Congratulations! You are a graduate student in one of the top psychology departments in the country. Your admission to this program is the result of a rigorous selection process, and so you should be proud of yourself for this achievement. The goal of the graduate training program to which you have been admitted is to turn you into a first-rate scientist, scholar, teacher, and practitioner.

The “Graduate Program” in this department is a Ph.D. program. This is true even though those who enter our program without a Master’s degree are required to obtain one. The expectation is that you will continue after the Master’s and get your Ph.D. We therefore refer to the Master’s portion of the Graduate Program as your “Master’s Program”, and the post-Master’s portion as the “Doctoral Program.” Terminal Master’s are normally granted only in cases in which the student has completed all Master’s requirements and a decision is made not to continue in our Graduate Program.

The Psychology Department is divided into six Interest Groups. These are:

1. Behavioral Neuroscience

2. Clinical

3. Cognitive

4. Ecological / Community

5. Industrial / Organizational

6. Social / Personality

Each IG has a chair who is chosen every couple of years by the relevant IG. The department maintains an up-to-date list of IG chairs and members.

These interest groups run separate Graduate Training programs. They are described in Section 6 of this Handbook. You were admitted into one of these training programs and therefore you have a home Interest Group. Each IG has developed its own set of guidelines for its training program. Those are included in this document in Section 6.

The main body of this handbook describes the guidelines that are department-wide. The University guidebook entitled “Academic Programs” describes policies that are – yes, you guessed it – university-wide. All University rules must be followed and our department has little power to override them; all departmental policies must be followed in addition to those; and all IG guidelines and regulations must be followed in addition to those defined by the University and the Department.

1.2 How to Use this Document

The main body of this Handbook summarizes the department-wide policies of our Graduate Programs. Section 6 describe the guidelines for each IG. Most departmental forms that you need to fill out can be downloaded from this Handbook (some University forms are available here). The files are in MSWord format, so you can fill them in electronically.

The Handbook is divided into seven main sections:

The first section describes the regulations for the Master’s Program. The information is organized chronologically, starting with matters you need to take care of when you first arrive on campus.

The second section describes the regulations for the Doctoral Program. This information is also described chronologically.

For each of these first two sections, the forms that you will need to fill out as part of our requirements are provided as links and given in the appropriate locations. For example, your Master’s Plan of Study Form can be downloaded from this site.

The third section is about graduate school beyond the requirements.

The fourth focuses on the resources that are available to you as a graduate student in the psych department at MSU.

The fifth discusses issues related to research, giving talks, and publishing papers.

The sixth section describes the regulations that are specific to the different Interest Groups.

The seventh and final section lists university-wide materials and resources. You’ll find links to the Graduate School, the relevant parts of the “Academic Programs” Handbook, links to information about Grievance Procedures, and so on.

Please send comments, suggestions for changes, and problems with broken links to Chip Shank (shank@msu.edu).

2 Degree Requirements, Guidelines, and Forms

2.1 Master’s Program

Definition: You are considered to be in the Master’s Program if you were admitted to the Graduate Program in the department of psychology and you don’t have a Master’s Degree from another source.

2.1.1 You’ve arrived at MSU

One of your first items of business (besides minor things like finding a place to live and so on) will be to make sure you know your Personal Identification Number. This task might be the easiest of your graduate career: You were awarded your PIN when you applied to MSU. Your PIN is the letter “A” followed by eight digits. This piece of information is important—it’s who you are, as far as the university machines are concerned.

In addition, once you have a PIN you can get your Pilot account as well. “Pilot” is the system that lets you do things electronically at MSU, including access email, library resources, your student record, and so on. Your pilot account is something@msu.edu. Pilot also reserves a small amount of AFS space for you—space on the server which you can use to create personal web pages.

2.1.2 Take care of your financial support paperwork

Most of you have been admitted with some sort of financial support. Support sources come in five main types:

1) teaching assistantships elibible to join the Graduate Employees Union (TA)

2) teaching assistantships not elibible to join the Graduate Employees Union (TE)

3) research assistantships (RA)

4) MSU fellowships (e.g., University Distinguished Fellowships, Competitive Doctoral Enrichment Fellowships)

5) External fellowships (e.g., from the National Science Foundation)

When you were admitted to the program, you were told whether you would be on a fellowship or some type of assistantship.

If you have been awarded a TA, you must decide if you want to join the Graduate Employees Union (GEU). You will be given a card on which you indicate your decision at the beginning of the first semester in which you are eligible to join. DUES paying TAs (as GEU members) need only sign a GEU card ONCE (unless you wish to change to paying fees) during your graduate careers. FEES paying TAs need to sign a card ONCE A YEAR. TEs and RAs are not currently required to fill out this form.

After your first year in the program, you will need to fill out a form in the spring which asks whether you wish to be considered for a TA. The Chair will then inform you about your support for the next academic year.

To avoid any unpleasant surprises, it is important for you to stay in touch with your advisor, your committee, and your IG as a whole. Make sure you know whether you are considered to be making good progress, and don’t be shy about asking what sort of support you can expect to have for the upcoming academic year. Every year, your advisor and the IG to which he/she belongs should provide you with a written letter evaluating your progress in the Graduate Program.

The level of support varies slightly depending on the source. In the 2002-2003 Academic Year, RAs begin at $1,180 (Level 1) and $1,337 (Level 2) each month of the 9-month academic year. TAs and TEs begin at $1,180 and $1,292 for Level 1 and 2 respectively. These amounts are higher than the University-mandated minimums. A 9-credit per semester tuition waiver is included. Other benefits are included as well, including health insurance. TAs and RAs must be registered for a minimum of 6 credits to be eligible. The same is true for some fellowships. Click here for more information about Graduate Assistantships.

Summer support is normally not provided by the department unless the student actually teaches a summer course. Students receive summer support in the form of a research assistantship if they have made such an agreement for support with their advisor. Summer stipends include a four credit tuition waiver. You are required to enroll in 3 credits to hold a summer assistantship. Typically, those will be research credits – 890s or 899s.

Department Policies Regarding Graduate Assistantships:

1. Satisfactory academic progress and demonstrated ability to perform the specific graduate assistantship assignments are the major criteria for assigning initial and continuing support to students. A student receiving an assistantship must be enrolled for a minimum number of credits that depend upon the terms of the assistantship. In general the minimum enrollment with a ½ time assistantship is 6 credits and the maximum is 12 credits, but check with the Associate Chairperson’s office when you receive your appointment to be certain you do not enroll for fewer credits than necessary or more than allowed.

2. The Psychology Department can offer a maximum of eight (8) semesters of Teaching Assistant (TA) support for it's graduate students. This does not include any semesters in which a student is supported as a Research Assistant (RA). Any TA support in excess of this maximum must be approved by the Department Chair. Graduate student support of any sort is not guarenteed and is dependent on the availability of funds and the performance of the graduate student. This policy does put financial pressure on students who take more than 4 years to complete their work. Students and faculty, on the students' behalf, are urged to seek funds to help relieve the increased financial pressure.

3. Graduate assistantships are compensated at three levels by University regulation. The minimum requirements for appointment are:

Level 1 -- graduate student, Bachelor's degree and less than one year's experience as a graduate assistant

Level 2 -- graduate student, Master's degree (30 credits or equivalent) and/or two semesters' experience as a graduate assistant

Level 3 -- graduate student, Master's degree (or equivalent) and at least eight semesters' experience as a graduate assistant (or equivalent experience at the faculty level). Note: The issue of advancement to Level 3 is currently (Fall 2002) being grieved by the GEU and this policy may change when that grievance is decided.

2.1.3 Register for courses

It is important to talk to your advisor and the other faculty and grad students in your interest group about the best courses to take for your Master’s. Your Plan of Study is the formal document describing the courses etc. that you plan to take as part of your Master’s Program. This section focuses on a few procedural matters.

First, go to http://www.msu.edu/students/ and click on “Schedule of Courses” to see what is being offered and by whom. Enrollment in courses is done either over the web or by telephone.

Second, some courses have prerequisites or other sorts of restrictions placed on them that will make it impossible for you to enroll electronically. To get an override, contact the relevant faculty member and ask him/her to email the Graduate Secretary. The email message should give your name and PID, the course and semester for which the override is requested, and it should state that the faculty member permits you to enroll. This email message must come from the faculty member, not from the student who wants the override.

Third, all students will receive a billing statement from the University verifying enrollment schedule and tuition expenses. Tuition waivers, student loans, and graduate office scholarships will be reflected on the billing statement. If there is an amount due, be sure to submit payment by the due date or your enrollment will be canceled. You will have to initiate the enrollment procedure again and be subject to a late enrollment fee. The billing receipt is to be returned to the appropriate office even if there is no amount due. However it will also indicate the minimum amount due if the student chooses the deferred payment option.

More information about enrollment and registration procedures can be found at http://www.esp.msu.edu/.

To obtain a Master’s degree you must complete a minimum of 30 credit hours of coursework and research credits. There are two types of Master’s programs in the department: “Plan A” and “Plan B”. Graduate students in a Plan A Master’s program (Industrial/Organizational, Ecological, and some Social/Personality students) write a formal Master’s thesis. Graduate students in the Behavioral Neuroscience, Cognitive Psychology, and Clinical (since 2002) Graduate Programs do a Plan B Master’s along with some Social/Personality graduate students. Other students outside of these Interest Groups may do a Plan B Master’s if the advisor and IG decide it is appropriate. All graduate students pursuing a Plan A Master’s must have a minimum of 4 and a maximum of 8 credits of 899 (Thesis Research), and no more than 3 credits of 890s (Special Problems). Students in the Plan B program cannot sign up for 899s, and must have a minimum of 890 credits as decided by their programs.

Most Interest Groups require that their students also take PSY 815, “Quantitative Research Design and Analysis in Psychology”, or its equivalent. Most require a second quantitative course as well at the Master’s level. Note that it is a departmental regulation that you must pass 815 (or equivalent) in order to be awarded a Ph.D. degree.

Finally, another restriction you should be aware of is that no more than 6 of your 30 credits may come from courses at the 400 level.

The rest of your credits will be made up of courses that are recommended to you by your advisor and committee, and/or that are required by your Interest Group.

2.1.4 Find your / an advisor

Some of you might already know who your advisor is—he or she is the person who contacted you during the admissions process, who might be supporting you on a research grant, or who has simply said “I will be your advisor when you get here.” Make sure you meet with this person as soon as possible after you arrive in East Lansing. He or she is one of the most valuable resources you have for information, guidance, and advice. Make sure you do not register for courses until you have at least spoken to your advisor about the possibilities.

Others will need to locate an advisor once they are on campus. Talk to the other graduate students to get ideas. Try to work with an advisor who has scientific interests that are close to yours. Try to work with someone who is not overwhelmed with other commitments and will therefore give you the time you need. You should have found your (at least first-year) advisor within a couple of weeks of arriving on campus.

You should make sure you have a formal meeting with your advisor within a month of your arrival on campus. During this meeting, you should (1) discuss courses you should take in your first year, (2) talk about who will be on your guidance committee, and (3) begin to explore research ideas.

2.1.5 Set up Master’s Plan of Study committee

What is a Plan of Study? See below.

Your Master’s Plan of Study committee is also known as your Guidance Committee.

You have an advisor, so you have one committee member for your Master’s Plan of Study (Guidance) Committee. Normally, the advisor is also the committee chair. In general, your Chair will come from your Interest Group.

How many members do you need? The minimum is three, including your advisor. Here are the restrictions on committee membership:

· 2 of the 3 must be regular members of the psychology department

· Only 1 of the 3 may be an adjunct member of the psychology department

· Only 1 of the 3 may be an Emeritus faculty member

Definitions:

Regular faculty member: someone who has a tenure-track or tenured appointment at MSU.

Adjunct member of the psychology department: A regular faculty member who has an appointment in some other department at MSU, but is officially on our department’s list of adjunct faculty. (Normally, adjunct faculty have strong secondary interests in psychology.) Here is a more formal definition from the Faculty Handbook, and you can download the most recent list of adjunct faculty in psychology.

Emeritus faculty: Faculty who have retired from the university but maintains a courtesy appointment. Click here for a more formal definition.

You may have more than 3 members if you wish, in which case you are permitted to have more than 1 adjunct member, more than 1 Emeritus member, and so on. However, the regular committee members must out-number the others.

Keep in mind that your Guidance Committee (= Your Plan of Study Committee) is there to look out for your academic and training interests. Their input will also help you design a scientifically sound project that has a reasonable likelihood of working out. Therefore, you should ask people to serve on your committee who have useful expertise and who will be available to meet with you and give you advice.

2.1.6 Write your Plan of Study

Master’s Plan of Study Form

Your Plan of Study is an extremely important document, so make sure you put a lot of thought into preparing it. Work on it with your advisor and, possibly, your committee members as well. The Plan of Study contains information about

The substantive courses you will take
The number of research credits you will sign up for
Your research area
Your committee members

You must make sure you put down the appropriate numbers of 890s and 899s, because the College of Social Sciences and the Graduate School will hold you to them. In other words, all and only the credits on the Plan of Study form count towards your 890 and 899 grades.

You submit your plan of study to the Associate Chairperson for your departmental file. The plan of study must be signed by all members of your Plan of Study committee and is not official until it has received departmental approval. The Plan of Study must be filed before the end of your second semester as a graduate student for you to remain eligible for fall registration.

The Plan of Study may be amended with a Master’s Plan of Study Amendment Form. As you can see from the form, before it is official it must be signed by you, the Chair of your Guidance Committee, and the Associate Chairperson.

2.1.7 Write Master’s Proposal

Your Master’s Proposal is a formal description of your Master's research. It will be somewhat different for Plan A and Plan B students. For students in a Plan A program, the proposal describes the project you will conduct for your Master’s thesis. It normally includes an Introduction, Methods, Analyses, and Hypotheses/Predictions sections for each of the experiments / studies you will be conducting; and complete References. Put a lot of thought into your proposal; it will be the core of your Master’s thesis write-up, so the more work you do now, the less you’ll have to do later. Also, be explicit, clear, and complete, so your Guidance Committee can really understand what you want to do and can then give you proper advice. The ultimate goal is for you to prepare a thesis proposal that leads eventually to a publishable article. For students in a Plan B program, the requirements for the proposal are laid out in the Interest Group Requirements and Guidelines documents. You can reach these documents and read the requirements specific to your interest group by following the appropriate links at the end of this handbook.

The time line for you to defend your proposal is contained in your interest group Requirements and Guidelines document. Although some interest groups require an earlier defense, in all cases you should have defended your Master’s research proposal by the end of your first year in the Master’s Program. You must be enrolled as a student in the semester in which you defend your Master’s proposal (including the summer). You do not necessarily have to be enrolled for 890 or 899 credits, however.

Your Master’s proposal defense will probably be your first formal meeting, so it’s worthwhile setting up good habits from the beginning. Here are tips for setting up committee meetings:

Decide when you want your meeting to be held—approximately! Make sure the dates you’re thinking of are several weeks in the future. Contact your committee members with possible dates and times, and make sure you’ve booked an appropriate room. Make sure you give your document to your committee at least two weeks prior to the date of the defense! This is extremely important: Committee members are busy people and they need lead time. Also, give your committee members a flawless (from your point of view) draft. No typos, no spelling mistakes, no grammatical errors, all arguments air-tight, and so on.

Be particularly careful when setting up meetings for the summer. Most faculty are on 9-month appointments, so they are under no obligation to meet during the other 3 months. Most will be cooperative, but faculty travel for pleasure and for research during the summer, and they often leave for extended periods. Therefore, you should check early with your committee members to make sure they are willing to meet in the summer, and to find out when they will be available.

Once your proposal is accepted by your committee, have them fill out either the Plan A Master’s Proposal Approval Form or the Plan B Master’s Project Approval Form . Thi