Students are notified of their faculty contact/advisor at the time of admission. This faculty contact is assigned by the department itself, based in part on a student’s academic program/research interests. It is possible that faculty-contact is the same person as the Graduate Program coordinator/Director; or it may be a different faculty member in the department. Regardless of who the student’s faculty-contact within the department is, most administrative matters of academic nature need clearance/signature also from the Graduate Program Coordinator/Director and the Graduate School.