is set up correctly for the recommending lists?

• Check the STF Notification Setup panel in PeopleSoft to confirm that the student services administrator and department chair are correctly entered.

9. How do I enter a proxy for the Chair or Director?

• If a chair or director will not be available to approve the recommending list, the student services administrator will need to enter the proxy information in the STF Notification Setup panel. Authority for the proxy will need to be granted through the school’s authority granter. While there is no official policy stating who can be set up as a department chair proxy, it is a best practice to have this approver be a faculty member.

10. How can the chair be set up to approve final recommending lists?

• Chair needs the “SR Recommending List Chair” security role in authority manager. Authority can be granted by the authority granter in the school. The chair must be set up for the academic organization in STF Notification Setup panel in PeopleSoft. For details see the "Final Recommending List Approval - Chair/Director" page.

11. What are the deadlines for the final recommending list?

• See the chart above the FAQs section on this page.

12. What do the approval action and comment options indicate on the final recommending list?

• In Progress – Default value
• Deny– Student has not completed department or school requirements. This value can be changed to approved until the list is routed to the Chair.  
• Approve – Student has completed department or school requirements. This value cannot be changed to denied once it is submitted.  (contact Registrar’s office staff if exception needed). Only move students to approved if grades have been submitted for required coursework.
• Comments – Enter any comments or leave blank. They comments will be seen by Department Chair and Registrar’s office.

13. How do the save, submit, and route to chair buttons work on the final recommending list?

• Save – Button becomes available the day after the application to graduate deadline for the prior quarter (as soon as students can apply to graduate). The Save button does not submit information to Registrar.
• Submit – Button becomes available the day after the late application to graduate deadline for the degree conferral quarter. Multiple submissions are allowed, so that students can be cleared to graduate on a rolling basis. 
• Route to Chair - Button becomes available the day after the late application to graduate deadline for the degree conferral quarter. List should be routed to Chair after all students are in Denied or Approved status. Once list is routed to Chair, no changes can be made (contact Reg office for any exceptions).

14.How does the chair approve a recommending list?

• After the student services administrator routes the final Recommending List to the Chair, an email is sent to the Chair that the Recommending List is ready to be reviewed and approved
• In Axess, the chair selects Teaching or Advising Tab
• Click on “Final Recommending List” in left column
• Click on link for degree program
• Review list of students and their status of "approve" or "deny"
• Enter any comments for Registrar's office
• Click "Submit to Registrar" to acknowledge and approve the final recommending list

15. I selected “route to chair” on the final recommending list, but I need to make a change to a student status. How do I make a change?

• Submit a support request to the Student Services Center. Be sure to specify which list to reset.

16. How do I know if the department chair or director has approved the list?

• In “STF View Recommending List,” search for the specific recommending list. If the chair has approved the list, a box will appear with “Dept Chair Approval Details,” including the chair name and date.

17. A student is not on the recommending list, but should be graduating. Why is the student not on the list?

• Students only appear on the list if they have applied to graduate for the selected term. If the student does not appear, the student has not applied to graduate for that term. To check if the student has applied to graduate, go to the “Student Program / Plan” panel. The “Student Program” tab shows expected graduation term, and the “Student Degrees” tab shows the degree checkout status. If there is no degree checkout status, the student has not applied to graduate.

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