These notes were generated during an informal luncheon for newer faculty members as part of McMaster University's New Faculty Orientation program. The luncheon series brings newer faculty together with experienced faculty on various topics of interest.
Experienced faculty joining us for this session:
David Capson – Associate Dean of Graduate Studies (Engineering & Science)
Laura Finsten – Associate Dean of Graduate Studies (Business, Humanities & Social Sciences)
Carl Richards – Associate Dean of Graduate Studies (Health Sciences)
Important Note:
This informal session provided informal answers to the questions posed, but often questions must be answered in the context of department/program regulations. Please note the School of Graduate Studies (SGS) Calendar is the detailed, overriding document describing the regulations that have been through the formal approval process . Please consult the calendar and your department for your particular situation. The SGS calendar is available online.
- How do I decide whether to take on a particular student?
Before agreeing to accept a student:
- Check your way of working, and the student's preferred way of working. Some graduate students need more structure and guidance. Consider completing the Role Perception Rating Scale which consists of a series of important questions http://www.qut.edu.au/talss/eval/resources/pg-sup/pg-sup-rprs.htm
- Consider the graduate student's personality. Do you believe you can work together productively?
- Consider the student's current research interests. Do you see a good match?
- If possible, meet with the student. If the student lives at quite a distance or is an international student, arrange a telephone conversation and if possible, see if your department can help fund a visit from the student.
- ith permission, call people the student has worked with before. Many people will add additional insights by phone that they might not have included in a letter. You may consider asking specific questions such as “Did the student go to the literature on their own? Were they proactive?"
- How do I communicate expectations and timelines?
Approach the relationship between a graduate student and supervisor as a professional relationship. Meet with the student early and often to clarify expectations. In some cases, not enough communication takes place between graduate students and faculty. A minimum of one formal supervisory committee meeting is required each year for each PhD student. It is very important that supervisors and their graduate students meet regularly.
Officially, at least once per year, supervisors are required to submit:
- A PhD Supervisory Committee Meeting Report. This report lists accomplishments (or problems encountered) to date, expectations, achievements of previously established milestones and goals to be achieved for the next meeting.
Students are required to add:
- A short 1 page summary of their perception of progress (point form is acceptable). This is sometimes replaced by a note saying “see the Progress Report”. This is NOT what is intended.
School of Graduate Studies Forms
Additional Meetings
Particularly if there are difficulties, meetings should be scheduled more frequently, to document progress.
- Who should Graduate students approach if they feel they are being bullied or are being neglected?
The answer to this depends on the nature of the problem and the student's comfort level. Harassment issues (sexual or based on any of the prohibited grounds in the Ontario Human Rights Code) should be directed to HRES (Human Rights and Equity Services). Otherwise, the student might consider speaking to the Chair, the Graduate Advisor, the appropriate Associate Dean of Graduate Studies or the Ombuds Office. If a student feels they are receiving unsatisfactory supervision, the Graduate Calendar on page 7 directs them to the Department/ Program Chair or Graduate Advisor, as specified in their departmental guidelines. If the problem is not satisfactorily resolved the student is encouraged to speak to the appropriate Associate Dean of Graduate Studies.
- How can I reduce the risk of accepting an International student from an unknown institution?
Sometimes departments recommend that a student (who already holds a Masters) be offered admission to a Masters program before being considered for promotion to the PhD. If you are satisfied with the student's performance, a recommendation for promotion to a PhD program can follow.
Be careful about promising promotion to a PhD until you are prepared to make a formal recommendation.
- What incentives can be used to attract graduate students?
- Advertising the excellence and scholarship of your particular program.
- Be informed of the scholarships that are available.
- Introduce potential graduate students to current graduate students.
- Advertise on your website. (As one person put it “Be online or in decline”).
- Make contacts with colleagues in other institutions. Introduce yourself; offer to do talks at other universities or to senior-year undergraduate classes.
- Can my department use some of their funds to bring in prospective students?
The School of Graduate Studies provides Scholarship funds to departments. Departments can decide to use some portion of this allocation to fund a visit from a prospective student in order to meet with the student and make appropriate decisions about acceptance into the graduate program.
- How many Masters vs. PhD students should a new faculty member aim for?
- Select students carefully. Supervising good students that work well with you is a very rewarding experience.
- It may be helpful to serve on some Supervisory Committees to learn the expectations for PhD students and their supervisors before taking your own graduate students.
- The load of supervision varies widely between departments. Learn out about your departmental norms by asking colleagues in your department. Starting with a student at the Masters level can help you become comfortable in the role of supervisor.
- It is useful to consider the fluctuations in workload that occur if you have many graduate students all finishing at the same time. It may be useful to have overlap of more and less experienced graduate students so they can assist each other, particularly in the sciences and engineering.
- How can I get my student off to a good and productive start?
- Get them involved early.
- Clearly communicate your expectations in writing. Explain your expectations in terms of time commitment, timelines; even expectations regarding possible publications.
- Get graduate students started by reading review papers to become familiar with their topic. Ask them to read and report.
- In lab settings, get graduate students started with small experiments early on.
- Don't allow graduate students to disappear into coursework entirely for the first year or so. Ensure you get them doing something (related to their research topic) and establish a pattern of regular informal meetings to keep their attention on the larger goal.
- Where appropriate, connect your student with other professors.
- Establish regular formal Committee Meetings – a minimum of once a year is required (twice is encouraged by various departments) and more often may be required depending on the situation . A “PhD Supervisory Committee Meeting Report” (forms available on-line) must be completed and submitted to the School of Graduate Studies.
- How often should I work directly with my graduate students?
This depends on the type work in which a student is engaged. Sometimes you may work one on one with a graduate student to help with a project or problem, and another time you may provide information after which a student is expected to work on their own. In any case, clarify the expectations and explain what you are doing. You may want to start off by providing more assistance initially while making it clear to the students that you will be expecting them to take more responsibility as the work progresses. A mature PhD student should be capable of independent scholarship by the end of their program. You are helping them to learn how to do their own work.
- What kind of relationship should I develop with my graduate students?
Consider how much distance you need to maintain in order to:
- Provide criticism of work.
- “Hanging out” with graduate students outside the professional environment may not be a good idea.
- Try to ensure clarity on both sides as to the nature of your relationship.
- Being “friends” with one student more than others can cause problems with lab or group interactions.
It is not appropriate to engage in a very personal relationship with a graduate student.
- Can I ask a student to sign a document regarding Intellectual Property and Authorship when they start working with me?
- Yes, and where appropriate, it is required from the beginning to have an agreement about the expectations for IP and authorship.
- Ensure the student is well aware of the arrangement. See the Graduate Calendar for the policy on Ownership of Student Work: http://www.mcmaster.ca/graduate/2003-2004/64.html
- Students must be made aware of any pre-existing contracts that might affect their research.
- Ensure that there is nothing in a contract that would delay the defense of a thesis. In exceptional circumstances, McMaster will allow a confidential defense, but this is strongly discouraged.
- My graduate student wants to be cited as first author on a paper of mine. What should I do?
To avoid disagreements on authorship, the supervisor and the student need to discuss their views on this topic at the outset and then again, whenever the student undertakes further work that may lead to a publication. One area of misunderstanding that comes up fairly often is the difference between "the development" of the underlying concept/theory etc. and the "implementation" of that original work. However, if a problem arises and cannot be resolved directly with the supervisor, the student may wish to speak to the Chair of the Department or the Graduate Advisor.
- How do I deal with issues of plagiarism?
Sit down and discuss all forms of academic dishonesty (including plagiarism) openly with all new graduate students . It is not uncommon for students to incorrectly assume they know what constitutes plagiarism. Ensure that all students know the North American standards for citation and that they know what plagiarism is at McMaster. International students may have experienced different norms in their home country.
Ensure that all students know that ignorance is NOT an acceptable defence in Academic Integrity cases.
Resources:
- Academic Integrity officer at McMaster, Andrea Thyrett-Kidd will provide workshops on this topic.
- Are graduate students required to be on campus?
Graduate students are required to be on campus. If they plan to be elsewhere for more than two weeks in the Fall or Winter terms (or four weeks in the Summer term), they must complete a Request to be Full-Time Off-Campus form.
- Are graduate students expected to do research during the summer?
Yes. Graduate students are permitted two weeks vacation at a time that fits with the work in progress. This allotment is over and above times the university is closed.
- What should I do if my graduate student's language difficulties are causing problems?
- Explain to the student the problems you are observing and suggest remediation.
- Identify the difficulty (writing, communicating with others, presentations) as part of regular progress reports.
- For more ideas contact ESL Support at McMaster (Rosette ext. 26229 or Claire ext. 26002).
- Can graduate students receive credit for courses outside their department?
Yes, within the regulations of departments/programs which vary across campus. All courses to be used toward their degree requirements must be approved by their supervisors. With permission, students can take a course over and above degree requirements. The course will appear on their final transcript as an ‘Extra' credit.
- What common pitfalls do Supervisors encounter?
- Inadequate supervision of graduate students. Don't give them the keys and say ‘See you when your course work is done' Get them involved and doing things with you early.
- Infrequent committee meetings with insufficient communication and clarity about expectations and timelines.
- Insufficient documentation of progress and concerns. Written communication can go a long way to help avoid problems.
- Choosing projects that are too large for the student. Think of a Masters and a PhD as clearly different. Some supervisors wish to have a larger Master's project so a student could choose to transfer to a PhD. However, if a student does not transfer, then they should not be left with a project thatis not appropriate for a Masters. This student will then have a low chance of success in the Masters program.
- Many students are doing course-work at the start, and it may be difficult to do any research that is substantial. Consider getting students good review papers to report back on. Do small experiments. When appropriate, choose course projects that are related to the research they will do.
- What should I do when a Masters project becomes too big for the student?
This can quite overwhelm a student. To start a Masters student on a PhD project may not be appropriate. If a student does not pursue a PhD, then they can be left without sufficient results for a Masters thesis. In general, Masters projects should be lower risk projects.
- To how many conferences should I send my graduate students?
Participation in conferences can be central to the professional development of graduate students. With budgetary constraints, select the most appropriate conference (or other types of professional meetings).
- How can I afford to send my students to conferences?
Many supervisors fund travel to conferences for their students out of their research grant monies. Individual graduate departments may decide to use part of their scholarship allocation to contribute to this type of expense. The Graduate Students Association also has limited funds available for travel.
- Is there a faculty-wide or a university wide poster session for graduate students?
Yes, in recent years there has been one campus-wide poster day run by the School of Graduate Studies and the Graduate Student Association.
- How do I handle the conflict between external contract requirements and university degree requirements?
This is an intellectual property issue – please see Question #11.
- How do you motivate graduate students who are disenchanted or just not producing?
Like anyone, graduate students are motivated in different ways. Some ways to help motivate graduate students:
- Help the student see the relevance of their topic.
- Encourage publishing their findings.
- Help the student see the connection between their efforts and future employment.
- Try to foster a positive culture in your group of graduate students and try to get them interested in the group's work. Try to get them to feel responsible for keeping up with the group.
- Sending a student to a conference can allow them to see their topic in a larger context, where others are interested and excited by the topic.
- Some students respond well to more frequent individual meetings with their supervisor.
- Sometimes lack of motivation is because students feel overwhelmed by the project fear of writing can slow students down – lack of confidence can be overcome with small pieces of writing.
- Some students thrive on flexibility and the freedom to pursue their own interests.
- Help students to become aware of other support groups outside of your group. Some departments have regular graduate student meetings. The Centre for Student Development has a Thesis Support Group for across the university.
- Remind the student of the consequences of inaction – failing to complete etc.
- How do I get my student to start writing up their thesis?
It can be very hard to get started and progress can be very intermittent.
- Get the student used to writing from the very beginning of their program. The practice and experience of writing and rewriting will help develop the writing skills for many students.
- Remind the student they are an expert in this area and well qualified to write.
- What if I don't want to continue to supervise?
The university has a contractual obligation to provide supervision once the student is admitted to the program. When you take on a student you have an obligation to help them toward their objective as long as the student continues to make satisfactory progress. Supervisors and/or supervisory committees cannot unilaterally resign.
However, if problems between you and a student result from a conflict of management style or personality, it may be mutually beneficial to suggest a change in supervisor. If a supervisor is experiencing difficulties, they should consult with their Graduate Advisor, Chair, Associate Dean, or Ombuds.
- If I continue to experience difficulties with a graduate student what can I do?
- Notify graduate students in writing as early as possible if you have concerns that they do not have the ability to work at a graduate level or if you or the committee believes their progress toward meeting degree requirements is unsatisfactory.
- Documentation is critical in all programs.
- The Supervisory Committee Meeting Report is the critical document for reporting and communicating to a PhD student concerns about his/her academic progress. For marginal or unsatisfactory ratings, more frequent meetings and reports are imperative.
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