General Requirements

Advisement

Degree Timetables

General Requirements for Program Completion:

Coursework. Students will be required to complete at least 30 hours of graduate study. The student must maintain a QPA of 3.0 in order to graduate. Failure to achieve a QPA of 3.0 in one semester will result in probation for one semester to enable the student to bring the QPA up to 3.0. If it is mathematically impossible for the student to bring the QPA up to 3.0 in one semester, the student may be dismissed from the program after the first semester. The 30 hours of graduate study must include:

• a minimum of 18 formal graduate course credits, that is, lecture- or laboratory-based courses conferring a letter grade. At least 8 hours will be in the Department of Biological Sciences, but courses can be taken in other departments upon the advisement of a faculty member from the Department of Biological Sciences. In addition to the overall QPA of 3.0, the student must maintain a QPA of 3.0 in formal course credits, with consequences of falling below similar to those described above for overall QPA.

• two semesters of attendance in the Graduate Student Seminar (BIO 610), with a requirement to present one seminar for a letter grade of B or better.

• enrollment in the Departmental Seminar (BIO 614) every semester in residence.

• a minimum of 6 credits of study with a faculty member in preparation for the project or oral exam.

• satisfactory completion of a project or oral examination.

Students must also complete a project or oral examination:

Project. The project will involve some scholarly activity, which may have a practical component as well, and will result in a written paper describing the outcome of the activity. The nature of the project will be tailored to the student's interests. A student could do a library research project on a topic of mutual interest to the faculty advisor and student. A student with an interest in primary or secondary teaching could assist a faculty member in a course, for instance, preparing lectures, assembling background information for a case study approach, testing and administering laboratory exercises, generating a bibliography or a list of pertinent web sites, studying student reactions to a particular approach, etc. A student with an interest in environmental law could undertake a case study of a particular action; one interested in biotech management could study a particular company or company-wide concern, one interested in computer science could look at molecular modeling, etc. The activity of the student will be supervised by one member of our department, under whom the student must register in BIO 611, Directed Readings Tutorial. In studies of an interdisciplinary nature, the student may also work closely with a faculty member from another department. The final report must be read and found acceptable by the research advisor. In addition, one other faculty member, from the biological sciences or from another area of the student's interests, must also read and approve the report. This faculty must be selected after one semester in the program.he report, and be informed at the time of selection of the topic of the report. Selection of faculty members for supervision and for reading the report must be approved by the Graduate Affairs Committee.

Oral Exam. Students choosing degree by examination should select a committee of three faculty members, with at least one from Biological Sciences, to prepare for an oral examination. The committee must be selected and approved by the Graduate Affairs Committee, and the topic chosen 1 semester before the exam. The student will register for BIO 611 under one faculty member from Biological Sciences. The three faculty members will guide the student's study, generating a reading list and meeting with the student as needed to answer questions. At the end of the term of study, the student will meet with the committee in an oral examination lasting no more than 3 hours to answer questions based on the course of study, including both general knowledge and specific problem questions. The biology faculty member and at least one other faculty member on the committee must judge the student's performance as acceptable in order for the student to receive the M.A. degree. If the student fails the exam on the first attempt, a second attempt must be made within 6 weeks.

Advisement:

Typical timetables to degree: