The
graduate committee has the responsibility for interpreting and
executing the policies and procedures approved by the faculty for the
administration of the graduate program. Among its duties are those of
responding to inquiries, hearing appeals, organizing the comprehensive
and language examinations and determining the results, making
recommendations regarding assistantships,
fellowships, and awards, and
consulting with the head, faculty, and graduate students on aspects of
the program. In addition the committee may approve exceptions to the
standard policies and procedures; however, it is expected that such
exceptions will be approved only in rare, unusual, and compelling
circumstances.
The statement above only provides a general description of the role of
the graduate committe. Below are more
detailed statements on the current implementation of our policies and
procedures.
Recruiting and Responding To Inquiries
The Graduate Committee is charged with recruiting new graduate students. As
part of
a state supported institution the Department seeks
qualified students from all segments
of society. To build awareness of our programs
the Graduate Committee advertises in selected publications
and on the world wide web.
The Committee encourages faculty, alumni, and current
graduate students to help make prospective students aware of the quality of
our programs. The Graduate Committee also
contacts selected students who take the Putnam examination, the GRE, or
otherwise indicate possible interest in pursuing an advanced degree in
mathematics.
Once a student has shown further interest in our programs, an information
and application packet is sent to the student. Additional contacts are
made to ensure that the student's application is complete.
Admission to the Program
Admission is a joint responsibility of the Graduate College and the
Department. Initially the student sends a completed application form (paper
or electronic)
to the Graduate College. The Graduate College has certain requirements that
must be satisfied before admission is granted to any graduate program at
the University. As a preliminary step the Graduate College will request
official transcripts of college level work and, in the case of international
students, a TOEFL score.
When sufficient information is available, the
application is sent to the Department for a recommendation. The graduate
director
and Graduate Committee members will examine the
materials obtained by the Graduate College and other materials that have
been sent to the Department. These materials may include personal
statements by the applicant, letters of reference, descriptions of course
work completed, and GRE scores. The graduate director will either hold the
application for comparison with future applicants, recommend approval of
the admission to the requested program or a different program
without qualification, recommend admission conditionally, or recommend that
admission be denied. The decision is primarily
based on whether there is sufficient
space in the program and whether the applicant's past accomplishments
indicate that they can successfully complete the program.
The Dean of the Graduate College makes the final
decision on admission. Many times admission is granted based on incomplete
information. For example a student might be in the last semester of his
undergraduate studies and thus does not yet have a bachelor's degree
or, a TOEFL score may not be available. In these cases
admission is sometimes approved on the assumption that by
the time the student begins
study the materials will have been received by the Graduate College. The
Graduate College may revoke admission if the materials are not eventually
received.
Teaching Assistantships and Other Financial Support
Most graduate students do not have the financial resources to pursue their
studies without support from the Department. The Department has a limited
number of teaching assistantships, fellowships and research assistantships
that can be used to support graduate
students while they study. The stipend for these
is sufficient to support a modest
life-style and cover the cost of study. A TA is employed at a 50% level
and receives a waiver for non-resident fees. Additional fee waivers are
available for domestic students from the Department and the Graduate
College. Because all of these funds are limited an important
responsibility of the Graduate Committee is to recommend students for
support. The same materials used for the admission recommendation are
employed in making these recommendations
for new students. For continuing students the Graduate
Committee also examines the progress of the student's studies and their past
performance as a teaching assistant. Because these decisions involve the
commitment of funds, the Department Head actually makes the offers with the
approval of those administators having fiduciary responsibilties. For most
students these decisions are made in the Spring.
Academic Advising
Throughout a graduate student's studies the Graduate Committee serves as a
source of information and advice. Once students have been admitted to the
program, the primary concern of the Graduate Committee is that the graduate
students receive a quality education and complete their studies in a timely
manner. At the beginning of student's program a member of the Graduate
Committee will serve as academic
advisor. The advisor will help the student plan his or her
first year or two of study and complete enrollment forms.
The initial advising session is particularly
critical so that the student will begin his graduate studies at an
appropriate level and acquire the prerequisites for later work.
After a student has formed a
master's or doctoral committee,
most of the advising will be transferred to the chairman of his committee.
Nonetheless, the members of the Graduate Committee will still be available to
counsel the student, advise the student academically when his
committee members are not available and explain degree requirements.
Graduate Examinations
The Graduate Committee is responsible for scheduling, administering, and
determining the results of the written exams
for each degree program. The
syllabus for the exams is periodically reviewed by the Graduate Committee
however any signifcant changes in the syllabus must be approved by the
Department. The examinations are written and graded by qualified members of
the Department. In general the examination will not be tailored to the
associated course, but rather to the exam syllabus. To help ensure the
integrity of the exam results, the exams
and results are determined without specific identification of the student.
The Graduate Committee reviews each exam for adherence to the syllabus and
level of difficulty before making its final determination of the results.
After the exam results are determined, the students may wish to review
their performance with the graduate director or
another member of the Graduate Committee. The Graduate
Committee member will also advise the student as to the import of the
results for their program of study.
Appeals
Occasionally a student may feel that a decision of the Graduate Committee or
his program committee was unfair, incorrect or that they were special
circumstances which were not considered. The student should then bring their
concerns to the attention of the Graduate Committee. Generally the student
should discuss the situation with the graduate director and then write a
formal letter to the Graduate Committee which describes the request and the
justifications for the appeal. The Graduate Committee
will consider the issues and decide if any relief is warranted. Such
matters are generally of a serious nature and may have consequences far
beyond the case at hand. Thus exceptions to stated policy and procedure are
granted rarely and only for compelling reasons.
Special Awards and Doctoral Teaching Reductions
Each Spring the Graduate Committee meets to determine the winners of
various Departmental awards
for graduate students. The meeting will be
announced well in advance so that nominations for the awards may be
received and supporting information can be gathered. All of these awards
are based on merit. The Doctoral Teaching Reductions are given to students
who are working on their thesis. The major factor in these decisions is the
case for support made by the thesis advisor.
Review of Students' Progress
At least once a year the Graduate Committee examines the progress toward
degree that each student has made. In order that the information used be
accurate it is important that the graduate director be informed whenever a
significant step in the program is completed. (Because some of these items
are scheduled by the advisor with the Graduate College, the Graduate
Committee may not receive notification.) While this is primarily the
responsibility of the advisor, the student can also aid in this process.
This determination by the Graduate Committee may be used in deciding
reappointments, stipend increases, teaching loads, and continuation in the
program.
Evaluation of Progress Toward Graduate Degrees
A myriad of factors such as coursework completed, grades, and opinions of instructors and advisors are employed by the Graduate Committee in evaluating a student's progress. If unsatisfactory performance is indicated by any of these factors, the Graduate Committee may question whether funding for the student should be continued.
One factor that the Graduate Committee uses is the timely completion of certain significant milestones in the program. The timetables below give benchmarks for good and satisfactory completion periods for these milestones. A student whose progress to date is slower than that indicated as satisfactory should be aware that a recommendation for continued funding is uncertain.
Below core courses refers to those courses which prepare a students for the written examinations for the particular degree program and option. For example, in the pure option of the master's program the core courses would be Advanced Calculus I & II, Modern Algebra I & II, and General Topology.
Timetable for the Master's Program
A student in the master's program is on a timetable corresponding to good progress in the program if:
A student in the master's program is on a timetable corresponding to satisfactory progress if:
Normally, a student in the master's program will be funded for at most three years.
Timetable for the Ph.D. Program
The timetables below assume that the student enters the Ph.D. program with a bachelor's degree. A student who enters the Ph.D. program after completing some graduate work in mathematics may be expected to follow a timetable that is shorter than these. This would depend on the background of the student and thus would be individually determined.
A student in the Ph.D. program is on a timetable corresponding to good progress if:
A student in the Ph.D. program is on a timetable corresponding to satisfactory progress if:
The determination of the progress of a student in the Ph.D. program after the written exams are completed is necessarily based to a large extent on the opinion of the advisor.