A
guide to studying history at the graduate level
marquette
university
INTRODUCTION
Graduate
study places students in a learning community involving faculty,
fellow graduate students, and colleagues from throughout the profession.
Since only about half of all applicants to MU's graduate program
in history are accepted, students who are given the opportunity
to study at Marquette accept certain responsibilities. Just as
the faculty are committed to helping students develop into first-rate
scholars and teachers, so, too, should students commit themselves
to the process of becoming historians.
The
most common setting for a student's graduate work is the classroom,
where faculty and students come together to conduct the business
of history. The professor, in addition to assigning readings and
evaluating student discussions and papers, creates an atmosphere
conducive to learning and offers his or her own research and interpretations
as examples of historical method and critical thinking. Students,
for their part, must come to the seminar table or lecture hall
fully prepared to participate in class work. Student preparedness
is vital to the success of the individual and of the class. All
readings, reports, and papers should be completed with the highest
degree of professionalism. It is imperative to complete reading
assignments and papers on time, to read one another's work critically
but generously, to share equally in the journey of discovery that
each course becomes. Engaging in discourse and discussion is the
unique feature of graduate course work and every student should
be prepared to participate fully.
With
this in mind, students are also expected to take an active role
in the profession outside the classroom. Students are encouraged
to present papers at conferences, revise seminar papers and submit
them to professional journals, attend conferences and lectures,
and read independently. These activities help the student develop
professionally and benefit the discipline . Support is
available for students traveling to conferences to deliver papers
through the department's Klement Fund and Casper Fund .
DEGREE
OPTIONS AND EXPECTATIONS
The
Department of History offers the Master of Arts
and Doctor of Philosophy degrees, each degree
reflecting different levels of skill and knowledge. Candidates
for the MA degree must demonstrate mastery of the three fields
of study that they select for examination in the master's degree
examinations. That field mastery must surpass the level of simple
factual knowledge and must include familiarity with the salient
issues of historical interpretation in the student's fields of
study and a working knowledge of the secondary literature pertinent
to those issues. In addition, all candidates for the degree must,
in the context of their examinations and course work, give evidence
of their ability to assess and employ the primary source material
in their fields and their capacity to present, in coherent and
well-written form, the results of their research in both seminar
papers and the MA essay.
Candidates
for the PhD must demonstrate mastery of their four fields of study
on comprehensive examinations, but they must possess other skills
as well. Because the Ph.D. represents more than the simple accumulation
of a set number of courses or a body of factual knowledge, candidates
must also demonstrate their mastery of the primary sources and
research methods in their fields as well as their command of the
scholarly literature of those fields. Taken together, these skills
represent the power to conduct independent scholarly investigation.
That capacity is demonstrated by development of intellectual processes
that are both analytical and critical, by preparation of seminar
papers of increasing sophistication, and most importantly, by
the completion of a dissertation that is the product of independent
research in primary sources and that makes an original contribution
to historical scholarship.
MASTER
OF ARTS PROGRAM.
MA
students must complete thirty credit hours of course work, including
six hours of graduate seminars, a master's essay, and a comprehensive
examination. The three major fields in which the department offers
MA degrees are:
1.
United States
Early
America
Modern
America
2.
Europe
Medieval
Europe
Early
Modern Europe
Modern
Europe
Students
in Modern European and United States history will take examinations
in one major field and one minor field. Students in Medieval history
will be examined in the Medieval field and in Early Modern Europe.
MA comprehensive examinations are usually taken
early in the spring semester of a student's second year of full
time studies. Members of the examination committees are appointed
by the Director of Graduate Studies; each of them evaluates both
sections of the exam. A 2-0 vote is required to pass.
It
is highly recommended that there be a compatibility of time periods
between the major and minor fields. For instance, MA students
specializing in modern European history would be well-advised
to choose modern U. S. history for their minor field. The selection
of the two fields of study should be made in consultation with
the DGS during the first semester of enrollment.
MA
will be examined by means of eight hours of essay questions: six
hours for the major field and two hours for the minor field. There
will be no oral examination. Those students who fail the MA comprehensive
exam will be given one opportunity to re-take the written exam
within six months of the first examination. In addition to a written
component, students who are re-examined will be required to take
a one-hour oral examination.
MA
students are required to take two 300-level research seminars.
Only in extraordinary circumstances and with prior approval from
the DGS can a 295 (independent study) course satisfy the seminar
requirement. Although all students are strongly encouraged to
take graduate level courses whenever possible, up to twelve credit
hours can be taken at the undergraduate level. Six hours of graduate
work can be taken outside the history department, although permission
must be obtained from the director of graduate studies before
registering for non-history classes.
MA
students must also complete a master's essay, which is normally
a seminar paper that has been revised. For instance, essays will
often include more historiographical background than contained
in the original papers. They should be at least thirty pages long,
exclusive of bibliographies and other end matter. The “Master's
Essay Approval Form” must be signed by a primary reader
(usually the faculty member in whose seminar the paper was written)
and by the director of graduate studies. The deadline for submitting
essays to the graduate school is normally about a month prior
to graduation; a student must make a draft of his or her essay
available to the primary reader at least one month before the
due date set by the graduate school in order to give the reader
adequate time to read and make suggestions for improving the essay.
The student is responsible for delivering the completed
essay and form to the graduate school prior to the deadline .
DOCTOR
OF PHILOSOPHY PROGRAM.
The
Doctor of Philosophy program requires the completion of a total
of sixty credit hours beyond the bachelor's degree, a demonstrated
proficiency in a foreign language, passing the Doctoral Qualifying
Examination (DQE), and the successful defense of a dissertation.
The sixty hours does not include the twelve hours of dissertation
credits required by the graduate school (for which students normally
register after successful completion of comprehensive examinations).
Students entering with an MA in hand must complete thirty hours
(not including dissertation credits). NOTE: Students whose
MA is not in history may be asked to take additional courses before
taking their DQEs. PhD students must take two 300-level
research seminars (this includes students who received their MAs
at Marquette ) as well as HIST 330, a three-credit dissertation
seminar (see below). In addition, PhD students are strongly encouraged
to take the pertinent colloquia (HIST 211-218), which provide
introductions to the history and historiography of the periods
covered by the examination fields and offer guides to additional
reading and study.
At
the end of each student's first semester in the PhD program, the
Director of Graduate Studies will review the student's progress
toward the degree . Each student will fill out a self-assessment
form and, accompanied by a faculty member or senior graduate student,
meet with the DGS. Significant academic problems will be brought
to the attention of the Graduate Committee, which may advise either
rescinding financial aid or removing the student from the program.
The
department offers degrees in the following fields:
1.
United States
Early
America
Modern
America
2.
Europe
Early
Modern Europe
Modern
Europe
Doctoral
Qualifying Examination . Students will be examined in
four fields by a committee chosen by the student in consultation
with the chair of the committee (who normally will also serve
as dissertation director). The responsibility of scheduling the
examinations lies with each student, who must consult with committee
members several months in advance regarding the dates for the
written and oral examinations. The DQEs consist of twelve hours
of written tests (spread over several days) and a three hour oral
that is normally held within two weeks of the written portion.
Americanists are tested in both U. S. fields and one European
field. Europeanists are tested in two European fields and one
American field (although some may substitute a third European
field in medieval history). All students are tested in a fourth
field in East Asia , Latin America , or Africa or, with the permission
of their committee chair and the director of graduate studies,
in a topical field (women's, urban, and religious history
in US; women's and religious history in European). It is
also possible, with the concurrence of the DGS and the chair of
the examining committee, to create a fourth field outside the
discipline of history, as long as a MU faculty member from the
appropriate department agrees to serve on the examination committee.
The choice of fields should reflect a basic compatibility and
coherence; for instance, a student whose primary emphasis is modern
Europe would normally take recent U. S. as a minor field. All
members of the DQE committee evaluate the answers in every field.
A 3-1 vote is required for the student to pass the written portion
and proceed to the oral examination; a 3-1 vote is also required
to pass the oral portion of the exam. (See also the Faculty Procedures
for Doctoral Qualifying Examinations on p. ___.)
The
PhD also requires reading knowledge of one foreign language
, which will be determined by a translation test administered
by the Department of Foreign Languages or by a faculty member
in the history department. (For students entering with an M.A.
and desiring study in Continental European history, this competence
must be established by the end of the first semester of course
work beyond the M.A.) Classes designed to help students prepare
for the examinations in French, German, Spanish, and Latin are
regularly offered by the Department of Foreign Languages. These
courses (numbered FOLA 203) are taken for no credit and are available
for audit only. The Department of Foreign Languages normally offers
the foreign language examinations four times a year (with occasional
opportunities during the summer). The DGS will announce those
dates and ask for the names of all interested students; at that
point, members of the history department will forward to the Department
of Foreign Languages historical texts from which students will
be asked to translate short passages. Students who choose to be
tested by a History faculty member must arrange to take the test
with that professor, who will determine when the student is ready
to be tested. Students can be tested in a single language no more
than twice each semester.
STEPS
TO A PhD
There
are several steps to the successful completion of the PhD. By
mid-term of the second semester of study, each student should
have acquired a dissertation director . This
is the professor who will provide advice regarding course selection,
help choose the appropriate professors to serve on the doctoral
qualifying examination and the dissertation committees (these
committees will not normally be identical), and oversee the selection
of a dissertation topic and the completion of the work itself.
Students
in Continental European history must pass their foreign language
examination before the end of the first semester ; all
other students are urged to pass their foreign language exam by
the end of their third semester in the program. It should be noted,
especially for students planning major fields in Continental European
history, that merely passing the foreign language examination
is not necessarily equivalent to demonstrating the kind of mastery
necessary to conduct primary research in European archives. Additional
language study may be required by dissertation directors, even
after a student passes his or her foreign language examination.
All
students must complete a “Doctoral Program Planning Form”
by the end of their first full year of studies.
Although
every student schedules his or her DQE individually (depending,
of course, on the schedules of the participating faculty members),
all successful applicants for research fellowships must complete
their examinations by the beginning of the semester in which their
fellowships begin. All other students are urged to take their
examinations “with all deliberate speed”; students commonly schedule
them following their fourth full semester of classes.
Upon
passing the DQE, students must complete the “Doctoral
Dissertation Outline” form available in the history
department. Students are expected to stay in close contact with
their dissertation directors while researching and writing their
dissertations. Once a student begins producing chapters, the student
and his or her director must decide whether to ask other members
of the dissertation committee to read chapters as they are written
or wait until an entire draft is completed. The dissertation committee
consists of the director and two other faculty members
(in rare cases, and with the permission of the dissertation
director and the director of graduate studies, a faculty member
from another department or institution can be appointed to the
dissertation committee). Prior to the defense, students
must allow the full committee at least three months to read the
entire dissertation in its final form and format . The
date of the dissertation defense (scheduled by the student in
consultation with the committee) must be posted in the Graduate
School no later than a month prior to the actual defense. The
defense cannot be scheduled until there is a consensus among committee
members that the dissertation is ready to be defended. A 2-1 vote
is required for approval of the dissertation. The committee may
require revisions to the dissertation before it is submitted to
the graduate school. After successfully defending the
dissertation and completing the revisions, the student is responsible
for presenting two copies to the graduate school and three copies
to the history department . The department will bind
all three copies; one will be returned to the student.
PREPARING
FOR EXAMINATIONS
A
student's preparation for his or her MA comprehensive exams or
Doctoral Qualifying Examinations entails several elements that
comprise a partnership, of sorts, between the student and the
faculty members responsible for examining the student. In preparing
for MA comprehensive exams, students should work toward an understanding
of the historical narrative (factual orientation) and a broad
command of the historiography of their subject areas. The examination
will test the student's knowledge of the significant issues and
trends in the subject fields along with a familiarity with some
of the major historians. More is expected of PhD students, however.
They will be expected to go beyond demonstrating their knowledge
of facts and major trends in historiography to synthesizing secondary
sources and thinking critically about the historians they have
studied.
Preparing
for the DQE begins virtually the moment a student enters the program,
with the selection of courses for the student's first semester,
the search for a doctoral advisor, and the selection of an examining
committee. Since it is vital that students have at least one class
with every committee member and at least two with the doctoral
committee chair, the chair ideally should be chosen no later than
the midway point of the student's second semester in the program.
The remainder of the doctoral committee should be selected and
their willingness to serve on the committee should be established
by the end of that second semester.
An
important element in the preparation process is taking the pertinent
colloquia (HIST 211-218), which serve as “foundation courses”
for most of the major and minor fields offered to MA and PhD students.
These courses are intended as more than cognates for the exam
fields. They should serve as introductions to the chronological
and topical fields with which the instructors are most familiar
and in which they have done most of their research. There should
be two components to the colloquia: 1) exposure to the broadest
possible body of historiographical literature, with reading assignments
equivalent to at least one book per week, and 2) substantial written
assignments, which will encourage students not only to read books
but to articulate their own ideas about them.
Although
all classes should help prepare both MA and PhD students for their
examinations, course work alone is not sufficient to prepare students
for exams. In fact, each faculty member has his or her own ideas
about the appropriate ways for students to prepare for examinations
and about a faculty member's appropriate role in that preparation.
Upon
a faculty member's agreeing to serve on a DQE committee, the student
should meet with him or her to clarify how to prepare for the
examination. The committee member should make it clear to the
student what sorts of preparation will be necessary before the
examination is taken. For instance, if the professor is comfortable
providing a reading list that covers all of the necessary material,
he or she should do so in a timely fashion. If the student has
taken several courses with the committee member, it should be
made clear whether or not the material covered in those courses
provides adequate coverage. Short of a reading list, faculty members
should offer suggestions about possible additional topics or readings
that goes well beyond simply telling a student to become familiar
with the historiography of 20 th century US or to read all the
student can about the history of the Catholic Church. Some
guidance is required; indeed, it is implicit in the faculty's
roles as teachers and advisors to guide students through the exam
process .
The
chair of a DQE committee may convene the rest of the committee
to talk about possible avenues of questioning and to propose certain
approaches for students to follow in preparing for the exam. It
is also vital that the student confer with each member of the
committee during the semester prior to the exam, to make sure
that the student and the faculty members are “on the same page”
regarding the exam.
A
further aid to students' preparation—and to faculty members' writing
fair yet demanding questions—will be the file of sample reading
lists and syllabi from the colloquia kept in the Department office.
(For more on the DQEs, see the "Faculty Procedures for DQEs"
on page 22.)
FINANCIAL
AID
The
Department of History offers qualified graduate students opportunities
as teaching and research assistants, research fellows, and teaching
fellows. In addition, senior PhD students are occasionally awarded
Casper Teaching Fellowships to teach upper division undergraduate
courses. Teaching and research assistantships provide academic-year
stipends and 18 credits of tuition scholarship for each academic
year. Teaching Assistants : Working as a TA provides
a student with the opportunity to develop skills as a teacher
and to gain professional experience. TAs are assigned to a specific
faculty member, usually in a History of Western Civilization or
Introduction to American History course. For a complete discussion
of Teaching Assistantships, see "Rights and Responsibilities
of Supervising Professors and Teaching Assistants," at
the end of this guide.
Research
Assistants join a “pool” and are assigned by the DGS
to one, two, or even three different professors during the course
of a semester or even a week; if they complete a task ahead of
schedule they must notify the professor as well as the DGS. They
are required to submit weekly time sheets showing that they have
worked an average of four hours for each day that classes are
in session .
Assistantships,
fellowships, and scholarships are granted by academic year. Continuing
students must re-apply each year by February 15 for financial
aid for the following academic year. They may do so by filling
out the “Application for Financial Aid for Current Students,”
which can be obtained from the graduate school or downloaded
from the Graduate School web site. Continuing students who have
not previously held a TA or RA must also submit to the DGS two
letters of recommendation from faculty members.
PhD
students who wish to apply for Teaching Fellowships or Research
Fellowships (Smith, Schmitt, Raynor) must be nominated by the
department. Internal application forms will be available in mid-October
and will be due in mid-November; nominations for Research Fellowships
are due in the graduate school by early December. Teaching Fellows
will be appointed by the Department by the end of the fall semester.
University
policy prohibits students with teaching or research assistantships
or research fellowships from working in other jobs while classes
are in session.
PLANNING
FOR THE FUTURE
Those
students who are thinking about a Ph.D. program either at MU or
elsewhere are
encouraged
to make contact with an appropriate faculty member (and a possible
doctoral
committee
chair if the student intends to stay at MU) by the end of their
second semester to
discuss
other institutions and programs as well as the preparation needed
for admission to a
doctoral
program. This is necessary because most applications, letters
of recommendation, writing samples, and other elements of the
student's dossier must be completed before the end of the fall
semester.
PEOPLE
TO KNOW
Role
of Director of Graduate Studies.
All
queries regarding students' status in the history program, all
requests for information about any facet of the program, and any
appeal processes should begin with the DGS. The DGS is also the
official academic advisor for all graduate students although,
as soon as possible, PhD students will identify and rely on the
chairs of their DQE committees/dissertation directors as their
primary advisors on matters related to course work and other elements
of their graduate career as soon as possible. All students registering
for classes must first meet with the DGS during the advising period
preceding TVR registration. The DGS is also the second reader
for all MA essays, signs all continuous enrollment forms, and
must approve any independent study courses (see below) and requests
for extensions of time for PhD students.
Although
these guidelines describe the central policies and practices of
the History Department's graduate program, circumstances and situations
will no doubt arise that are not covered by this document. These
unforeseen exigencies should be brought to the attention of the
DGS, who will work with the student to resolve them.
Role
of Chair of History Department.
The
chair will provide aid and advice to graduate students in the
event of emergencies or during an extended absence by the DGS.
The chair will also serve as the point of last appeal within the
department for disputed grades or other academic issues.
Role
of Administrative Assistant.
The
assistant to the chair is not a secretary, but the administrator
of the history office, whose responsibilities include much of
the paperwork, budgeting, and scheduling that occurs in the department.
PhD students entering the job market can also establish credential
files with the Assistant to the Chair. After PhD students have
scheduled their comprehensive examinations and dissertation defenses,
they should notify the assistant to the chair, who will notify
the graduate school and prepare the necessary forms.
Role
of the Graduate Committee . This is a standing committee
of the history department that sets policy regarding the graduate
and undergraduate programs and, upon the request of the DGS, acts
as an advisory board on admissions and financial aid decisions
and on individual personnel and academic cases.
Role
of the Graduate School . The graduate school is the point
of contact for many of the technical facets of graduate study,
including: application issues; continuing and new financial aid;
information regarding housing and student loans; paperwork related
to employment; registration procedures; and graduation applications,
deadlines, and procedures.
A
QUICK GUIDE TO POINTS OF CONTACT IN THE HISTORY DEPARTMENT.
The
Department Chair should be contacted with questions
regarding:
--Scheduling
of classes (i. e. policies related to classes offered by the department);
--Assignments
of Teaching Assistants to Western Civilization sections;
--Office
Assignments;
--Complaints
about the Director of Graduate Studies.
The
Director of Graduate Studies should be contacted
with questions regarding:
--All
advising issues (such as registering for courses, choosing fields,
selecting DQE and dissertation committees);
--MA
Comprehensive Examinations;
--MA
Essays;
--The
foreign language requirement;
--Continuous
enrollment;
--Assignments
and work schedules of Research Assistants.
The
Administrative Assistant should be contacted
with questions regarding:
--Paperwork
related to assistantships (such as tax and social security forms);
--Establishing
credentials files;
--Obtaining
commonly used forms, including those required for DQE exams and
dissertations defenses, continuous enrollment, etc. (although
many are also on-line at the Graduate School website in the "Current
Students" section);
--Office
procedures;
--Use
of departmental computers.
NOTE:
TAs and RAs may use departmental printers only for work related
to their official responsibilities (i. e. printing out lecture
outlines, study guides, grade sheets, etc. for TAs; printing out
bibliographies, etc., for RAs).
CREDENTIALS
FILES.
In
order to provide a simple and coherent dossier for PhD students
applying for jobs, the history department maintains credential
files—vitae, letters of recommendation—and will send them on request
to prospective employers.
SPECIAL
CLASSES:
The
dissertation seminar (HIST 330) is designed
to enable each student, with the advice and consent of his or
her dissertation director, to explore potential dissertation topics.
It must be arranged prior to registration with the dissertation
director; although the chair of the department or the DGS will
be listed as the “instructor” of the class, all objectives, assignments,
and evaluations will be completed by the dissertation director.
Independent
study courses (HIST 295) can be an integral part of
your course of study, but should be taken only if no regular class
in the proposed topic has been or is likely to be taught during
a student's tenure at Marquette. Course topics and assignments
are to be arranged with the appropriate faculty member and the
DGS prior to registration; instructors must be full-time, tenure-line
members of the department.
Continuous
Enrollment . All students serving as TAs, RAs, and Teaching
Fellows, as well as those students receiving half-tuition scholarships,
or Casper , Smith, Schmitt, or Raynor Fellowships, must be registered
as full-time students. Any student who has already completed the
necessary coursework for his or her MA or PhD can register for
Continuous Enrollment (at the less-than-half-time, half-time,
or full-time levels). The first step is to fill out the “
Graduate School Continuous Enrollment Registration Form,”
available in the history office; the second step is to have the
DGS fill out the bottom half and sign the form and assign you
a "permission number." The final step is to register
for the appropriate number of credits via Checkmarq.
RIGHTS
AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF SUPERVISING PROFESSORS AND TEACHING ASSISTANTS
History
graduate students are instructors as well as students; history
faculty members are mentors as well as supervisors. Recognizing
that the relationship between faculty members and graduate students
is one of collegiality among historians but—especially between
supervising professors and teaching assistants—also one with clear
lines of authority, it is necessary and proper that professors
and graduate students treat one another courteously and professionally
at all times. This is particularly important in the classroom,
including courses in which graduate students are registered and
courses in which graduate students serve as teaching assistants.
In
the event that TAs have questions and concerns about their jobs,
including their relationships with their supervising professors,
about other TAs—about anything related to their roles as Teaching
Assistants, they should speak first to their supervising professors.
If the problem continues, they should speak to the Director of
Graduate Studies. As in all personnel matters, the Department
Chair is the ultimate source of responsibility and appeal.
A)
The Supervising Professors are the ultimate
authority on matters related to:
--syllabus
design;
--course
content;
--grading
policies;
--class
management;
--all
other pedagogical and classroom issues.
Supervising
professors are also responsible for:
--the
training and supervision of graduate students (i.e. organizing
and leading the orientation for TAs prior to the beginning of
the Fall semester, preparing them for discussion sections, evaluating
class presentations);
--presenting
to teaching assistants grading policies, procedures, and course
standards in a timely and clear fashion;
--ensuring
that teaching assistants submit weekly timesheets for their review
and signature before passing it on to the director of graduate
studies;
--ensuring
that they are accessible to teaching assistants via e-mail and
telephone.
--maintaining
a regular meeting schedule with all teaching assistants to serve
as a platform for discussion about the course content, grading
policies and procedures, and all other matters related to the
course.
They
may also:
--be
consulted by the chair on TA assignments.
B)
The Teaching Assistants are responsible for:
--attending
assigned sections of Western Civilization and Introduction to
American History (although in rare cases and with prior
permission TAs may be excused from class to attend conferences
and to participate in other professional development opportunities);
--completing
all the readings assigned to the undergraduates;
--taking
attendance and keeping records;
--assigning
and recording grades, according to the guidelines established
by the supervising professors;
--leading
periodic discussion sessions and review sessions;
--collaborating
on teaching materials and exercises;
--attending
all meetings scheduled by Supervising Professors and arriving
at those meetings on time;
--carrying
out all other course-related duties assigned by Supervising Professors
(i.e. photocopying, collating, proctoring examinations, etc.).
--establishing
the times and places of their office hours (which they must hold
for at least an average of three hours a week, although they may
fluctuate depending on exam and paper schedules).
--communicating
their own concerns and the concerns of their students to their
supervising professors;
--ensuring
that they are accessible to supervising professors via e-mail
and telephone.
NOTE:
Teaching Assistants must pre-register for classes on their assigned
registration dates in order to facilitate their assignment to
course sections that do not conflict with their own schedules.
C)
Teaching Assistant Workload:
--Supervising
Professors must in good faith limit the workload of TAs (including
all of the duties listed in Section IIB) to an average of approximately
twenty hours per week over the course of the semester.
--Supervising
Professors must also in good faith consider the TAs' schedules
in assigning deadlines for grading to be completed and in scheduling
review sessions.
--TAs
must in good faith use their time wisely and efficiently.
--Teaching
assistants will submit detailed, weekly time sheets to their supervising
professors for signature and review, before the supervising professors
submit them to the director of graduate studies.
PROCEDURES
FOR DOCTORAL QUALIFYING EXAMS
WRITTEN
- The
written portion of the doctoral qualifying exam is three days.
The schedule may be flexible, depending on the student's preference
(for example MWF or three days in a row).
- There
are two major fields, four hours each; and two minor fields,
two hours each. It is the responsibility of the committee chair
to notify the committee members to give the questions to the
Administrative Assistant two weeks ahead of time, as well as
indicating whether they are major or minor fields.
- The
student may take the exams in the testing room. The conference
room may be used if desired, but in that case it is the responsibility
of the committee chair (not the student or the Administrative
Assistant) to reserve the room. The student will be on his/her
honor to observe the time limitations. The testing room will
have a clock for this purpose. The finished exams are then given
to the Administrative Assistant.
- The
Administrative Assistant will then see that the exam is copied
and distributed to the committee members, along with the appropriate
form(s).
After
receiving preliminary feedback from committee members, the chair
of the examination committee may call a meeting to determine whether
or not the student should proceed to the oral portion of the examination.
This meeting will take place prior to a formal vote on the examination.
ORAL
- Oral
exams are usually one week after the written exams. The AMU
is available for this purpose at no extra charge. The conference
room may be used, but it is not necessary that all oral exams
be held in the department conference room.
- It
is the responsibility of the committee chair (not the student
or the Administrative Assistant) to reserve the room.
- If
the conference room is used, it is also the responsibility
of the committee chair to see that the office is securely
locked after the exams if the time is past 4:30 when the office
closes.
- Copies
of the forms should be made for the student's file before the
forms are sent to the Graduate School .
NOTE
: Students are responsible for asking professors to serve
on their committees (the request and the professors' agreement
should be confirmed in writing), for coordinating their own and
their professors' schedules, for setting dates for the written
and oral examinations, and for ensuring that all members of the
committee are aware of their responsibilities and of any changes
in the dates of the examination or in the makeup of the committee.
