During Fall 2025, the new workflow will be piloted for Spring 2026 GA hiring by select departments in CLAS, CAHNR, Neag, and Engineering, and is anticipated to fully launch toward the end of the fall semester for GA offer letters issued for Fall 2026 and beyond.

• Reporting capabilities at the department and school/college level to track offer letter status, FTE committed, cohort data over time, etc.
• A feed from Student Admin to Slate will update the person record in Slate. Fields such as stipend level will auto-populate when letters are generated, while also providing an opportunity to override the level and include level contingency language if needed.
• When the user selects the type of appointment (new, continuing), appointment term (AY, fall, spring), and hours per week, the stipend for the appointment auto-calculates. Additional language, such as the April 15 Resolution information, populates based on logic, as well.
• A brief cover letter accompanies the offer letter for new, incoming graduate students and highlights some of the benefits of a GA to provide a friendlier first look at the offer for recruiting purposes.
• Issuance and acceptance of the appointment are electronic. Upon acceptance, the GA must complete attestations, which will help alleviate some of the pain points we continually encounter (e.g., the need to take action to enroll in or waive coverage through the GA health insurance plan and to submit proof of English proficiency, if applicable).
• Workflow end product includes a summary page of appointment details, organized in the same order as data entry for SmartHR, to make SmartHR entry and auditing easier.
• After the deadline to accept or decline has passed, the offer will automatically expire, removing the need for follow up communications by departments to “close the loop” on outstanding offers.

• A dean-level approval step has been added. This will typically be done by staff within the school/college business office.
• Department head signature on GA offers has always been required, however, going forward, department head approval of requests will be documented through the workflow.
• If the hiring unit is different from the GA’s academic home unit, advisor approval will be automatically requested. Advisor approval is required to confirm that there is a connection between the work to be performed and the GA’s academic plan, which allows the GA to receive their tuition waiver tax-free. Previously, this confirmation was obtained through an extra signature line on the offer letter. Going forward, the approval will be documented through the workflow.
• Issuance and acceptance of the GA appointment are electronic. Upon acceptance, the GA must complete attestations (e.g., the need to take action to enroll in or waive coverage through the GA health insurance plan and to submit proof of English proficiency, if applicable).

• This workflow is only for academic year (fall/spring) GA hiring on Grad Payroll. Summer and intersession appointments will continue to be processed through Special Payroll.
• GAs working at and funded by UConn Health will continue to be processed according to UConn's Health hiring procedures.
• Provost Professional Intern appointments will continue to be offered using the template provided by The Graduate School to approved departments.
• Fellowships are service-free, are not employment (and therefore are not processed through payroll), and should be awarded using the customizable Departmental Fellowship Award Letter Template.

• Security will be mass-assigned for departments before launch. After launch, individuals who need access will make the request through the Slate Access Form.
• The Graduate School will be in touch with departments directly as we prepare to go live to provide system access, training, and resources to make this transition as smooth as possible.
• If you are a non-academic unit that hires GAs and did not receive a listserv communication from Dean Shor regarding the change to Slate, please sign up for the listserv, NONACADEMIC_GA_UNITS-L.