Five-Year Plan: Animal, Dairy and Veterinary Sciences

Transcription

1 Five-Year Plan: Animal, Dairy and Veterinary Sciences Executive Summary Recruiting. ADVS faculty are committed to diversity. The ADVS graduate student program currently has a minority population of 22%, which is 4-fold higher than the average for Utah. Women comprise approximately one-third of the graduate students, which is significantly higher than the ratio of females: males found in the agriculture industry. The 2016 entering class of the USU School of Veterinary Medicine has 61% women. This population of students combined with existing ADVS graduate students results in an overall demographic of 46% (29/63) women in ADVS graduate program as of fall To our competitive advantage in recruitment of graduate students to increase student quality, faculty have committed to enhance the ADVS webpage, utilize increased recruitment opportunities, identify additional funding resources, and increase our stipends to levels more consistent with peer departments across campus and with similar peer institutions. Mentoring. ADVS will continue to include students as authors on refereed scientific publications, continue an excellent seminar series that brings outside scientists to campus to interact with our students, and continue to support a high level of student involvement in research presentations at local/national/international meetings. The Department has developed a plan to enhance tracking student progress, update and provide online access to the ADVS Graduate Student Handbook, enhance accountability for faculty mentorship, establish annual ADVS Graduate Student/Mentor Symposium to enhance student-faculty interaction and education, and develop a foundational research course that would provide ADVS graduate students with basic understanding of best-practices for working in nationally competitive research laboratories. These measures will increase faculty accountability for graduate student mentorship and provide students with a clearer pathway to completion of their degree program. Management. ADVS will continue to emphasize its strong interdisciplinary research programs, high publication rates and involvement in national/international society research meetings as components of our graduate training program. It is expected that plans under mentoring will also have a positive impact on time to degree completion. ADVS will implement a plan to reduce the total credit hour requirement for each degree program, and create a new Toxicology Specialization that will address needs of ADVS faculty and students in this discipline. Funding. ADVS has the advantage of already having established hard-funded graduate student stipends. The Department will grow the number and level of these stipends over the next five-year period. Additional stipends will meet the increasing need of increased ADVS faculty numbers and address the competitiveness of these stipends with respect to peer programs both on-and off-campus. The changes outline in our five-year plan are designed to leverage and expand strong ongoing practices and programs that will enhance and grow the ADVS graduate program, with higher student quality and a far more student-friendly environment that supports strong mentorship and faculty-student interactions.

2 ADVS Five Year Plan Page 2 Recruiting Summary The ADVS recruitment strategy has been passive, resulting in enrollment of students adequate to fill available positions. However, this strategy has been inadequate for recruitment of top students into our program. Because only 1-3 positions become available in a typical year, a centralized, department-driven recruitment strategy is not a good fit for our graduate program. Rather, individual-based recruitment to specific research programs, with a focus on student-advisor matching, is the preferred and more appropriate approach for our department. Adequate funding for competitive recruitment of top students has been identified as a key issue. Best practices to continue Currently, ADVS focuses heavily on optimizing the match between students and advisors. Graduate students are recruited to the department based on their initial demonstration of interest with one or more faculty and/or research programs. Although ADVS does not make a specific effort to recruit students based on minority status, our Department currently has a minority population of 22%, which is 4-fold greater than the state of Utah. Women comprise nearly one-third of our student enrollment (much greater than the female:male ratio in the agriculture industry). 5-year strategy for improvement Improve tools available to faculty for recruitment of graduate students. This includes a redesign and further development of the Department website to highlight faculty research in ADVS and provide more useful information to prospective students. A recruitment video highlighting the department faculty and ongoing research programs in ADVS will be developed and hosted on the ADVS website. Provide faculty with targeted recruitment opportunities. Faculty with open positions for graduate students can join faculty from the School of Veterinary Medicine on recruiting trips to undergraduate institutions in the region. Establish a support fund for student recruitment. Faculty can receive additional financial support for exceptional students at the discretion of the Department Head. Funds could be used to bolster a student stipend or provide a one-time scholarship when a departmental assistantship is not available. The funds might also be used to bring a potential recruit to the Logan campus. Competitive tuition awards. The tuition award program offered by the Graduate School will fully transition to the Colleges within two years. The plan is to provide tuition awards to students on a competitive basis, using GRE and GPA scores as initial metrics. Students whose GPA and GRE percentiles are below the minimum criteria for admittance into the Graduate School will not be considered for an award (GPA < 3.0; GRE verbal and quantitative scores < 40 th percentile). In order for students to continue on a tuition award, they must meet ADVS guidelines for progress (minimum GPA, scheduled committee meetings, proposal submission, etc.). The tuition award funds may be converted to student stipends (i.e. assistantships may be considered). Encourage site visits by prospective candidates. Prospective students (1-2 per position) will be encouraged to visit the Logan campus. Funds from the department supplementary support fund and/or faculty F&A returns could be used to defray costs of the recruitment trip. Follow up with candidates that choose other programs. Students who have been recruited to ADVS, but who ultimately choose other institutions, will be surveyed providing valuable information on refinement of the ADVS recruitment strategy.

3 ADVS Five Year Plan Page 3 Benchmarks for success A primary goal of our revised recruitment strategy is to improve the quality of students coming into the ADVS program. Our benchmarks are defined as follows: Increase in the average GPA (>3.3) and GRE scores (>40 th percentile) of incoming students. Reduce the number of waivers requested for entrance requirements to the Graduate School. Minimize lost opportunities with exceptional candidates that ultimately select other institutions. Mentoring Summary of the self-assessment ADVS candidly recognized that mentoring in the department has been haphazard and largely dependent on the major professor. A need for more structure and mentoring, especially the rigorous utilization of the Supervisory Committee, was recognized. Best practices to continue Inclusion of students as authors on research publications and presentations. Encourage students to attend professional scientific meetings. Continue interactions with USU faculty and outside science experts through the joint ADVS/CIB Spring seminar series, and strive to increase student participation in future years. Individual and group-based mentoring through laboratory meetings, journal article review, etc. Continue our new course in Science Communication (ADVS 6650), designed to provide structured mentoring on writing proposals, theses and scientific articles, preparing scientific presentations, communicating to the public and the interview process. 5-year strategy for improvement Our primary goal in the revised mentoring strategy is to provide students and advisors with a more structured mentoring program. Memorandum of Understanding. This document (example in Appendix A) will be reviewed and signed by both the Student and major professor at the start of a graduate program. The document outlines expectations and benchmarks for both and will be prepared for all degree tracks including BS to MS, BS to PhD and MS to PhD. Graduate Student Handbook. This revised document will detail the purpose of and procedures for progressing through the degree program (admission, Supervisory Committees, Candidacy Exam, thesis/dissertation proposal, final examination, thesis/dissertation preparation, grievances, data ownership, etc.). The handbook will be made available online. Yearly review of student progress. ADVS administration will track annual progress of graduate students and provide a report to all ADVS faculty. In addition each May, the Graduate Programs Committee (GPC) shall meet to review progress by all ADVS graduate students with special attention to progress on benchmarks (establishing and meeting with the Supervisory Committee, completion of the Program of Study, advancement to Candidacy, preparation of research proposal, etc.). Students and/or advisors for whom the GPC notes particular concerns will be required to meet with the Department Head or GPC to discuss student progress and devise a plan to get the student back on target. An example of the Graduate Student Progress Report to ADVS Faculty that will be generated as part of this review is provided in Appendix B. Construct a website for ADVS graduate students. Within the ADVS student website, a node of pages will be created to provide information for current students, including links to necessary forms and the student handbook, details on financial assistance and fellowship opportunities, and other frequently asked questions.

4 ADVS Five Year Plan Page 4 New course on practice of research. ADVS faculty are interested in the idea of a more structured introduction to research for our graduate students to complement individual, laboratory-specific mentoring by faculty. Such a course could take the form of a semester-long seminar, an orientation workshop or a laboratory course to complement the current Science Communication class offered in our Department. Topics to be covered may include, in part, basics in research, managing a research program, data documentation, hypothesis formulation and experiment design. A committee of ADVS faculty will explore options for this course and present a recommendation for its structure and content to the Department within the next year. Annual ADVS Graduate Student Research Symposium. As an alternative strategy to the traditional seminar format, ADVS plans to institute an annual summer research symposium for all graduate students. The students will be expected to present their current research, their preproject thesis/dissertation proposal or other proposal (such as for a fellowship) to the Department. This strategy will ensure that our students have opportunities for research presentation and that faculty in the department are familiar with the research of all students. The first Symposium is scheduled for August 6, 2012 (refer to Appendix C). Benchmarks for success Improve the utilization of Supervisory Committees in a timely manner (yearly meetings). Improve student satisfaction with communication of degree requirements. Increase student participation in the ADVS/CIB seminar series and implement the ADVS Graduate Student Research Symposium. Management Summary of the self-assessment ADVS faculty members have been reasonably successful in obtaining extramural funding (though some individuals have been much stronger in this area than others) and publishing. External funding for support of graduate students is critical for completion in a timely manner. Best practices to continue Continue our emphasis on interdisciplinary research within the Department, across units on campus and with other research institutions. Maintain productivity in research publications, with an emphasis on high-impact journals. Maintain student and faculty participation in literature review and participation in professional societies. Continue the ongoing evaluation of curriculum to ensure timeliness and utility of research (or theses dissertation) topics. Maintain state-of-the-art technology appropriate for biomedical sciences. 5-year strategy for improvement Reduce time to degree completion. This objective fits with our plans for improved mentoring. By using Supervisory Committees more effectively and improving communication of degree requirements to students, we expect that fewer students will continue their degree programs substantially (>1 year) beyond the recommended time frame (5 years for BS to PhD; 3 years for MS to PhD; 2 years for BS to MS). Reduce required credit hours. ADVS proposes to reduce the number of required credits for BS to PhD from 90 to 72 credit hours (5 to 4 years) and for MS to PhD from 60 to 42 credit hours.

5 ADVS Five Year Plan Page 5 This reduction in required credit hours should provide incentive and opportunity for students to progress through their degree program quickly. However, the productivity of a student as determined by the Supervisory Committee shall remain the primary factor in evaluating progress and ultimate awarding of a degree. This change in the minimum number of credit hours does not change the department s recommended time frame for degree completion. ADVS Toxicology Graduate Program. Based on faculty input and the demographic of faculty members within ADVS who are affiliate with this area (three), as well as several ADVS adjunct faculty from the USDA Poisonous Plants laboratory, the ADVS Department supports the creation of a Toxicology degree specialization in the Department. Within the next year, ADVS faculty associated with the Toxicology program will move forward to establish this specialization in the ADVS graduate program. Benchmarks for success Reduce the number of students who exceed the recommended time frame for completion of MS or PhD degrees. Funding Summary of the self-assessment Lack of funding is a serious issue that underlays many of the deficiencies identified in our department s self-study program. While ADVS has hard-funded departmental assistantships available to support graduate student research, these assistantships are not competitive with other peer institutions and support only one quarter of our enrolled students. Best practices to continue Continue offering departmental assistantships on a competitive basis. 5-year strategy for improvement Improve external support of graduate students. Faculty are requested to include support for graduate student training on any external funding application. The funding request will include >$100,000 yearly direct costs and a funding period two years, as appropriate to the guidelines of the funding agency. Improve accountability of students receiving departmental assistantships. Students supported by a departmental assistantship (DA) must meet degree program benchmarks and timelines as outlined in the ADVS Graduate Student Handbook (e.g., annual meetings with Supervisory Committee, progress to PhD candidacy by year 3 in the BS to PhD program or by year two in the MS program) to maintain eligibility status. Students who have difficulty meeting these benchmarks because of extenuating circumstances (health problems or major setbacks in the research program) are encouraged to consult with their advisor and the ADVS Graduate Program Coordinator prior to the yearly awarding of DAs. Expand departmental assistantships. The Department has recently established ten new graduate assistantships ($20,000 each) in the School of Veterinary Medicine that will fund graduate students with interest in research areas with application to veterinary medicine. These may be post-dvm students with focus on obtaining graduate degrees (PhD) for careers in biomedical research. Establish department supplementary support fund for student recruitment. (Details are provided in the recruitment section.) ADVS faculty scholarship fund. ADVS will establish a scholarship fund supported by donations from ADVS faculty (in any amount). This scholarship will be awarded to a graduate student

6 ADVS Five Year Plan Page 6 selected by the faculty on an annual basis. Even if the amount is small (say $1000), the award can help defray the student s education expenses and will serve as important recognition of student achievement. Identify sources of external funds to support graduate students. ADVS administration will work with the College of Agriculture development director to identify donors willing to establish an endowment or provide one-time funds to support student research. Encourage students to compete for external fellowships. Students, particularly PhD candidates, will be strongly encouraged to submit their dissertation proposals to appropriate granting agency as for external funding support. Resources will be made available to the student and advisors to facilitate these applications. Apply for external graduate student training grant. Graduate student training grants provide continuity in student support that enables a department to be highly selective in recruitment. In order to be competitive for such a training grant, faculty in ADVS must first demonstrate success in obtaining extramural funds from the granting agency (in our case, likely NIH or NSF). Our initial goal is for faculty in the research areas of reproduction and developmental biology to obtain independent 4-5 year funding from NSF or NIH. If successful, our research team will then prepare a training grant application to support the graduate research program. Benchmarks for success As discretionary funds become available, set up departmental supplementary support fund for students will be established with a goal of $20,000 to $30,000 available per year. Establish a departmental scholarship/fellowship program supported by external donated funds. Identify faculty member(s) responsible for liaising with the COA development director for donor recruitment. o One competitive graduate fellowship supported by a large endowment to ADVS. Depending on the size of the endowment, the funds would first provide stipend support (target $25,000), then tuition and finally research funds. o One-time donations of smaller size allocated to the scholarship fund to be used as competitive scholarships for PhD candidates (to support the last year or two of research and potentially release limited DA slots to new students). Awarded amounts would vary depending on funds available. Submit a training grant application to NIH or NSF by 2016.

7 ADVS Five Year Plan Page 7 Appendix A Animal, Dairy and Veterinary Sciences Student/Advisor Memorandum of Understanding This document should be reviewed and discussed by both the entering graduate Student and his/her designated Advisor within a month of the start of a graduate degree program in ADVS and periodically thereafter as needed. B.S. to Ph.D. in ADVS The Student is expected to complete his/her degree within a recommended five-year time frame (90 credit hours). The degree must be completed within eight years. The Student is expected to maintain a 3.0 GPA; two consecutive semesters with a GPA below 3.0 may result in termination of his/her graduate program. In consultation with his/her Advisor, the Student shall establish a Supervisory Committee consisting of his/her major Advisor, three other faculty from the ADVS department and one external representative (either from USU or other academic or research institution) by the end of the second semester of enrollment (excluding the summer term). The Student shall complete the documentation for the Program of Study by the end of the third semester. At this point, the Student and Advisor should identify the area of research and specify a title for the dissertation project in the documentation to be submitted to the Graduate School. The Student shall have yearly progress meetings with their Supervisor Committee. This meeting should include a seminar presentation open to all members of the department (recommendation of 30 minute seminar), followed by a closed meeting with the Committee. The Student is recommended to complete his/her coursework during the first two years of the graduate program. All coursework required by the Supervisory Committee should be completed by the third year. The Student shall complete candidacy exams, written and oral by the end of the third year. The purpose of these exams is to gauge the specific knowledge of the candidate in areas relevant to his/her chosen area of expertise as well as general knowledge in the broader field of the degree. After successfully passing candidacy exams, the Student shall apply for candidacy to the doctoral program through the Graduate School. The Student shall complete a written proposal for dissertation research and present this proposal to the Supervisory Committee no later than year three of the program. The Student and Advisor are strongly encouraged to submit this proposal (after Committee review) to an external funding agency (e.g., USDA, NIH, EPA, NSF) that offers competitive graduate research fellowships. The Advisor shall ensure that the Student has received appropriate safety and compliance training in the use of animal or human subjects, laboratory safety and the use of radioactive, biohazardous or recombinant materials. The Advisor shall also ensure that his/her laboratory has a currently approved Chemical Hygiene Plan on file with the Environmental Health & Safety Office. In the semester prior to graduation, the Student must register for dissertation credit (ADVS 7970). Also, the Student shall complete the Appointment for Examination documentation at least two weeks prior to the scheduled dissertation defense.

8 ADVS Five Year Plan Page 8 By providing your signature below, you acknowledge that you have been informed of these standard practices for the graduate program in ADVS. Please consult with Dr. Kenneth White, the ADVS Department Chair, if you have any questions regarding the policies and recommendations outlined above. Student signature Date Advisor signature Date Date student entered ADVS graduate program Date received by ADVS

9 ADVS Five Year Plan Page 9 Appendix B

10 ADVS Five Year Plan Page 10 Appendix C

11 ADVS Five Year Plan Page ADVS Graduate Student Symposium The 1 st annual ADVS Graduate Student Symposium will be held on Monday 6 August 2012, from 8 AM to 1:30 PM, in the new AGRS building, room 101, and the atrium. This venue will provide students with valuable experience in communicating their research in a friendly atmosphere. The meeting will also provide faculty with an opportunity to learn about ongoing research projects within the department and network with colleagues and students during a scheduled break and lunch (provided). All graduate students are expected to attend and present their research. Students in their respective degree programs for two years or longer will be required to make oral presentations. Second year students may indicate their preference for oral or poster presentation, but the format will ultimately be left to the discretion of the program committee. It is recommended that students in the first year of their programs give poster presentations. Oral presentations will be 12-minutes in length with 3 minutes for questions. Allowable poster dimensions will be provided at a later date. Awards will be given for the best presentations in both poster and oral categories. The abstract submission deadline is Monday 9 July Students must provide a title (150 character or less, including spaces) for their presentation and an abstract of 250 words or less. The abstract should describe the main objectives of the study, explain how they were (or are being) done (without methodological detail), and summarize the most significant findings or anticipated results. All abstracts must be reviewed and approved by respective major professors, and sent directly to Laurel Hancey (laurel.hancey@usu.edu). For questions regarding abstract submission or the meeting contact the organizing committee (Brian Gowen [brian.gowen@usu.edu], Clay Isom [clay.isom@usu.edu], or Jong-Su Eun [jseun@usu.edu]). We look forward to a great meeting that will be held annually to stimulate a collaborative research environment within the ADVS department.