Signature Permissions

Sometimes it becomes difficult to catch everyone from whom you need a signature on a form. Faculty are traveling, or you're teaching when they're having office hours, etc.

If you are ever really having trouble getting a signature, please let me know. Usually I am able to secure permission to sign for faculty and it is established procedure for me to do this. You should, of course, make every effort to secure the original signature, but please don't spend weeks trying to track someone for a John Hancock. Let me help.

Filling out PhD Exam Applications

The PhD Exam Application is pretty uncomplicated. It requires your name and student ID, your major and minor areas (if you are a double major, put your other major on the minor space and write "other major" beside it), the hours you have completed (you may include hours you are currently taking) and whether or not you have any incompletes. PLEASE NOTE: You will not be able to take your exam in you have incompletes.

When you list your examination areas, please type or legibly print the name of the professor for each area. If you are unable to collect all the signatures, don't worry about it. I'll get them for you - but I must have a legible list so I know who to ask for your exam questions.

Procedures for taking the exam were discussed in the previous PhD Exam Procedures post, but I'll be in touch with you individually as your scheduled exam time nears. As always, please post your questions.

Filling out MA Exam Applications

The exam application for the MA degree is pretty straightforward. You need to put in your name and student ID, the number of hours you have completed (you may add the hours in which you are currently enrolled), and whether or not you have any incompletes. PLEASE NOTE: If you have any incompletes, you will not be allowed to take the exam. On the MA status line, just put an x. (This is a holdover from the old form, I just haven't changed it yet.)

Soon after you turn in your MA application, I'll ask you to designate your fourth reader. (See the post about MA Exams for more information about the fourth reader.) I will verify your information in SIS and email you to set up the times you want to set for writing your exams during exam week.

More information about the actual exam procedures will be fodder for a future entry. as always, feel free to post your questions.

PhD Exam Procedures

The deadline for PhD exam applications is November 30th. If you are planning to take your exams in January, please email me for the application form. When you turn in the Completed form, I know who to ask for the questions that will comprise your exam.

Typically, as the exam apps come in, I create a spreadsheet to keep track of everything, including the questioners and the topics about which they will be preparing questions. I then email all the professors listed on you app with the question requests. Once I have the questions, I format them into word files. Each question has a separate page, which you will use as the cover sheet for your response. At the beginning of the exam period (January 2, 2008 this time), I email you all four questions of your individualized exam.;

At the end of the first week, you will email me your first two responses. At the end of the second week, you'll send the second two responses. I'll then send them all to your committee, asking if anyone prefers hardcopy, making and distributing copies accordingly.

You will need to schedule your oral exams and let me know when they'll be so I may prepare your Nomination to Candidacy paperwork. You'll need to take this with you to your orals. Orals must be scheduled within one month of the written exam.

PhD Exams are either passed or failed. If you fail any part of your exam, you will be allowed to retake it once at the next regular exam period. If you fail the exam the second time, you will not be allowed to continue in the program.

Although I prefer to do exams electronically, you may request hardcopies of any or all the questions. Even if I prepare hardcopies for you, I will still email you your exam. It just seems to me that the backup is a good thing. Similarly, your may turn in hardcopies, but I will turn right around and scan them to create electronic files. Paper is too easy to lose; I just like having the electronic copies as backup. Also, it makes it easy for me to keep the process moving even if weather, winter health, etc. make getting in to the building impossible.

For further information, consult the Graduate Handbook, a link for which is on the menu on the right.

MA Exams

Finally! Some information specific to you MA students.

MA exams may be taken during the first week of any regularly scheduled exam period. To schedule your exam, you must fill out the inevitable form (available from me) and return it at least 30 days before the exam period. The deadline for the January exam is November 30th. You must also select a fourth grader for your exam. Your work is given to the 3 member MA Committee without attribution, but the fourth reader knows whose work s/he is grading. This gives you an opportunity to choose at least one grader who is most likely to be sympathetic to your work.

Each grader is given an Exam Certification form to use for grading your exam. Possible scores are:

• High Pass
• Pass
• Fail

To pass, you need three passing scores. All exams with fewer than three passes will be reviewed by the GAC, which may uphold or overturn the MA Committee's assessment. The evaluation of the GAC is final within the department.

If you fail the M.A. Exam, in whole or in part, you will be placed immediately on academic probation. You will have one more chance to take the exam during the a subsequent regular exam period. Please note that the MA exam does change every academic year - if you wait past August to retake your exam, the reading list and exam questions will not be the same. Any student who fails the examination a second time will be formally dismissed from the program.

If you plan to apply to the CMCL Ph.D. program, you must take your MA Exam in January of your second year. Please plan accordingly. For more information, consult the CMCL Graduate Handbook, a link to which is on the menu on the right.

Course Revalidation

An issue which has been arising lately is the revalidation of coursework. It is very difficult to make general statements about revalidation, since each circumstance is different. Here is what the UGS Bulletin has to say:

"Normally, a course may not be counted toward degree requirements if it has been completed more than

(a) five years prior to the awarding of the degree for master's students or,
(b) seven years prior to the passing of the qualifying examination for Ph.D. students.

The graduate advisor, after consultation with the advisory committee, may, however, recommend to the dean that course work taken prior to the above deadlines be revalidated if it can be demonstrated that the knowledge contained in the course(s) remains current. Currency of knowledge may be demonstrated by such things as: (a) passing an examination specifically on the material covered by the course2; (b) passing a more advanced course in the same subject area; (c) passing a comprehensive examination in which the student demonstrates substantial knowledge of the content of the course; (d) teaching a comparable course; or (e) publishing scholarly research demonstrating substantial knowledge of the content and fundamental principles of the course.
Each course for which consideration for revalidation is being requested should be justified separately."

You will need to work closely with your advisor to accomplish revalidation. Between the two of you you will need to decide which of the methods listed in the Bulletin will best establish the currency of your knowledge. Please be aware that revalidation is not a "slamdunk." The UGS will usually acquiesce to the recommendation of your advisor, but it may take more than one try.

Exam Applications

The Exam Schedule for 2008 is as follows:

MA Exams

• January 2-8
• May 5 - 9
• August 18-22

PhD Exams

• January 2 - 16
• May 5-19
• August 11-25

You need to apply for the exams at least 30 days prior to the exam date (of course there's a form at such a momentous juncture!). Since December 2 is on a Sunday, the deadline for exam apps for the January exams is Friday, November 30.

Transcripts

Lately, the news from academia has treated us to alarmingly frequent tales of false credentials and inflated CVs. Accordingly, I suspect that future employers will be more careful about reviewing transcripts and other academic records before hiring new faculty.

Please be aware that I am not permitted to make copies of the official transcripts I have in your files for anyone outside the university, nor am I permitted to disseminate information from your academic records. Recent policy clarifications prevent me from providing you with copies of any transcripts in your file. I must refer any questions about transcripts to the Office of the Registrar.

Therefore, I highly recommend that you contact any school from which you have received a degree and obtain an official copy of your transcript for your own files. Personally, I'd consider this right up there with Social Security cards and birth certificates. It would be a terrible shame if you missed out on an opportunity because you didn't have the paperwork handy.

And yet another use for C810

There is yet another use for C810. Remember that you must be "in continuous enrollment" once you have passed your PhD exams and become a candidate? This does not usually require summer enrollment, but here is one important exception to this.

If you end up defending and/or submitting your dissertation in the summer, you must be enrolled during the summer session in which this is accomplished. Further, remember that G901 is not available during the summer? If you are defending or submitting your dissertation in the summer, you will need to enroll in one hour of C810 for that summer session.

Frankly, imo, this is another great reason to avoid finishing during the summer (more on that at a later date), but sometimes it just can't be helped.

C810 after G901

In case you haven't checked the comments on the C810 or G901 topic, I'll reiterate that indeed you may take C810 after you have used up your G901. So if it turns out that you need another semester or so after you've run out of G901, you may always enroll in another hour of C810. As I mentioned before, even though you may only "count" 15 hours of C810, you may take an almost unlimited number of hours of it. Really, the expiration of your candidacy is the only limiting factor.