Welcome to the Graduate School. Make Yourself at Home.
Since 1905, we’ve provided graduate students with access to the information, resources, and support they need for a successful and rewarding graduate education experience. We’ll work with you along every step of your journey to guide you through the admissions process, help you find grant and fellowship opportunities, develop your professional skills, and connect you with other students.
Fostering a diverse and vibrant community of students and scholars is essential to our work and allows us to achieve our goal to equip you to lead, collaborate, develop new ideas, and address complex challenges in a way that advances academia, industry, our culture, and the global society.
We are committed to providing you with a strong graduate community that embraces diversity and inclusivity, drives innovation, and helps you achieve intellectual excellence.
Land Acknowledgment
The University of Minnesota - Twin Cities is built within the traditional homelands of the Dakota people. It is important to acknowledge the peoples on whose land we live, learn and work as we seek to improve and strengthen our relations with our tribal nations. We also acknowledge that words are not enough. We must ensure that our institution provides support, resources, and programs that increase access to all aspects of higher education for our American Indian students, staff, faculty, and community members.
Graduate School Faculty & Staff
We believe in the transformative power that education has on our students and our society. From the application process to your graduation commencement, we’ll do everything we can to provide you with an unforgettable graduate education experience. If you have questions about your application, funding opportunities, diversity and inclusion, or a specific program please don’t hesitate to ask.
Graduate School Campuses
We offer masters and doctoral degrees for more than 130 research-based graduate programs between the Twin Cities and Duluth campuses to give students an opportunity to find the right program and the right environment for their graduate education.
Vice Provost for Graduate and Professional Education and Dean of the Graduate School
Dr. Elisia L. Cohen
Dr. Elisia L. Cohen became Vice Provost of Graduate and Professional Education and Dean of the Graduate School on June 15, 2026. She most recently served as professor, John and Elizabeth Cowles Chair in Journalism and director of the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota.
Dr. Cohen joined the University of Minnesota from the University of Kentucky in 2017, where she served as the Gifford Blyton Endowed Professor and chair of the Department of Communication. A nationally recognized health communication scholar, her research focuses on developing targeted communication strategies to improve cancer prevention and immunization outcomes, particularly in medically underserved communities.
Her work has led to innovative social media and video-based interventions for cervical cancer prevention and HPV vaccination and has been supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, and private industry. In recognition of her leadership and contributions to the field of health communication, she was elected as a Fellow of the International Communication Association, received the American Public Health Association's Mayhew Derryberry Award and the University of Kentucky's Sarah Bennett Holmes Award.
Dr. Cohen earned her Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Southern California, a master's degree from Wake Forest University, and a bachelor's degree from the University of Louisville.
Get to Know the Graduate School
Our Promise
The Graduate School strives to operate with complete integrity as a neutral and impartial entity that promises to uphold standards of excellence. Our dedicated staff works to develop a diverse population of students and to ensure these students are uniquely positioned to collaborate, communicate, ask questions, solve complex societal problems, and lead the development of future knowledge as they enter careers inside or outside academia.
Strategic Plan
Like you, the Graduate School is determined to learn and grow. We feed off the energy and passion of our students, faculty, and staff in order to create a vibrant and sustainable community across both campuses and within each graduate program.
We will continue to provide welcoming, inclusive campus environments for all students, empower our faculty and staff members to advise and support graduate students at every stage of their journey, and grow the Graduate School’s recognition and reputation as a respected research institution.
Education Policies
We conduct comprehensive reviews and oversight of each graduate policy to ensure that our students have access to the best possible education, equipment, and facilities.
Our policies are updated regularly to provide transparency regarding our processes for reviewing, moderating, and updating our programs.