Student

Graduate study provides students with the opportunity to conduct independent scholarship and research focused on their personal and professional interests. The graduate student has the primary responsibility for the successful completion of their graduate degree. The student is resident in a department or program that offers their degree and serves as their academic “home.”

As outlined in the UAF catalog, the student should know the relevant university, departmental, and graduate school rules, regulations, policies, and deadlines relating to their degree. The student is responsible for proactively working with their advisor to develop their graduate study plan, form an advisory committee, and professionally conduct their scholarship and research appropriate to their discipline and consistent with university procedures, policies, and regulations.

Setting Up Your UA or @alaska.edu Email Account

UAF uses email to communicate with students about many important matters. Email is often the only way some information is distributed, so it’s important you check your email frequently and read messages sent to you from the university. For example, if you are waitlisted for a class, an email will be sent to you when a seat becomes available. If you don’t act on the email within a specified time frame, you risk losing that seat to the next student on the waitlist.

The university automatically assigns each student an official University of Alaska email account. If you prefer to use another email account, rather than your university-generated one, there are three steps to take to ensure you get all official communications:

1. Log in to UAOnline and enter or update your preferred email address under the “Personal Information” menu.
2. Log in to your University of Alaska Google Email Account and set up forwarding to your preferred account.
3. When switching active email accounts, repeat steps 1 and 2 to ensure your preferred email is always up to date.

Although you are able to indicate a preferred email address in UAOnline, many faculty and departments at UAF will communicate with you only through your alaska.edu address. You are responsible for knowing — and when appropriate, acting on — the contents of all university communications sent to your university-generated email address.

Mandatory Training: UA Safe Title IX

UA Safe Title IX Training (Required Annually)

The UA Safe Title IX Training is a required annual training for all students, employees, and volunteers that informs the UA community on how to identify, prevent, and report sex- and gender-based discrimination, sexual assault, dating and domestic violence, and stalking, what a “responsible employee” is and their reporting requirements, the steps to the Title IX process, and what supportive measures are and how to access the resources available to you.

Visit the Office of Rights, Compliance and Accountability’s ORCA Training Portal to learn more and complete your required training.

Appointing an Advisory Committee

The graduate advisory committee guides the student in developing and completing their degree program. The student's advisor serves as the chair of the committee and leads in fulfilling the committee's responsibilities.

The committee should be formed within the first two academic semesters by the end of the Spring (Fall) semester for students beginning in the previous Fall (Spring). Some departments and programs may have different procedures about the committee's composition (e.g., the minimum number of departmental/program faculty on the committee). The committee is subject to approval by the department chair, the school or college dean or director, and the graduate school director. The advisory committee of Master's degree students must consist of at least three approved faculty members. All Master's committee members must hold an earned Master's or higher degree, with exceptions for faculty, professionals, or experts with relevant accomplishments and expertise. The advisory committee of Doctoral degree students must consist of at least four approved faculty members. All Ph.D. committee members must hold an earned doctoral degree, with rare exceptions for faculty, professionals, or experts with relevant accomplishments and expertise. Such exceptions must have the approval of the department/program chair, school or college dean, and graduate school director. Both retired, and Emeritus faculty of UAF collaborating with the home department may serve on or (co-)chair graduate advisory committees upon expressed approval by the home department. Faculty from other universities and other professionals UAF does not employ may serve as committee members on advisory committees upon expressed approval by the home department. Non-UAF faculty and professionals may serve as the committee's co-chair, with a UAF faculty member as the other co-chair.

The graduate committee is formally established with the chair (or co-chairs) and committee members identified and the Appointment of Advisory Committee form is submitted to the Graduate School. The graduate advisory committee's primary responsibilities are to formulate a graduate study plan in consultation with the student by the end of the student's second semester; to develop a tentative timetable for completing all requirements for the degree program; to monitor the student's progress in course work and research; to provide advice and feedback to the student on that progress; to attend regular committee meetings and formally evaluate the student's progress at least once a year; to formulate and conduct the comprehensive examination and other exams as required by the department/program; to evaluate a research dissertation/thesis/project when one is required; to uphold the standards of the college/school and the university; and to inform the dean, in writing, if a student's performance is inadequate and provide relevant recommendations.

Developing a Graduate Study Plan (GSP)

The Graduate Study Plan (GSP) serves as a road map for graduate study and should be drafted early in your program and no later than by the end of your first year. The GSP is a working agreement of mutual expectation between you and your committee and should be developed together. The completed Graduate Study Plan requires approval by the advisory committee, department chair, dean of your school or college, and the director of the Graduate School for interdisciplinary students. The GSP should list the following:

1. The semester order of when you plan on taking the courses as outlined in the catalog. Selected courses must match the catalog requirements for the degree program or be accompanied by a graduate petition form indicating why they do not (e.g., if you list CHEM F688, but the program requires CHEM F692, the petition will indicate the substitution).
2. Other courses required by your committee (including deficiency courses).
3. A description of your research topic.
4. Whether or not you need regulatory approvals to perform your research.
5. The topics that will be included in your comprehensive examination.

Depending on the length of your degree program, the first draft of the GSP may be your final one, although it is not unusual to find it necessary to revise your GSP during your studies. Possible reasons for revising a GSP are: a planned course is cancelled, initial results or funding changes dictate a change in research direction, etc. Revising the GSP is permitted and encouraged.

Consult with your committee chair about obtaining any regulatory approvals required for your research. University and or agency approvals are required for research involving human subjects, vertebrate animals, marine mammals, endangered species, public lands, radioactive materials, biohazards, hazardous materials, and other regulated activities. Note that in many cases, the approval process is lengthy, so get started early.

Complete any training required to comply with regulations governing your research or to help ensure your safety while conducting research. For example, the University requires that you have the training to work in laboratories and remote field locations, and with human subjects, vertebrate animals, hazardous materials, and radioactive materials.

If you have any questions, contact the Office of Research Integrity at 907-474-7800 or email uaf-ori@alaska.edu.

Taking a Comprehensive Exam

Master’s Students: Most Master’s programs require a written and/or oral comprehensive examination to determine whether the student has integrated knowledge and understanding of the principles and concepts underlying major and related fields. Some programs (MBA, MEd, and MSDM) allow or require a capstone course or synthesizing paper instead of a comprehensive examination. Some programs integrate the comprehensive exam into the thesis/project defense and don’t require a separate exam. However, it is the student’s responsibility to know their department’s requirements for the exam, how it is administered, and the dates it is given.

Ph.D. Students: All Ph.D. students must pass a written comprehensive exam, and most programs require an oral comprehensive exam, which requires the presence of an Outside Examiner. A request for an Outside Examiner must be submitted to the Graduate School at least two weeks before an oral comprehensive exam. Request an Outside Examiner via Google Forms. Reference the catalog and departmental policies to find out which of these examinations apply to your program.

All Students: After the completion of your examination (whether combined with your defense or not) you must submit a Report on Comprehensive Exam form signed by your committee chair, committee members, the department chair, and dean of your school or college (and, for Ph.D. oral exams, the outside examiner) within 10 days of taking your exam.

For any comprehensive examination, you will be given a pass, a conditional pass or fail. If you receive a conditional pass, the “Report on Comprehensive Exam” form should specify the conditions that you will need to fulfill before the exam will be passed. These can include a second, partial oral or written exam covering the areas of weakness, only; completing assigned readings and a synthesizing paper, again addressing the areas of weakness; completion of a course or courses; or other appropriate remedies chosen by the committee. The Report on Comprehensive Exam form should specify a deadline for satisfying the conditions. After the conditions have been successfully met, a second Report on Comprehensive Exam form must be submitted to the Graduate School showing that you have now successfully passed the comprehensive exam.

Most departments have written policies on how many times a failed comprehensive exam may be repeated. Such policies usually state that a graduate student will be dismissed from the program if they fail the comprehensive exam either two or three times, but some programs allow more attempts.

Completing the Language or Research Tool Requirement

Proficiency in a second language or a research tool is not a university requirement, but some departments or programs may have this requirement. An advisory committee may specify a language or research tool if its requirements exceed those of the program. The advisory committee determines the specific language or research tool, guided by policies of the administrative unit in which the degree is offered. Generally, competency in a second language is required. However, upon approval of the department or program head, the committee may substitute computer languages, statistics, mathematics, or study in areas such as history or philosophy of science, business, administration, law or economics. In all instances, topics selected must support the student’s degree program. A Report on Completion of Language or Research Tool Requirement must be submitted to the Graduate School when the requirement is completed.

Registration Requirements

Graduate students must be registered for at least six graduate credits per academic year (fall, spring, summer) when actively working toward a degree. Graduate students failing to register for at least six graduate credits (or 400-level credits on their Graduate Study Plan or Advancement to Candidacy) or obtain a leave of absence will be dropped from graduate study. Students who have dropped will have to apply for reinstatement to their academic program. Students generally must be registered for at least three graduate credits in the semester in which they defend their dissertation, project, or thesis. If they do not graduate in the same semester, they must register for one credit at the 600-level each subsequent semester until their degree is conferred.

Course Restrictions

The following types of courses cannot be used to meet the requirements of any graduate degree program at UAF:

• 500-level courses
• Courses below the 400-level
• Courses at the 400-level that are graded P/F or Cr/No Cr, or in which the grade earned is less than “B” (a B- is not acceptable)
• Graduate courses in which the grade earned is less than “C”
• Courses that have been previously used to meet the requirements of another graduate or undergraduate degree program

For students who are pursuing a second Master’s degree, 6 credits may be counted from the previous Master’s program if approved by the student’s graduate advisory committee as being relevant to the new program. Seniors who want to count 400-level or graduate courses toward a future graduate degree must reserve those courses by filing a petition during the first four weeks of the semester in which the courses are taken.

Only a limited number of credits from certain types of courses may be used to meet graduate degree requirements: Not more than 12 total credits can be from any combination of 693 and 695 (special topics) and 697 (individual study) courses; Not more than 50% of total graduate degree program credits can be courses completed as a non-degree-seeking student, i.e., before admission to a graduate program; Not more than 12 semester credits of thesis (699) and/or research (698) for thesis Master’s programs (usually requires a minimum of 6 thesis credits); Not more than 6 semester credits of research (698) in non-thesis Master’s programs.

Thesis and Non-thesis Credits

699 Thesis/dissertation credits are intended for students preparing for scholarly or research activity. All students who are working on a thesis/dissertation should be enrolled in 699 credits.

698 Non-thesis research/project credits are intended for students preparing for professional practice. Master’s degree students working on a project should enroll in research credits. 698 credits cannot be applied to a PhD.

Deficiency Courses

Graduate advisory committees can require students to take deficiency courses if the student’s prior coursework did not sufficiently prepare them to complete the graduate level courses or comprehensive examination in their graduate program. Required deficiency courses should be listed on the Graduate Study Plan, but should not be listed on the Advancement to Candidacy. Deficiency courses do not count toward meeting graduate degree requirements. Any undergraduate courses (100- to 400-level) included in the deficiency courses must be completed with a grade of “B” or better. English language proficiency is required of all graduate students. A student who is not initially proficient should be required to take English courses as deficiency courses. UAF offers several ESL (English as a Second Language) courses, as well as a technical writing course.