Graduate Responsibilities and Expectations

The KSU Graduate Handbook lays out the policies and procedures for graduate study at K-State. It is a valuable resource and regularly should be consulted.

All graduate students should form their supervisory committee and submit their Program of Study by the end of their second semester. MS committees consist of the major professor and at least two other graduate faculty members. PhD committees consist of the major professor and at least three other graduate faculty members, one of whom must be from another department. The Program of Study is a detailed list of the courses to be taken to satisfy the requirements of the graduate degree (Program of Study Guidelines).

Biology graduate students should enroll in 9 credit hours per semester during the regular academic year until they have reached the required 30 CR (for the MS degree) or 90 CR (for the PhD degree). After reaching these requirements, students must enroll in at least 6 credit hours of research credit per Fall/Spring semester to remain on GRA or GTA appointment. Summer research credit is not required (exception: students defending in Summer semester need to enroll in 1 hour of research credit).

Doctoral students are expected to take their Preliminary Exam to advance to candidacy by the end of their 5^th semester. The Preliminary Exam is only a requirement for PhD students and not for MS students.

All KSU graduate students are required to maintain a 3.0 GPA. Failure to maintain this GPA will result in academic probation. Once on probation, a student has two semesters to raise their GPA above 3.0 or face dismissal.

All graduate students must submit an annual progress report in collaboration with their advisor. Forms are usually available in January and due in February.

All graduate students are expected to devote full-time effort to teaching, coursework, and research. No additional employment may be undertaken without the permission of the research advisor and the Graduate Affairs Committee.

All graduate students are expected to participate in Division of Biology activities including:

• Division Seminars, usually scheduled at 3:30pm every Monday.
• The Biology Graduate Research Forum, scheduled for late winter or early spring every year.
• Thesis/dissertation defenses, which can occur at any time throughout the year.
• Journal clubs and other organized group meetings.
• The KSU Biology Graduate Student Association (BGSA).