[QSB-grads] Fwd: Revised QSB policies and procedures

[Jessica Blois]

Hello QSB grads,

I am in the process of revising the QSB Policies and Procedures.  Since you
guys are the ones that stand to benefit the most from clear guidelines (or
get hopelessly confused from poor guidelines), I'd like your feedback on
the following document.

I've created a google doc for grad students to comment.  The link is here (
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RYbgRdWuqyEBJt6cbPd_B8QugzEBgK-qdL43mU8Ny0w/edit?usp=sharing),
or you can mark up the attached pdf, or you can send comments to me by email

*Please send all comments by Monday, November 28th. *Note that my aim is to
make the final document easily navigable, using a hyperlinked TOC...so
disregard the wonky formatting for now.

See below for the email I sent to faculty requesting similar feedback,
which lists the major changes for this version.  For comparison, here's the
link to the current version (
http://qsb.ucmerced.edu/sites/qsb.ucmerced.edu/files/documents/qsb_policiesprocedures_2011_2012.pdf)


Best,
Jessica

------------------------------------------
Assistant Professor
School of Natural Sciences
University of California, Merced

Office: SE1 296
Phone: (209) 228-2256
Email: jblois at ucmerced.edu
Web: http://jessicablois.com


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jessica Blois <jblois at ucmerced.edu>
Date: Tue, Nov 15, 2016 at 9:58 PM
Subject: Revised QSB policies and procedures
To: qsb-faculty at lists.ucmerced.edu


Hi all,

I am in the process of revising the QSB policies and procedures.  We had a
short discussion at the November all-faculty meeting about this, and now I
would like to open the revisions up for general comment.  Note that at the
moment, I have excluded information about the MS program, focusing instead
on Doctoral Degree Requirements.  Some but not all of the language for the
PhD requirements will be repurposed for the MS requirements.

I have put the revised P&P in a google doc, as well as attached it as a
pdf.  *Please review the changes and let me know if you have any comments
or objections. *Disregard formatting- it's a bit wonky with the conversion
to a google doc. You have three options for commenting on the P&P: 1) send
in comments via the google doc (limited to "suggest" mode), 2) send back a
marked up pdf, or 3) send me comments in an email. *Please send all
comments by Monday, November 28th.*

Here is a summary of the major changes:

   - *I* put the P&P into the format recommended by the Grad Council
   - Section III B, Dissertation Overview: Added language about typical
   timeline to degree, in response to recommendation from GC. (5 years, based
   on previous P&P)
   - Section III C 2 a) (3): Added language about exclusions to additional
   core courses
   - Section III C 3 c): Changed language to “could” so that QSB 292 and
   293 are no longer required.
   - Section III E 2, Selection of a Research Advisor: Added language about
   the Declaration and Rotation tracks
   - Section III E 3, Mentoring: Adopted the UCM Mentoring Guidelines
   - Section III F 1, Qualifying Exam Committee:
   - Clarified the composition of the Doctoral Committee:
      - 1) stated that there needs to be at least three UC senate
faculty members,
      to comply with Grad Div req'ts
      - 2) added language that a majority must be members of QSB
   - Section III F 2, Doctoral Committee:
   - Clarified the composition of the Doctoral Committee:
         - 1) stated that there needs to be at least three UC senate
faculty members,
         to comply with Grad Div req'ts
         - 2) added language that a majority must be members of QSB
         - 3) clarified that the Committee Chair is different than the
         Research Advisor
      - Timeline
         - 1) Added a requirement that the doctoral committee should be
         formed by the end of Year 1 and that the committee needs to
meet as a group
         at least once per year.
         - 2) Added language that "Following each meeting, the Committee
         Chair sends a report back to the student, the student’s
Research Advisor,
         the QSB Program Chair and the appropriate graduate program staff."
      - Section III I 2c, Outcome of the Exam. In the old P&P, a simple
   majority is required for a pass for the final dissertation exam.  However,
   the Grad Advisors handbook states that "the Doctoral Committee certifies
   that the completed dissertation is satisfactory through the signatures of
   all Committee members on the signature page of the completed dissertation."
   So we changed this language to reflect that consensus is needed among the
   Doctoral Committee members for the exam/dissertation outcome.
   - Language: Generally, removed language about “advisor and committee”
   and replaced with “Doctoral Committee” since this includes both the
   Research Advisor, Committee Chair, and the rest of the committee members.


Best,
Jessica

------------------------------------------
Assistant Professor
School of Natural Sciences
University of California, Merced

Office: SE1 296
Phone: (209) 228-2256
Email: jblois at ucmerced.edu
Web: http://jessicablois.com
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