Timelines & Benchmarks - M.S., Ph.D., & D.A.
Approved by the Graduate Education Committee: 25 October 2016
- Timeline organized with odd semesters (1st, 3rd, etc.) are fall, even semesters are spring.
- Program durations:
- M.S. designed as 2-3 year program; description based on 2 years with graduation after 4th semester.
- Ph.D designed as 4-5 year program; description based on 4 years with graduation after 8th semester.
- D.A. designed as 3-4 year program; description based on 3 years with graduation after 6th semester.
- Progress reports are due to the director of grad programs every February 1 (need new form).
- Courses related to student thesis/dissertation research:
- BIOL 6648 (Graduate problems): Credits reflecting time spent by a student actively working on their thesis/dissertation research project.
- BIOL 6650/8850 (Thesis): Credits reflecting time spent by a student actively writing their thesis/dissertation; after registering for 1 cr of BIOL 6650/8850, students are required to be continuously registered (for at least 1 cr, every semester, including summer).
- Courses related to biological education (primarily for DA students):
- BIOL 6693 (Seminars in College Teaching); offered every fall (topics rotate): All DA students are required to take at least 2 seminars for 4 credits.
- BIOL 6694 (Advanced Studies in College Teaching); offered every spring: All DA students are required to take at least 2 courses for 4 credits.
- Supervised Teaching Internship(STI): see STI guidelines for additional details.
- BIOL 7700 (Supervised Teaching Internship): Reflect time spent by a student actively engaged in an STI. 1 credit for internship proposal and report and additional credits based on course teaching effort (e.g. 5 weeks of a 15-week course would be 1 credit; ½ of a 3 credit lecture would be 2 credits, rounded up; all of a 3 credit course would be 3 credits).
- STI proposals are created the semester prior to the teaching internship; reports are due following the internship.
- First internship may involve guest lectures and other course contributions (creating & grading assignments, exams, etc).
- Second internship may involve co-teaching credit and responsibilities.
- Third internship may involve full course responsibility.
- If a student has substantial prior teaching experience, they may start with taking on more responsibility for a course. Some students may never get the opportunity for a full course responsibility (b/c those are scarce or the student is not ready).
- A PhD student with a minor in Biology Education must take 6693 and 6694 prior to their internship (BIOL 5513 or 5514 is also strongly recommended if they don’t have biology teaching experience).
| MS programs | PhD programs | DA program | |
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| 1st semester |
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2nd semester Progress reports due February 1 |
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| 3rd semester |
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4th semester Progress reports due February 1 |
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| 5th semester |
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6th semester Progress reports due February 1 |
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| 7th semester |
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8th semester Progress reports due February 1 |
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