[Poscgrad] 2026 Annual Mentoring and Evaluation Form: Initiate via R'Grad

[Marissa Brookes]

Dear graduate students,

I hope everyone's Week 10 is off to a good start.

I am writing to remind each of you to *complete
your Annual Mentoring and Evaluation form via R'Grad
<https://rgrad.ucr.edu/app/> ASAP* so that your advisor has adequate time
to complete and submit your annual evaluation by Graduate Division's
deadline. To be clear, the June 30 deadline is for faculty to complete the
AMEs, *not* your deadline to initiate the form via R'Grad, so please
initiate the form ASAP.

See https://graduate.ucr.edu/regulations-and-procedures#annual-mentoring
-and-evaluatio (also copied below) for more information.

The Annual Mentoring and Evaluation (AME) is assists in establishing good
communication between faculty and students, ensures the timely completion
of degree objectives, and helps avoid problems resulting from
misunderstandings about rules, procedures and academic expectations within
graduate programs.

These evaluations are coordinated by the faculty Graduate Advisor in each
program acting with the assistance of a the student's major professor
and/or a graduate committee. The review includes a summary of the quality
of the student's academic work for the year and academic objectives for the
next period. It is useful to include any issues an individual student is
experiencing (i.e., research techniques or scholastic difficulties and the
prognosis for overcoming them, warning if students are taking overly long
in attaining their educational goals, problems created by outside
occupational demands, etc.). Additionally, this would be an appropriate
place to congratulate students on accomplishments.

To assist with this process, the Graduate Division, in collaboration with
the Graduate Council, has created the *Annual Mentoring and Evaluation*. This
form can be completed in R'Grad. <https://rgrad.ucr.edu/app/>

*Annual Mentoring and Evaluation FAQs*

*1. Who can see the AME petition in R'Grad?*

   - Only students can access and initiate the petition. Please reach out
   to Graduate Academic Affairs if you'd like to see the content before
   starting the process.

*2. What is the routing order for the AME? *

   - Step 1: Student initiates the Annual Mentoring and Evaluation (AME) in
   R'Grad <https://rgrad.ucr.edu/app/>.
      - During this step, the Primary and Additional Evaluator(s) are
      added, if applicable. If the student doesn't designate a Primary
      Evaluator(s), the faculty Graduate Advisor automatically fills that role.
   - Step 2: Primary Evaluator(s) complete the Assessment of Skills and
   review the student's goals.
   - Step 3: Additional Evaluator(s) give feedback, if applicable.
   - Step 4: The AME returns to the student queue for their review and
   verification.
   - Step 5: Graduate Staff review.
   - Step 6: Graduate Advisor review for the final program approval.
   - Step 7: Graduate Academic Affairs review only if the overall
   assessment from the Primary Evaluator(s) is "Needs Improvement."

*3. Does my program have to use the AME to evaluate students?*

   - The only requirements at this time are that a) programs submit
   the AME for each student via R’Grad, either completing the information
   requested there or uploading an alternative evaluation, and b) each
   student’s overall performance is evaluated as Exceeds Expectations, Meets
   Expectations, or Needs Improvement by either the Primary Evaluator(s) or
   faculty Graduate Advisor.
   - If your program wishes to use a different method of evaluation, each
   student should still generate their AME in R’Grad and route it to the
   appropriate faculty member, who can upload a separate evaluation and mark
   the student’s progress as Exceeds Expectations, Meets Expectations, or
   Needs Improvement.

*4. When are evaluations due?*

   - The evaluations are due to Grad Division by *June 30, 2026*. You’re
   welcome to set an earlier internal deadline for your program.

*5. Why does the AME ask about responsible conduct of research (RCR)
training? *

   - If the student completed CITI RCR training, that will be automatically
   reflected on the form.
   - Grad Division encourages students and faculty to have discussions
   about RCR as part of their mentoring interactions, and we are also eager to
   learn how often those conversations are happening. We also encourage formal
   training when appropriate or required (e.g., by a particular form of
   funding). If the student has not had any training in a particular year,
   they can leave that portion of the form blank.

Thanks, everyone.

MB
----
Marissa Brookes
Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies,
Department of Political Science
Faculty Director, Inland Empire Labor and Community Center
University of California, Riverside
Watkins 2223
(951) 827-5510
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