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Prior to Enrollment

• Prior to Enrollment

  The faculty and staff of the CS Department must ensure that all applicants to graduate study in CS are accurately informed about current degree requirements as well as financial aid and other support mechanisms and facilities. Accordingly, the following means and methods for such communication are the responsibility of the persons or committees identified:

  • Graduate Programs Publicity Materials: The CSD Chair and/or the faculty member appointed to oversee and update (periodically) all Departmental publications, e.g. the graduate brochure and graduate poster, is/are responsible. Updating must be done with inputs from all faculty and relevant faculty committees, especially GAFA and GPEC (see below), as well as the Graduate Programs Secretary.
  • CSD Website: The appointed Departmental Webmaster must ensure that only current descriptions of graduate programs and regulations are posted.
  • Detailed Regulations for Graduate Studies: It is impossible to include all detailed rules and policies in the bi-annual graduate brochure. Therefore, all students are made aware of the need to attend to the internal, 20-page document that is the responsibility of the Graduate Programs and Examinations Committee (GPEC). This document is available to students either in hard copy or in the CSD Website (see above).
  • Direct, Personal Communication: The Chair and other faculty members of the Graduate Admissions and Financial Aid Committee (GAFA), in addition to the Graduate Programs Secretary, must be responsive to all written as well as e-mail inquiries from prospective graduate students.
  • New Student Orientation: The Chairs of GAFA and GPEC, the faculty member responsible for TA work assignments, the Graduate Programs Secretary, and various other staff and faculty who play roles important to informing new graduate students about Departmental facilities, policies, and procedures are responsible for organizing and conducting orientation programs prior to the beginning of the term for which the students are enrolling.

  The above-mentioned Regulations for Graduate Studies (20 pages), updated whenever necessary, become particularly important during initial orientation of new graduate students and then during the course of pursuing their graduate degrees and being advised by CS faculty while doing so. The following policies on graduate student advising have been extracted from said document.

• Advisors and Student Evaluations

  When a student enters the Department he or she will be assigned a temporary advisor. The temporary advisor will guide the student in making course selections and will provide advice and information about the student's academic program. The advisor will sign the student's registration form each semester, except when the student is on probation. During a probationary period, the student must have the registration form signed by the Graduate Enrollment Officer. A student may change advisors at any time, after obtaining the agreementof the new advisor. The advisor presents information about his or her students at the annual student performance evaluation meeting.

  When a student begins to do independent work on either a M.S. or Ph.D. project, he or she will negotiate with a faculty member to supervise this work and to become the student's principal advisor. The principal advisor replaces the temporary advisor, and assumes the responsibility for guiding the student in his or her academic program, for signing his or her registration form, and for presenting information about him or her at the annual student performance evaluation meeting. The principal advisor also guides the student in selecting an appropriate research problem for a M.S. project, M.S. thesis, or Ph.D. dissertation, and oversees the work.

  All students should meet with their advisor at least once per semester. Students engaged in research will normally meet with their advisor much more frequently.

• Annual Student Performance Evaluation Meeting

  Every spring, the CSD faculty hold a meeting to evaluate student progress. Information about each student's academic progress during the previous 12-month period is presented by his or her advisor. It is the student's responsibility to provide the advisor with any supporting material that the advisor requests for the evaluation meeting. After the meeting, students will receive a letter from the GPEC chair describing the faculty's assessment. Students who are not making satisfactory progress in the program will be sent a warning letter stating specific performance goals. Failure to meet those goals may result in termination from the program.

• Responsibilities

  The following parties share responsibilities for a student's academic progress:

  The student is expected to:

  • be knowledgeable of FAS and departmental regulations;
  • keep his or her advisor current about academic status (i.e., provisional or probation), progress, and plans;
  • register for courses on time (preferably as early as possible);
  • assist the secretary in CSD Graduate Programs Office in keeping current his or her file, including an up-to-date mailing address;
  • notify the secretary in the CSD Graduate Programs Office if he or she changes advisor;
  • provide advisor with materials for the spring evaluation meeting;
  • (for doctoral students) file an application for candidacy for the Ph.D. degree, after passing the dissertation proposal examination and at least eight months before the defense of the dissertation;
  • follow the published instructions on FAS procedures for graduation, including filing an official Application for Graduation early in the term in which graduation is expected;
  • deliver two copies of a final M.S. thesis or Ph.D. dissertation to the CS Library, and deliver the required copies of the thesis or dissertation, abstracts, and receipt for binding/microfilming fee to the FAS Dean's office;

  The advisor is expected to:

  • assist the student in selecting courses and sign his or her registration form (except in the case of students who are on probation, and whose form must be signed by the Graduate Enrollment Officer);
  • counsel the student and verify that his or her planned program is appropriate, given the student's academic goals and the CSD regulations;
  • assess the student's progress towards a degree and provide him or her with advice on this;
  • present information about the student's progress at the annual student performance evaluation meeting;
  • assist the student in selecting a research area and a principal advisor;
  • (as principal advisor) validate the appropriateness of the student's research problem for a M.S. project or thesis or Ph.D. Dissertation;
  • (as principal advisor) assist the student in forming thesis, comprehensive examination, and/or dissertation supervising committees, as appropriate;
  • (as principal advisor) oversee the student's oral examination for an M.S. thesis, doctoral comprehensive examination, doctoral dissertation proposal meeting, and doctoral dissertation defense examination. In all cases, after the examination has been completed the advisor will secure the signatures of all committee members, complete the required forms and give them to the secretary in the CSD Graduate Programs office, and communicate the results to the student.

  The Chairperson of GPEC is expected to:

  • act on petitions for transfer of credit, substitution of course requirements, and similar matters;
  • announce the timing of Ph.D. preliminary examinations to all graduate students and faculty;
  • oversee the preparation, grading and review of these examinations;
  • report the results of the examinations to the student, the student's advisor, the secretary in CSD Graduate Programs Office, and the FAS Dean.

• Annual Seminar on Research Integrity

  Ever since the University (under the leadership of former Dean Jerry Rosenberg) initiated workshops on research integrity, the CS Dept has annually appointed a senior faculty member to conduct such a seminar for all new graduate students. Included is a characterization of what constitutes an effective and ethical advisor-student advising and collaboration relationship, including the conditions and related practices for assigning credit on co-authored research papers and other products.

• FAS and Provost's Office Rules and Guidelines

  The CS Department recognizes the importance of good advising and mentoring. Noteworthy is that one of our senior faculty members, who has played a very active and vital role in defining and promoting good advising practices in the Department as well as in the FAS Graduate Dean's Office (until 1996), has just been awarded the Presidential Award of Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring.

  Accordingly, the Department is committed to adhering not only to its own rules and policies on effective advising but also those that are produced and implemented by higher-level offices, such as to be found in the ELEMENTS OF GOOD ACADEMIC ADVISING, University Council on Graduate Study, Office of the Provost, January 1999.

  Other policies and procedures are detailed in the Regulations for Graduate Study.

• General Requirements

  The student must:

  1. take only 2000- or 3000-level courses. 1000-level courses and below do not count toward the Ph.D.
  2. take all twelve (core and elective) courses for a letter grade;
  3. earn a B or better in each of the four core courses;
  4. receive a grade of C or better in all other courses;
  5. maintain an overall average of B or better.
  6. Other requirements and procedures are detailed in the Regulations for Graduate Study.

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