This Graduate Program Handbook is the definitive statement of the current local rules and policies of the Graduate Program in Linguistics, as well a general guide for graduate students and graduate faculty in the program. It is a document maintained and updated by the Linguistics Graduate Studies Committee, to fulfill the following responsibility listed in section XIV.1 of the Graduate School Handbook: "Publishes and makes available to students and faculty in the graduate program a graduate program handbook containing the policies, rules, and procedures relevant to its own graduate programs."
0.1. Relationship to the "Rules of the Graduate Faculty" -- The rules and policies described in this Graduate Program Handbook supplement rather than replace the Rules of the Graduate Faculty described in the Graduate School Handbook. The relationship between the two sets of rules is described (in Section I.5 of the Graduate School Handbook) as follows:
Local Graduate Studies Committees are charged with the responsibility for conducting specific graduate programs within the context of the policies and rules established by the Graduate School. The Graduate School's rules and policies are the minimum standards within which local Graduate Studies Committees formulate, publish, and enforce their own graduate program policies, rules, and procedures.
See the Graduate School Handbook for the general requirements for the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Linguistics. Note especially the rules governing examinations and theses. The Graduate Studies Committee conducts the graduate program in the department and serves as the liaison between the Graduate School and the graduate faculty of the department. The policies, rules, and procedures established by the Council on Research and Graduate Studies serve as the framework and set the minimum standards within which the Graduate Studies Committee (with the advice of the rest of the regular graduate faculty in the department) formulates the policies outlined in this Graduate Program Handbook.
0.2. Cut-off points for previous versions -- The requirements for degree completion and for reasonable progress toward the Ph.D. Degree in Linguistics were last revised in March 2009. Students who entered the doctoral program in Autumn 2009 and later are expected to follow these new rules. The previous version (adopted in February 2004) differs primarily in the required coursework and in the timing of the milestones for the Second Qualifying Paper. Students who entered the doctoral program between Autumn 2003 and Autumn 2008 can follow those rules. (Students who entered the program in Autumn 2002 or in Autumn 2001 could opt to change to the 2003 rules, with suitable adjustment for their stage of progress toward the degree, as described in the two sets of transitional milestones for the two different cohorts. Students in those cohorts who opted to continue under the pre-2003 rules, and students who entered the program before Autumn 2002 should refer to the previous version of this handbook, which was Section IV.B of the Department's Handbook #31 (posted Autumn, 1998).)
The admission of students to the Graduate Program in Linguistics is the joint responsibility of the Department's Graduate Studies Committee and of the Graduate School. A separate page of this Graduate Program Handbook describes the process of Admission to the Linguistics Doctoral Program, lists the components of the application package, and provides frequently updated links to other relevant information, including links to the online application forms at the Graduate Admissions Office. Section II of the Graduate School Handbook describes general policies and requirements that apply to applicants to all graduate programs at the Ohio State University. The rest of this section of this Graduate Program Handbook describes rules and policies that are specific to the Graduate Program in Linguistics.
1.1. Admission directly into the Ph.D. program -- The Department offers an M.A. degree and a Ph.D. degree in linguistics. However, with certain well-defined exceptions, applicants to the graduate program are normally considered only for the Ph.D., and should check that objective on the application form. Once admitted to the linguistics Ph.D. program, students can choose to obtain a Master's degree, but they are not required to do so. Financial support is focused on students in the Ph.D. program, and is contingent on reasonable progress toward the Ph.D. degree. Choosing to obtain a Master's degree in linguistics on the way toward the Ph.D. does not change the calculation of reasonable progress toward the Ph.D. degree.
1.2. Admission only once a year -- The review procedure for applications to the Ph.D. program involves all regular Graduate Faculty in the Program, and takes place only once a year. Applicants are reviewed in January for admission commencing the following Autumn (or Summer) quarter. Because the Department makes every attempt to ensure that packages of five years of support are made available to all students admitted into the Ph.D. program, admission is highly competitive. The Graduate Studies Committee consults with the Department Chair to determine how many new students can be supported, and only as many applicants as can be assured financial support are normally admitted.
1.3. Transfer of Graduate Program -- Section II.9 of the Graduate School Handbook states that "Students may transfer from one graduate program to another by completing the Request for Transfer of Graduate Program form available from the Graduate School. This form requires the approval of the Graduate Studies Committee in the receiving program and the written acknowledgment of the Graduate Studies Committee in the current program." Because funding is limited and the Department makes every effort to ensure that financial support is available to all doctoral students, requests to transfer into the Ph.D. program in Linguistics are normally considered only once a year, when they can be reviewed together with applicants for first-time admission into the Graduate School. In order to be considered in this annual review, an Ohio State University graduate student requesting transfer into the Linguistics doctoral program must submit the following documents:
1.4. Undergraduate major not required -- An undergraduate major in linguistics is not required for entering the graduate program in linguistics. Because it is difficult to broaden one's background at the graduate level, an undergraduate major in a specific language or a field such as philosophy, psychology, anthropology, mathematics or computer science may be as appropriate as a major in linguistics for the student intending to pursue graduate study in linguistics. However, a student is ill-advised to embark upon any graduate program in linguistics without some familiarity with linguistics proper, i.e., not just with courses in foreign languages.
Section III of the Graduate School Handbook describes the Graduate Faculty rules about course load, registration, schedule adjustment, and so on. It is the student's responsibility to be aware of these rules, and to comply with the deadlines for registering, and adding or dropping courses. (The University Registrar keeps an online running calendar of relevant dates for each quarter, which can be consulted.)
2.1. Initial registration -- The Linguistics Department's graduate curriculum is designed for students to enter in the Autumn term of each year. Sometimes students enter the program in the Summer, but delaying entry until the Winter or Spring quarter may be inadvisable unless the student has relevant prior background. Students are urged to correspond with the Graduate Studies Chair about their individual situations before planning to enter the program in the Winter, Spring, or Summer quarters.
2.2. Typical course loads --- For most graduate students in Linguistics, the rules regarding course load are as follows.
Graduate Fellows must register for a minimum of 15 credit hours each quarter before passing the Candidacy Exams and a minimum 3 credit hours each quarter after passing the Candidacy Exams.
Students appointed as Graduate Associates in Linguistics normally hold a 50% appointment. Before passing the Candidacy Examination, a student holding such an appointment must register for at least 9 credit hours each quarter, except during the Summer quarter, when the minimum is 7. After passing the Candidacy Examination, a student holding such an appointment must register for at least 3 credit hours each quarter, including Summer quarter. Note that these rules regarding minimum course loads for GA appointments apply even in a quarter when the student receives a fourth-quarter fee waiver but no stipend.
For students who do not hold appointments as a GA, Fellow, or trainee, the minimum enrolment varies as follows:
2.3. Temporary withdrawal -- With appropriate approval, a student may take a temporary leave of absence from the program. The rules regarding temporary leaves vary depending on the student's status.
International students should consult with an immigration coordinator in the Office of International Affairs about the regulations that apply for different types of visa.
U.S. nationals and permanent residents who are not subject to the Graduate School policy on continuous enrolment after admission to candidacy may withdraw temporarily for personal reasons or for academic reasons such as the opportunity to do an internship in an industrial setting, take up a visiting teaching position elsewhere, or to do extensive fieldwork. Before passing the Candidacy Examination, such a student may withdraw from the program for a period of no longer than one year, with the approval of the advisor and Graduate Studies Chair. After passing the Candidacy Examination, such a student may withdraw for longer periods, again with the approval of the advisor and Graduate Studies Committee. Consultation with the other members of the dissertation committee is also advisable, particularly if they are playing an active role in advising the student on parts of the dissertation research.
Students who do not obtain approval before withdrawing from the program, or who remain away from it for longer than the permitted period for their stage in the program, must reapply to the Graduate Studies Committee for admission in order to return to the program.
2.4. Enrolment after admission to candidacy -- The normal milestone for completing the dissertation is by the end of the student's fifth year in the program -- i.e., a year and one quarter after completing the Candidacy Examination. During this candidacy period, most students are required to enrol for at least 3 credit hours each quarter, as noted above. Special circumstances (e.g., when the dissertation involves an extended period of fieldwork or an extended internship in a laboratory away from the univesity) may require a longer than normal interval between these two milestones, and the Graduate Faculty rules specify that the student has up to five years after the Candidacy Exams to complete all degree requirements, including the disseration.
Students who have completed the other requirements for a degree and are finishing a dissertation away from campus, but who are consulting frequently with their advisors and other dissertation committee members, and wish to enrol for Linguistics 999 credit hours are eligible for a waiver of non-resident fees if they enrol for these hours through the graduate school using an Out-of-State Research form.
Also, before petitioning to withdraw, the student should note not only the five-year limit on the candidacy period but also the "post-candidacy recidency requirement" to register for a minimum of 6 graduate credit hours over a period of at least two quarters specified in section VII.8 of the Graduate School Handbook.
Linguistics graduate students who earn a Master's Degree in Linguistics on the basis of satisfactorily completing the Candidacy Examination also should note the Graduate School requirement of "completion of a minimum of 120 graduate credit hours, at least 75 of which must be completed beyond the master's degree". In normal circumstances, the student will have completed more than 120 graduate credit hours before taking the candidacy exam, and the Graduate School "transfers" 75 of these credit hours to make up this required "minimum of 75 credit hours beyond the master's degree" (see section VII.14 of the Graduate School Handbook).
Sections IX and X of the Graduate School Handbook specify the eligibility requirements for a student to hold an appointment as a Graduate Associate or to receive a Fellowship from the Graduate School or from other University or external sources. Among these is the requirement that the student "must maintain reasonable progress toward a graduate degree" as determined by the Graduate Studies Committee. The Graduate Faculty rules in Linguistics define reasonable progress in terms of a set of "milestones" -- dates by when each of the Ph.D. degree requirements must be fulfilled. (The same definition is used to establish whether a student is in good standing in the Graduate School, as specified in section V.1 of the Graduate School Handbook.)
Each student's progress relative to the milestones for his or her cohort is reviewed at least twice a year, in a closed meeting of the regular Graduate Faculty in the Program in each of Autumn and Spring Quarter. The Spring review is also criterial for reappointment as a GA, as described in the Reappointments clause of section IX.2 of the Graduate School Handbook. The rest of this section specifies how normal progress relative to the milestones is calculated for this purpose.
3.1. The guaranteed five-year package -- The Department currently guarantees a package of financial support to all admitted graduate students for their first five years enrolled in graduate study, subject to continued satisfactory progress.
A year of support is defined as receiving a GA or Fellowship stipend in three quarters of enrolment in Autumn, Winter, or Spring. Summer enrolment and support are not counted in determining student progress and the amount of support that a student has received.
Support is defined as any of the following types of appointment as a Graduate Associate or Fellow:
3.2. The milestone "clock" -- In keeping with the above definition of a "year of support", no milestone can be specified to occur in Summer, so that progress relative to the milestones can be "clocked" in terms of number of quarters of enrolment in Autumn, Winter, or Spring.
If a student is enrolled in a quarter, the milestone clock does not stop, whether or not the student is receiving support.
However, inability to complete a milestone because a required course was not offered at a particular time does not count as missing a milestone, and a note to that effect will be entered in the record at the next review.
A leave of absence for a quarter stops the clock for that quarter, in all respects. For example, taking a leave of absence in Spring quarter of a student's first year (normally y1q3) shifts all milestones by one quarter so that the student's AdvisingFest meeting needs to be scheduled in Autumn of the student's second year (now y1q3), the student's Program of Study Stage 1 plan must now be approved in Winter of that year (now y2q1), and so on.
In some very exceptional circumstances, a student may petition to count an enrolled quarter as equivalent to a leave of absence. Petitions are submited via the student's advisor(s) to the department chair and graduate studies committee.
3.3. Seven year limit -- If for some reason a student's support is suspended or deferred, the departmental support commitment will not extend beyond seven years from the time that the student entered the program except under exceptional circumstances worked out in consultation with the department chair.
3.4. Withdrawing support -- A Graduate Associate who fails to make satisfactory progress relative to the milestones can have funding withdrawn, either by not being reappointed at the end of a normal three-quarter appointment that is not also the end of the five-year funding package, or by having an appointment terminated prior to the end of such a normal three-quarter appointment if the Department has insufficient funds. Graduate Faculty rules specify how and when the student should be notified when a reappointment is not made, and also state that a GA appointment may not be terminated prior to the end of a normal period of appointment without the written approval of the Graduate School (see the Termination Criteria clause of section IX.2 of the Graduate School Handbook). The following local rules also apply.
Decisions to withdraw funding from a student who is behind in the milestones should be made by the Chair only after discussion in a closed faculty meeting, where the student's advisors are present if at all possible, or if not, represented by proxy.
The aforementioned meeting should occur if possible during the regularly scheduled meetings to discuss students' progress. (These meetings are typically scheduled to take place during the second half of the Autumn and Spring terms.)
(See the section on Graduate Associates
for further information regarding Graduate School and local Program
rules about GA appointments.)
This section of the Graduate Program Handbook
"Establishes procedures for assigning and changing advisors"
(Graduate School Handbook, Section XIV.1) and
specifies the milestones for selecting the members
of the advisory committee
and of other committees that must be constituted at
various stages of a student's progress toward the degree.
See section XV of the Graduate
School Handbook and the description of the two
categories of graduate faculty
membership in the Linguistics Program for rules
concerning who can serve as an advisor and who can
serve on the different committees that are mandated by
the Graduate School (n.b. not the reading committees
for the two papers that are part of the Program-internal requirements).
4.1. Initial faculty contact committee --
Each incoming graduate student will be assigned a two-person
initial faculty contact committee before entering the program.
For administrative purposes, one of these two people will be
designated as the student's initial
advisor of record.
However, both members of the committee will be
chosen from those graduate faculty members who
are eligible to be the advisor of record, and
the student is free to choose a different initial
advisor of record, or to change advisors at any time.
Students are encouraged to seek out the best match for their
interests.
The job of the initial faculty contact committee
is to help the student choose courses for the first year and
to identify a primary advisor of record.
The deadline for making this identification is the student's
"AdvisingFest" meeting.
4.2. Selecting or changing the
advisor of record --
In order to select or change advisors, a student first
consults with the chosen faculty member to determine
whether the faculty member will accept the student
as an advisee. If the faculty member agrees, the
students sends an e-mail message to the old and new advisors
and to the Graduate Studies Chair.
After determining that the new advisor is eligible
to serve as an advisor in the Graduate Program in
Lingustics, the Graduate Studies Chair
updates the department records and forwards the
information to the Graduate Studies Coordinator
to enter into the University-wide Student Information System.
The Graduate School Handbook has no section
summarizing the duties and responsibilities of an
advisor, although specific duties and responsibilities
are mentioned in nearly every section, and a general
overarching statement of responsibility is provided
in the "Graduate Student Code of Research
and Scholarly Conduct" (Section I of Appendix B), as follows:
4.3. The advisory committee --
The initial faculty contact committee constitutes the
initial advisory committee for the student.
After choosing a primary advisor of record, the
student may keep the initial advisory committee or
change and expand the membership of the committee
(e.g., to help the advisor explain the student's
program of study). Or the student may disband the
committee altogether for the first three years in
the program.
In short, students are encouraged to seek out the best
advising arrangements for their individual programs of study.
By the time that the student reaches the milestone for
designing a program of study stage 3 plan, however,
the student must choose an advisory committee that
can act as the Candidacy Examination Committee,
as described in
Section VII.4 of the Graduate School Handbook:
Each Graduate Studies Committee decides whether the advisor or
another member of the Graduate Faculty serves as the chair of
the candidacy examination committee and whether the advisor
is a member of the committee.
Once a policy on this point is established, it must be applied
uniformly to all candidacy examinations administered by the
graduate program until a change is reported to the Graduate School.
The chair of candidacy examination committee is responsible for
coordinating the preparation and conduct of both the written and
oral portions of the candidacy examination.
4. Advising
Candidacy Examination Committee.
The candidacy examination committee is composed of
at least four authorized Graduate Faculty members and may
include the student's advisor consistent with
Graduate Studies Committee policy.
The advisor of a doctoral student must hold membership
at the Category P level in the graduate program of the student. ...
It is the policy of the Linguistics Graduate Studies Committee
that the student's advisor(s) of record must be (a) member(s)
of the Candidacy Examination Committee, and serve(s) as
(co-)Chair(s) of the committee.
Once the final candidacy examination committee has been chosen
and approved by the
Linguistics Graduate Faculty in reviewing the stage 3 plan,
the Graduate Studies Coordinator will forward the
names of the proposed committee members
and the expected dates for beginning and completing
the written portion to the Dean of the Graduate School
for Graduate School approval as mandated in the
Proposal of Candidacy Examination Committee Members
clause of Section VII.5 of the Graduate School Handbook.
The advisory committee is responsible for certifying
that the student has fulfilled the
language requirement,
and may do so at any time -- i.e., before the committee
is constituted in its eventual form as the official
Graduate School approved Candidacy Examination Committee.
The committee also is responsible for the design of
the written portion of the Candidacy Examination,
for notifying the Graduate School of the proposed time
for the oral portion, and for evaluting the Exam,
as specified in section VII.5 and VII.6 of the
Graduate School Handbook.
4.4. The First and Second Qualifying Papers reading committees -- Each of the reading committees for the First and Second Qualifying Paper is composed of three authorized graduate faculty in the program. The student's advisor need not be a member of either committee. The two committees share responsibility for certifying that the two papers together exhibit some breadth of knowledge of linguistics. One way to exhibit this breadth is by making the membership of the two committees be completely disjoint. While students may choose to demonstrate breadth in this way, there is no rule against overlapping membership or even completely identical membership.
As a rule, all three members of each of the reading committees must be chosen from among the linguistics program graduate faculty who are eligible to serve on the advisory committee, although one member of a committee can be an exception to this rule, subject to the approval of the graduate faculty in linguistics. The deadline for establishing the reading committee is by time of the oral presentation of the paper. However, students are encouraged to specify the reading committees for each of these papers earlier, by listing the names of the committee on the program of study plan that identifies the topic of the paper -- i.e., on the program of study stage 1 plan for the First Qualifying Paper and on the program of study stage 2 plan for the Second Qualifying Paper. If the committee is not specified on the relevant program of study plan, the student specifies the committee by sending an e-mail to the Graduate Studies Committee. If one of the specified members is an exception to the rule governing the composition of the committee, the list of committee members must be accompanied by an e-mail petition from the student's advisor that briefly explains the need for the exception and documents the exceptional member's qualifications to evaluate the paper. The Graduate Studies Committee will then circulate the petition to the faculty, and register a positive outcome in the "notes" field of the relevant milestone page in the student's record in the advising database.
4.5. The dissertation committee -- Section VII.9 of the Graduate School Handbook describes this committee as follows:
The Dissertation Committee is composed of the adviser who must be a Category P Graduate Faculty member and at least two other authorized Graduate Faculty members (ref. IV.3.5). Additional Graduate Faculty members also may serve on the Dissertation Committee. The adviser serves as chairperson of the Dissertation Committee. Selection of the committee members is the responsibility of the adviser and is subject to the rules of the Graduate Studies Committee. Non-Graduate Faculty members may be appointed to the dissertation committee by approval of the Graduate Studies Committee in the student's home program and by petition to the Graduate School. Non-Graduate Faculty members are in addition to the required three, current Ohio State Graduate Faculty members.In our department, the student and advisor propose a set of graduate faculty for the dissertation committee by listing committee members on the final version of the dissertation proposal that is circulated for approval after the student passes the Candidacy Exams. Thus, approval of the dissertation proposal by the graduate faculty also includes approval of the proposed dissertation committee.
The dissertation committee and the Graduate Faculty Representative assigned by the Graduate School then constitute the student's Final Oral Examination Committee, as specified in section VII.10 of the Graduate School Handbook.
5.1. Purpose of the requirements -- The graduate program in linguistics is dedicated to producing Ph.D. graduates in linguistics who demonstrate expertise in one or more areas within the field and who have proven themselves to be effective and creative researchers. To that end, requirements include the explicit choosing of area(s) of specialization, a coherent set of courses that prepare the student for independent research, a language requirement that involves primary data, two major research papers (the "First Qualifying Paper" and the "Second Qualifying Paper"), an examination (the "Candidacy Examination", covering a primary and possibly a secondary area of specialization), and the dissertation.
The rest of this section of the Program Handbook specifies more exactly what each of these requirements are, and how timely progress through the program is defined by the milestones for fulfilling them.
5.2. Stages of timely progress through the program -- The milestones for fulfilling each of the requirements define satisfactory progress in the typical case. These milestones demarcate a student's progress into five reasonably well-defined stages. Each student has a "Graduate Student Milestone Progress Page" on the department's internal pages which is used as an ongoing record of progress through the program and choices that the student made at different stages.
The program requirements associated with each of these major stages of the program are:
5.2.1. The program of study plans -- An electronic form for inputting and getting approval of the plans is available online as part of the student's record in the "Milestones Database" (click on the "AcademicPlanner" link), and once submitted and approved (electronically) a snapshot of this form becomes the permanent record of what the student and advisory committee agreed for the plan at that particular stage.
At each of these transition milestones, the relevant parts of the plan are entered into the AcademicPlanner page that is linked into the student's "Graduate Student Progress Page" as a formal plan. The student presents the Stage 1 plan for review and advice by the Graduate Studies Chair and the other faculty that the student has assembled at the AdvisingFest. The Stage 2 plan and Stage 3 plan are presented by the student's advisor or advisory committee to other faculty in a closed meeting. This presentation of the plan to the faculty has three purposes. First, it provides a concrete deadline for the student and advisor(s) to use in designing a program of study appropriate for that stage in the student's career. Second, it is a vehicle for soliciting input and ideas from other potentially relevant faculty, as well as for evaluating the student's progress toward the degree. Third, it aids the department in curricular planning and new course development. After a plan has been reviewed, the advisor(s) will electronically approve the plan, which creates a permanent snapshot record of the plan at that stage.
5.2.2. Declaring area(s) of specialization -- By the end of the first year of graduate study, the student must choose a potential (set of) area(s) of specialization and a primary advisor (or co-advisors) who help the student design an appropriate program of study for the next three years. The milestone for notifying the faculty of these choices is the AdvisingFest -- a meeting that is normally scheduled with the Graduate Studies Chair and a selected group of graduate faculty relevant to the chosen area(s) of specialization at the end of the first year. No later than two weeks before the AdvisingFest, the student should send to the Graduate Studies Chair a list of faculty that the student wants to have present at his or her AdvisingFest meeting. The AdvisingFest is a good time to assemble an initial advisory committee who can give advice about the program of study that the student is designing, as well as to assemble the members of the reading committee that the student has chosen for the first qualifying paper.
Note that the AdvisingFest is also when the stage 1 program of study plan is reviewed and approved by the chosen primary advisor(s) and other faculty that the student asks to have at the AdvisingFest meeting. The student uses the AcademicPlanner link on his or her "Graduate Student Progress" page to prepare and submit a draft of the stage 1 program of study plan, which is then available for review. Since the AdvisingFest meeting is short, students should meet with at least the chosen primary advisor(s) prior to the meeting, to discuss which courses should be included in the Study Plan, the general topic on which research for the First Qualifying Paper will be done, and which members of the faculty to ask to be on the Reading Committee for this paper.
5.2.3. Developing the program of study -- After choosing a primary advisor (or set of co-advisor(s)) appropriate for the chosen area(s) of specialization, the student works with the advisor(s) to continue to develop an individual program of study. A program of study has two major components: (1) a gradually more-and-more refined idea of the student's research program, which will lead eventually to the dissertation proposal, and (2) a list of courses that the student has taken or plans to take in order to facilitate this research. The typical relationship between these two parts is complex and iterative. That is, although knowing in general what research the student plans to do is a necessary prerequisite for choosing the best set of courses to prepare for this research, students also often do not realize what research topics are most suited to their interests and abilities until they have taken courses in several potential areas of specialization. The explicit specification of a program of study plan that is approporiate for each transition is intended to encourage this iterative development of the student's research program within the five years of guaranteed funding.
5.2.4. Transition into stage 1 -- During the first two years in the program, the student develops and writes the first qualifying research paper. In doing so, the student acquires (or demonstrates) mastery of the core ideas and methods in the field as a whole and in the area(s) of specialization, and makes the transition from learning primarily through coursework into becoming an independent researcher in the chosen area(s) of specialization. A stage 1 program of study plan reflects this transitional state. It should specify the following things.
In reviewing a stage 1 program of study plan, the faculty called to the AdvisingFest might ask the student to elaborate on the student's characterization of the area(s) of specialization and on the relevance of chosen entry-level courses and advanced courses to the chosen area(s) of specialization. They might council the student on the feasibility of the projected research planned for the Second-Year Paper, or on his or her potential for doing independent research in the chosen area(s) of specialization as indicated by performance in the core courses and in any other courses that the student has already taken. The milestone for proposing and getting approval for the stage 1 plan is the AdvisingFest.
5.2.5. Transition into stage 2 -- During the third year in the program, the student prepares the second qualifying paper, finishes any remaining coursework, and begins to develop a longer-term research program in the chosen area(s) of specialization. A stage 2 program of study plan should be an updated version of the stage 1 plan, which includes the following things.
In presenting a stage 2 program of study plan, the advisor(s) might be asked to elaborate on (1) the student's description of research planned for the Second Qualifying Paper and (2) the refined list of courses and their relevance to the research plan.
5.2.6. Transition into stage 3 -- During the first half of the fourth year in the program, the student identifies a coherent subproject within the longer-term research program that can be the basis of the dissertation. A stage 3 program of study plan, then, is the final version of the plan, which includes the following things.
In presenting a stage 3 program of study plan, the advisor(s) might be asked to elaborate on (1) the feasibility of the projected research planned for the dissertation, and (2) the student's preparation to do this research, as evident in the two Qualifying Papers and any other publications independent of these papers.
5.2.7. Special requirements on the papers -- The description of the topic of the First Qualifying Paper in the Stage 1 plan is the student's first obligatory specification of a potentially long-term research program. Therefore, it normally will be within (one of) the student's primary area(s) of specialization, although it may be in on any subject acceptable to the advisor(s), and other members of the advisory committee if relevant. For example, in some cases, presentation of work in phonetics or sociolinguistics may be deemed relevant for arguing for a program of study plan for a student specializing in pragmatics. Some students and their advisory committees make this relationship to the longer-term goal of becoming an expert researcher explicit by specifying special requirements on the First Qualifying Paper. For example, advisory committees for students specializing in phonetics or psycholinguistics typically require that the First Qualifying Paper demonstrate facility at experimental design and statistical analyses. Also, since the reading committees must certify that the two papers meet all five requirements described below, including the requirement that they exhibit breadth of knowledge, some committees might ask that the two papers be in different areas of specialization. For example, the Stage 1 and Stage 2 plans might require that the First Qualifying Paper be in the primary area of specialization and the Second Qualifying Paper be in the secondary area of specialization
5.3. Coursework -- Because the aim of the program is to produce effective and creative researchers, the graduate curriculum in Linguistics is designed to quickly prepare the student to do primary research and then to engage the student directly in doing primary research in the various sub-areas of linguistics that are represented in the Department. Each student develops an individual program of study that includes both a common set of core courses and a coherent set of entry-level and advanced courses in one or more sub-areas within linguistics, as described in the following subsections.
5.3.1. Proseminar -- One core course that all entering students take is Linguistics 800, the proseminar in linguistics. This course meets every Friday, from 3:30-5:30, during the Autumn, Winter, and Spring quarters. Students are encouraged to take the course every quarter during their first three years on the department, and are required to take it for at least four quarters over the first two years in the program. More specifically, first-year students are required to take it during the first three quarters in the program (unless there is a conflict with a necessary course in another department that is impossible to reconcile by delaying until the second or third year). Also, second-year students are required to take the course during either the quarter before presenting the First Qualifying Paper or the quarter of the First Qualifying Paper presentation. Class meetings will include a variety of academic presentations as part of the department colloquium series, the quarterly departmental Conversation on Teaching, and a number of more practically oriented presentations on aspects of academic life.
5.3.2. Other core courses -- In addition to the proseminar, there is a set of entry-level courses aimed at providing a basic familiarity with core areas and competencies in the field. There are different sets for students who entered the program before 2009 and those who entered the program in Autumn 2009 and beyond.
5.3.2.1. Other core courses (cohorts before 2009) -- The following 4 courses constitute the basic "core" for all students who entered the program before 2009, and are thus to be taken by all of these students (although there are procedures for "testing out" of these requirements):
5.3.2.2. Other core courses (cohorts from Autumn 2009) -- The following 6 courses constitute the basic "core" for all students who entered the program in Autumn 2009 and following years, and are thus to be taken by all of these students (although there are procedures for "testing out" of these requirements, and requirement 3 is waived for the Autumn 2009 cohort and the Autumn 2010 cohort, while the new course is under development):
5.3.3.Testing out of the core courses -- Like all new students, those students intending to enter the Ph.D. program with an M.A. degree in linguistics from some other institution or with substantial preparation in linguistics must demonstrate an appropriate level of competence in the core areas and methods of the field as a whole as well as in core ideas and methods that are specific to their chosen area(s) of specialization. For many students, this may entail taking all of the core courses during their first two years at the Ohio State University, but any student may attempt to "test out" of one or more of the core courses.
The relevant area faculty will determine and approve the testing out, based on their evaluation of the student's work previously done in that area. The evaluation will be specific to the individual case, and might consist of one or more of the following mechanisms for determining that the student has knowledge and skills comparable to those developed in the relevant core course:
To petition to test out of a core course, the student and his or her advisor(s) send an e-mail to the current member of the Linguistics Graduate Faculty who will next teach the course (or who most recently taught the course if this is not yet known at the time of the petition). The petition should include a sentence or two describing the rationale for the appeal. The faculty member petitioned can request supporting material (as described above) and then will consult with other faculty as relevant and respond to the petition by e-mail. The advisor or Graduate Program Coordinator records the decision by entering the petitioning e-mail and the responding e-mail in the "notes" field for the "All courses completed" requirement page for the student in the advising database.
The only core course that students cannot test out of is the proseminar. It differs from the other core courses in that it is designed to help students acquire basic skills and attitudes that are not specific to linguistics and that will be useful whether the student is preparing for a career in academia or industry or government or some other area of endeavor. These skills include, for example, the ability to present results and ideas to an audience of non-specialists in a variety of venues. A graduate who applies to a position in academia needs to be able to present a compelling job talk, a graduate who is hired in a research lab in industry or by an NGO needs to be able to present a compelling project proposal, and so on.
5.3.4. Entry-level courses are are courses that can be completed during the first two years in the program, and which prepare the student to engage in independent primary research in the chosen area(s) of specialization. Because these courses should be completed early in the student's transition into becoming an independent researcher, the student is well advised to provide a preliminary list of these entry-level courses at the AdvisingFest, so that the relevant area specialists can help insure that the most relevant courses will be offered in time for the student to use them in preparing for the First Qualifying Paper colloquium.
5.3.5. Advanced courses are courses that can be completed by the end of the third year in the program and which engage the student directly in research. Because these courses should be completed before the student writes the Second Qualifying Paper, the student is well advised to begin thinking about these very early in the process of designing a program of study. Also, although a final list of advanced courses is not required until stage 2, it is to the student's advantage to specify the list as completely as possible at stage 1, in order to influence the faculty as they determine what courses to offer in the following year.
5.4. The First and Second Qualifying Papers -- These papers [formerly called the Second Year Paper and Third Year Paper] (1) must be research papers, (2) together must exhibit some breadth of knowledge of linguistics, either by covering topics from two different areas of specialization or by incorporating methodologies within one paper from two areas of specialization, (3) must exhibit originality in data, analysis, or theory, (4) must be of sufficient quality for publication in OSU Working Papers in Linguistics (though not necessarily published there), and (5) must be such as to enlighten and inform some professional linguist.
Each paper has a reading committee, with at least three members chosen by the student in consultation with his or her advisor(s) from people eligible to be committee members. One of the committee is designated as the "coordinator", who takes responsibility for getting feedback to the student after the colloquium and making sure that there is a record of the committee's judgment about whether the colloquium was acceptable on the relevant section of the student's Milestones Progress Pages, and also for coordinating the review of the written paper, including notifying the student and committee of negotiated deadlines for any resubmission and review, and making sure that there is a record of submission and review dates and evaluation on the relevant section of the student's Milestone Progress Pages.
5.4.1. Colloquium -- Each of the qualifying papers is presented in a department mini-conference (the "ColloquiumFest"), which is scheduled to occur before the due date for the written version. The First Qualifying Paper talk should be no longer than 20 minutes plus a 10-minute question period, and the Second Qualifying Paper talk should be no longer than 30 minutes plus a 15-minute question period.
Typically, the mini-conference is scheduled to be during the regular Department colloquium times of the eighth (and possibly ninth) week of the Spring term. [Students who entered the program before 2009 have the option of requesting that the Colloquium for the Second Qualifying Paper be during the third week of the Autumn term of Year 4.] A student with an atypical milestone clock can opt to give the talk in an ad hoc mini-conference that is scheduled for the corresponding week of the corresponding term if there is no regularly scheduled mini-conference that term (e.g., the 8th week of the Autumn term for a student who has taken a one-term leave of absence). The procedure for scheduling the mini-conference each term is as follows:
PROPOSED ADDITION June, 2010
The process for evaluating the colloquium is as follows.
The designated coordinator works with the student and other
committee members to ensure that each of the reading committee
members either is present at the mini-conference to evaluate the
colloquium presentation or has some other equivalent opportunity
to go over the work with the student and evaluate it.
After the colloquium,
the committee then judges the research to be acceptable or not acceptable,
and the advisor or Graduate Program Coordinator
updates the requirement page for the student.
If the research is deemed to be not acceptable,
the faculty will determine in a closed meeting (typically at the
next regularly scheduled review of student progress)
whether the student can have a second chance to pass this requirement,
either by presenting a revised version of the paper or by developing
a different qualifying paper topic.
5.4.2. Review of written version -- The sequence of steps for submitting and reviewing the written version is as follows:
Since the members of the reading committee have only four weeks for the intial review of the paper, and the student has most four weeks to revise if the committee requests changes in the initial review, the student is well-advised to show earlier drafts to the committee members and consult closely with them in the course of developing the paper.
5.5. Language requirement -- The only language requirement for the Ph.D. degree involves a language other than the student's native language (or dominant language, in the case of a bilingual student): students must demonstrate a linguistically oriented knowledge of such a language. This requirement may be fulfilled by taking 10 hours of linguistically oriented course work on an appropriate language (such as Linguistics 650, Linguistics 672, Sanskrit 621/622, courses in the history and/or structure of a language offered in another department) or by writing a substantive paper that incorporates substantial primary data from the chosen language. This paper should be such as would be written as a term paper in a seminar and need not be an independent piece (i.e. it may be a Qualifying Paper, though it need not be). Either the coursework or the paper could also be work done before entering the program. For example, a student who has an M.A. degree from another program or institution might submit the thesis as the paper that incorporates substantial primary data.
Determination of whether the course work or the paper satisfies the language requirement is by the student's advisory committee or (if the student has not yet chosen an advisory committee) by some other appropriate advisory group comprising at least two faculty. For example, if the student submits a Qualifying Paper as evidence of a linguistically oriented knowledge of the chosen language, the appropriate group would be the Reading Committee for the paper. If the student chooses to take courses to demonstrate the knowledge, the appropriate group could be the primary advisor plus the instructor in the course or some member of the linguistics faculty who can help the advisor evaluate the course content.
The language requirement must be fulfilled by the time that the student submits the Program of Study Stage 3 plan -- i.e., before the meeting of the regular graduate faculty in Year 4, Quarter 1, when the plan is reviewed for approval.
5.6. The Candidacy Examination -- The Candidacy Examination consists of a single written examination and an oral defense of the written examination combined with the defense of the draft dissertation proposal. The written examination will be linked as closely as possible to the dissertation proposal, though the two are technically distinct. For instance, the exam may take the form of a review of appropriate literature, or up to three essays in relevant areas.
The student and his or her advisor(s) work together with the advisory committee to specify the form of the written part of the exam and the exact relationship between the exam proper and the draft of the dissertation proposal. For example, in some areas, the dissertation proposal draft must be submitted to the advisory committee before the rest of the exam is designed, so that the proposal can be the basis for the committee to write the questions to be addressed in the essays. In other areas, the student devises a first draft set of questions and submits them together with the draft dissertation proposal to the advisory committee. The milestone for constituting the advisory committee, and for specifying the format of the written part of the exam and its relationship to the draft dissertation proposal is the meeting of the regular graduate faculty in which the Stage 3 plan is reviewed in Year 4, Quarter 1. The milestone for completing both parts of the candidacy examination is the end of Year 4, Quarter 2.
5.7. The dissertation proposal -- The candidate must propose a dissertation which is a significant original contribution to linguistic knowledge. The proposal is a short (approximately 5-10 pages) document that specifies the question to be addressed and its broader significance, and describes the methods to be used in addressing the question. After passing the Candidacy Examination, the student revises the draft dissertation proposal to incorporate any new insights and knowledge resulting from the process of writing the exams and to list the proposed dissertation committee members and submits the revised proposal to the proposed committee for endorsement. Once the proposed dissertation committee members have endorsed the dissertation proposal, they submit a final copy of the dissertation proposal for approval by the regular Graduate Faculty in Linguistics as a whole.
The procedure for getting approval by the whole faculty is for the student's adviser to send a pdf copy of the dissertation proposal to the Graduate Program Coordinator to file in a directory that is accessible to all of the regular Graduate Faculty in Linguistics, and then to circulate an abstract by e-mail to the regular Graduate Faculty in the Program (e.g., by sending to the faculty alias, copying the Graduate Program Coordinator). The circulated abstract should include the working title of the dissertation and must list the names of members of the student's proposed dissertation committee. The faculty have two weeks to respond with comments or suggestions for revision. Suggestions for revision that are circulated to the regular Graduate Faculty in the Program as well as to the student require some response from the student and/or the student's dissertation committee. If no suggestions for revision have been circulated in this way within two weeks, the proposal is approved by default.
According to Graduate School rules, a student is considered to be advanced to candidacy upon passing the candidacy exam. Current departmental policy is that a student must also have the dissertation proposal accepted by the faculty in order to be eligible to begin a dissertation year fellowship.
5.8. The dissertation -- The dissertation is expected to be a significant original contribution to linguistic knowledge. The dissertation is to be written under the direction of an advisor or set of co-advisors, and in consultation with other members of the dissertation committee. Sections VII.10 and VII.11 of the Graduate School Handbook specify the timetable for submitting a complete draft of the dissertation to the dissertation committee for approval; for filing the "Draft Approval/Notification of Final Oral Examination" form with the Graduate School; and for submitting a complete draft to the Graduate School for format review. There are pdf documents giving Guidelines for Preparing Theses, Dissertations, and D.M.A. Documents) and Sample Pages ... linked into the "Dissertations and Theses" section of the Forms and Publications page of the Graduate School Web Site. There are also templates in several formats (including LaTeX) that have been passed down from one generation of graduate students to the next. When signing the "Draft Approval/Notification of Final Oral Examination" form, the dissertation committee should keep in mind the rules of the Graduate Studies Committee regarding the purpose and typical format of the Final Oral Examination.
5.8.1. Final Oral Examination -- After the approval of the dissertation draft by the dissertation committee, a final oral examination is held. Sections VII.10 and VII.11 of the Graduate School Handbook describe the general Graduate Faculty rules regarding this exam. The Final Oral Examination Committee consists of the members of the dissertation committee plus a representative of the graduate factuly appointed by the Graduate School.
In 1996 and again in 2004, the graduate faculty in linguistics voted to establish the following local rules. Except for the closed deliberation period at the end, a Final Oral Examination in the Linguistics Program is an open defense of the candidate's dissertation and larger research program; anyone may attend, and all faculty and students in the OSU linguistics community are encouraged to attend. In the typical case, no more than 10 minutes at the beginning of the exam will be used for a question from the Committee as a whole, asking the candidate to succinctly state the primary question addressed in the dissertation, to summarize the main results as they bear on the question, and to explain their significance in the broader context of the field. This first short question and response interval will be followed by about 20-25 minutes of questioning by each member of the Examination Committee. About 15 minutes will be allowed for closed deliberations by the Examination Committee at the end. Any time that remains of the approximately two hours that the Graduate School specifies as the length of the usual exam can be given over to questions from others in attendance (students and faculty members alike).
In academic year 2002-2003, the Graduate Faculty rules were changed so that a unanimously affirmative vote of the Examination Committee is now required before a result of "satisfactory" can be reported (see section VII.11 of the Graduate School Handbook). This change replaces an older Linguistics Program policy that permitted a student to pass this examination with one negative vote from a committee member.
5.8.2. Final copy of the dissertation -- Section VII.12 of the Graduate School Handbook describes the procedures for getting final approval of the dissertation from the dissertation committee and for filing the dissertation. Effective in Autumn Quarter 2002, the Graduate School has required the electronic submission of all doctoral dissertations (see the instructions in the Graduate School's Guidelines for Preparing Theses, Dissertations, and D.M.A. Documents.) After successfully filing the dissertation with the Graduate School, the new doctor should send a copy of the pdf file to the OSDL (Ohio State Dissertations in Linguistics) committee to post on the Department's publications page, unless this is in conflict with a contract with a publisher, in which case only the title and abstract will be posted.
This section summarizes the current set of milestones for completing each of the program requirements described in the previous section of this handbook.
6.1. The current milestones -- The typical progression through the milestones for students who entered the program in Autumn 2009 or later is shown in the following table.
| Year | Quarter 1 (typically Autumn) | Quarter 2 (typically Winter) | Quarter 3 (typically Spring) |
| 1 | |||
| 2 | |||
| 3 | |||
| 4 | |||
| 5 |
6.2. The previous milestones -- The typical progression through the milestones for students who entered the program between Autumn 2003 and Autumn 2008 is shown in the following table.
| Year | Quarter 1 (typically Autumn) | Quarter 2 (typically Winter) | Quarter 3 (typically Spring) |
| 1 | |||
| 2 | |||
| 3 | |||
| 4 | |||
| 5 |
6.3. Transitional milestones -- Students who entered the program in Autumn 2002 and who opted to switch to the then new milestones did not need to file a Program of Study Stage 1 plan. The deadline for submitting a Program of Study Stage 2 plan was October 4, 2004. The rest of the milestones are as specified in the table above for students who entered the program from 2003 through 2008.
6.4. Even earlier cohorts -- Students who entered the program before Autumn 2002 are operating under milestones described in an older version of our program handbook.
As noted in section 1 above, the graduate program in linguistics is primarily a doctoral program. However, doctoral students in Linguistics can earn an MA degree in one of two ways:
The second option is also available to other qualified applicants. This section of the handbook describes the requirements for this second option.
Each MA applicant must provide the following to the department:
The MA examination committee is composed of at least two Graduate Faculty members including the student's advisor. Other graduate faculty members may participate in generating, administering, or scoring parts of the examination, but the MA examination committee is finally responsible for the conduct and evaluation of the entire examination. The advisor of an MA student must hold membership at the category M level or higher in the student's graduate program. Non-graduate faculty members may be appointed to the MA examination committee by approval of the graduate studies committee in the student's home program and by petition to the Graduate School. Non-graduate faculty members are in addition to the required two current Ohio State graduate faculty members.
8.1. General information -- Section IX of the Graduate School Handbook is about Graduate Associate (GA) appointments. It specifies university-wide rules and policies about the purpose of a GA appointment, the process of being appointed as a GA, the associated benefits, and so on. Note particularly the introductory paragraph of section IX.1, which states the purpose of a Graduate Associate appointment as follows:
This section of the Linguistics Program Handbook provides local rules and information related to GA appointments, as mandated in Section IX.3 of the Graduate School Handbook.A graduate student's principal objective is to earn a graduate degree. Appointment as a GA contributes to that objective by providing an apprenticeship experience along with financial support. This apprenticeship complements formal instruction and gives the student practical, personal experience that can be gained only by performing instructional, research, or administrative activities. It is expected that GA responsibilities will not interfere with a student's reasonable progress toward completion of the graduate degree.
8.2. Eligibility and selection criteria -- In order to be appointed as a Graduate Associate, a student must be eligible for support. The Eligibility clause of Section IX.1 of the Graduate School Handbook states university-wide eligibility criteria. Among these is the requirement that a student must be judged to be maintaining reasonable progress toward a graduate degree. A student is not eligible for support if the Department Chair has decided to withdraw funding for unsatisfactory progress as specified by the Milestones (section 3.4).
Primary responsibility for appointing GAs is determined by the funding source.
External funding: Graduate Research Associates supported by an external grant are appointed by the PI of the grant in consultation with the department chair. A necessary condition for such an appointment is that the student be capable of carrying out the work required by the terms of the grant.
A Graduate Administrative Associate or a GRA who is hired in a GAA-like capacity (e.g., to act as an editorial assistant to a faculty member who is an editor of a journal or to act as a systems administrator on a consortium of grants) similarly is appointed by the recipient of the funds to support the Graduate Associate, in consultation with the department chair. A necessary condition for such an appointment is that the student be capable of carrying out the specified work.
Department internal funding: Graduate Research Associates who are supported by department funds and Graduate Teaching Associates are appointed by the department chair in consultation with the faculty. A necessary condition for an appointment as a Graduate Teaching Associate is that the student be capable of teaching a course, as determined by performance in Linguistics 830 and prior teaching evaluations.
8.3. Reappointment -- The criteria and procedures for reappointing GAs are the same as those for selecting GAs; see section 8.2.
8.4. Period of appointment -- The typical GA appointment is for the three quarters of the academic year (Au, Wi, Sp). Under certain circumstances, including limits on the availability of funds, specific appointments (e.g. as a GRA on a grant) may be for one or two quarters.
8.5. Summer Quarter appointments -- Summer Quarter appointments are possible if there are available grant funds or teaching opportunities. In such cases, procedures specified in section 8.2 apply. Summer quarter funding for Graduate Associates is never guaranteed.
8.6. Stipend levels -- Graduate Research Associate stipends for GAs on external grants are set by the PI of the grant, subject to maximum and minimum levels mandated by the Department, the College and the University. Stipend levels for Graduate Teaching Associates and department-supported Graduate Research Associates are mandated by the College.
8.7. Time of offer and acceptance -- Dates for notifying students of appointments and for receiving acceptances or refusals are typically as follows. Appointments for the coming year are normally made as early as possible in the Spring quarter. Acceptances or refusals are required within two weeks of the offers of appointment. When pending extramural funding is uncertain, the department may make a GTA appointment with the understanding that it will subsequently be replaced by a GRA appointment if funding becomes available.
8.8. Appointment duties and responsibilities -- Responsibility for specifying the duties of a GA is determined by the source of funding and the type of appointment.
Externally funded GA: A Graduate Associate supported on external funds is expected to carry out research or other work, as specified by the supervising recipient of the funds (i.e., the PI in the case of an externally funded research grant, the journal editor in the case of a funded editorial assistantship, etc.). The supervisor should state in writing what the expected duties will be and provide this statement to the Department Chair and Fiscal Officer to include in the "Primary Duties" section on page 2 of the Graduate Associate Appointment Document that will be used in offering the appointment to the student.
In specifying duties on a research grant, the PI should take into account the following distinction noted in the GA Apointment Document (clause 3, on p. 4, emphasis added):
Graduate Research Associate (GRA) appointments fall into two broad categories:
- GRAs on 50 percent appointments should spend approximately 20 hours per week on their appointment duties when they are supporting faculty research that is not directly related to their dissertations or theses.
- For many GRAs, their appointment duties overlap with research for their own dissertations or master's theses. In these cases, it is difficult to separate the number of hours devoted specifically to the associateship. It is the responsibility of the faculty member to clarify expectations, including policies related to publication and intellectual ownership.
Department funded GTA: Most Graduate Teaching Associates in our program have full responsibility for teaching a course as the primary instructor. A Graduate Teaching Associate who is teaching a course is expected to prepare the syllabus and lectures and other in-class didactic instruments for the course, to deliver all lectures, to prepare and grade homework and exams, assign grades, and hold office hours to meet with students. A Graduate Teaching Associate who is assisting a faculty member in a course is expected to carry out the duties as specified by the faculty member, typically a subset of what is listed here for a GTA who is the primary instructor for a course. If the duties fall outside of these typical ones in a significant and substantial way, the faculty member should consult with the Department Chair so that these atypical duties will be specified in writing directly in the "Primary Duties" section on page 2 of the Graduate Associate Appointment Document or as an attachment added to the document at the time that the student is assigned to the faculty member.
Department funded GRA: The Department Chair assigns duties to department-funded GRAs. In cases where the GRA is assigned to assist a faculty member other than the Chair, the same procedure for specifying the primary duties is used in specifying the duties of a department-funded Graduate Resarch Associate, with the same distinction between appointments with duties that do not or that do overlap with the student's own research. That is, the faculty member who will be the immediate supervisor should state in writing what the expected duties will be and provide this statement to the Department Chair and Fiscal Officer to include as a addendum to the "Primary Duties" section on page 2 of the Graduate Associate Appointment Document that was used in offering the appointment to the student.
8.9. Evaluation -- Procedures and information for evaluating and reporting performance of Graduate Teaching Associates include information from the Student Evaluation of Instruction (SEI) form and other student evaluations and by class visits by the Department GTA Coordinator. Procedures for evaluating and reporting performance of Graduate Research Associates normally include regularly scheduled meetings or other regular means of communicating progress on the assigned work between the GA and the PI.
8.10. Termination criteria -- As stated in the Termination Criteria clause of Section IX.2 of the Graduate School Handbook a GA appointment is terminated prior to the end of the appointment period for any of the following reasons:
8.11. Grievance procedures -- As stated in Section IX.4 of the Graduate School Handbook, "Regular, clear communication between graduate associates and their advisors and supervisors is key to establishing and maintaining an effective work environment." Many grievances begin with unintended misunderstanding between the Graduate Associate and the immediate supervisor about the assigned task, the expected work load, or provisions for leave time (see Sections 8.13 and 8.14). If talking to the advisor or the immediate supervisor does not resolve a problem or potential grievance, Graduate Associates are encouraged to first consult the Department Chair and/or the Graduate Studies Chair. They may mediate to attempt to correct possible misunderstandings before suggesting alternative resolutions such as reassignment. Section IX.4 and Appendix C of the Graduate School Handbook gives advice about what to do if problems cannot be resolved at the local level in this way.
8.12. Space and facilities -- The department will use its best efforts to assign a desk space to every student in the program, with priority given, in the event of scarcity, to Graduate Associates, and then to those who are making timely progress through the program.
8.13. Time off -- The Graduate Associates are not required to work during quarter breaks. Nor are they required to work on legal holidays noted in the university calendar. A Graduate Teaching Associate who is teaching a course is expected to conduct classes and hold offices hours and so on throughout the quarter of assignment, and should consult with the Chair when planning to be away to attend conferences and the like, just as on-duty faculty do. (n.b. Faculty rule 3335-5-08 requires that absence from campus for more than ten days -- not necessarily ten contiguous days -- during a quarter be approved by the dean and provost as well as the chair.) A Graduate Research Associate, by contrast, may arrange directly with the primary supervisor to have some time off during the quarter in exchange for working an equivalent amount of time during breaks between quarters.
8.14. Short-term absences -- As noted in the Short-Term Absences and Leaves of Absence clause of Section IX.5 of the Graduate School Handbook: "The university has formalized a set of practices to be used by academic and administrative units at Ohio State to support GAs, fellows, and trainees during instances of personal and/or family illness, bereavement, childbirth, and adoption. Each situation will be individually addressed according to the specific research, teaching, or administrative context the student is in and the individual's reason for requesting the leave."
Section X of the Graduate School Handbook is about Graduate Fellowships. It specifies Graduate School policies and procedures regarding fellowships that are administered through the Graduate School, as well as responsibilities of Graduate Programs in regards to fellowships and traineeships that are funded from other sources.
Recipients of multi-year fellowships should review the section specifying the process for activation of the dissertation year portion of the fellowship, which can be found in section 10.1 of the Graduate School Handbook. Currently, this states:
- A request for the activation of the dissertation year portion of a Dean's Graduate Enrichment, Susan Huntington Dean's Distinguished University Fellowship, or Distinguished University Fellowship is made with the strong expectation that the fellow will complete all degree requirements and graduate within the dissertation year. The dissertation year must be activated by the student's sixth year of graduate study. The graduate program is under no obligation to provide funding to the student after the dissertation year if the student does not complete their dissertation and graduate at the end of the dissertation year, or if the student has received a total of six years of support.
- Requests to activate the dissertation year portion must be made by the fellow's graduate studies committee chair to the Graduate School. The request must provide assurance that the fellow 1) has met the minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.6 for Dean's Distinguished University and Distinguished University fellows or a cumulative grade point average of 3.3 for Dean's Graduate Enrichment fellows; 2) has successfully completed the candidacy examination and is within the five-year time period; 3) It is expected that enrollments will be limited to research and departmental seminars; however, fellows may register for other degree-related coursework with advisor approval. The dissertation year fellowship may not be used to support any coursework taken for another degree program; and 4) has received continuous departmental support during the intervening years between fellowship periods.
In keeping with the expectation stated in the first clause of this process, the Graduate Faculty in Linguistics have adopted the policy that the Dissertation Year cannot be activated until the Fellow has fulfilled the requirement that the dissertation proposal and committee be approved by the Graduate Faculty in Linguistics.
Section III.2 of the Graduate School Handbook records the university-wide rules about who can serve on committees that are specified at the Graduate School level, such as the Candidacy Exam Committee and Dissertation Reading Committee. (See that document for the distinction between Graduate Faculty Category M and Graduate Faculty Category M.) This section of our own Program Handbook explains the local requirements for appointment to Graduate Faculty Category P in the Linguistics Program, and records department practice and decisions made over the years since 1993 about who can serve on various sorts of committees. These decisions, which are archived in departmental meeting minutes, distinguish between regular graduate faculty in the program and courtesy or "adjunct" faculty.
10.1. Regular Graduate Faculty -- Regular graduate faculty are faculty whose tenure home is the Department of Linguistics and who have been appointed to the university's Graduate Faculty with Graduate Category P status. A member of the regular graduate faculty can serve as the advisor of record for a student in the Linguistics doctoral program, as well be on reading committees and advisory committees.
Section XV of the Graduate School Handbook specifies the general Graduate Faculty rules concerning the Graduate Faculty membership at the Ohio State University. The rules on file with the Graduate School for nominating someone for an appointment to the Graduate Faculty in Linguistics are as follows:
Criteria for Graduate Category P Status Department of LinguisticsIn order to maximize the benefits to our Ph.D. students that careful advising can bring them in their pursuit of the degree, and in recognition of the importance of having faculty doctoral advisors who are themselves active researchers as well as skilled advisors, the Department of Linguistics establishes the following criteria for Graduate Faculty P status:
1. The faculty member must demonstrate an active engagement with advanced research, as shown by a significant publishing and/or grant record beyond and/or independent of his or her own Ph.D. work. This demonstration will come in the form of at least one book in addition to the dissertation or at least four major publications that build on, extend, or go beyond the work in the dissertation; a significant outside grant will also count toward fulfilling this criterion.
2. The faculty member must demonstrate an ability to advise students in research at an appropriately high level. Since our Ph.D. program is not predicated upon the successful completion of an M.A. thesis, evidence of sufficient advising experience at OSU will consist of playing a primary role in at least four student research papers, such as the second-year and third-year "Pre-Generals Papers" that Ph.D. students must turn in as part of the departmental requirements for advancement through the Ph.D. program. Advising on an undergraduate honors thesis, a B.A/M.A. thesis, or an M.A. thesis, will also count towards fulfilling this requirement, as will advising of a comparable sort done at other institutions.
The regular graduate faculty in the program are all those faculty who have regular appointments in the Linguistics Department, with Graduate Faculty P status. The current regular Graduate Faculty in the Program are:
10.2. Courtesy Graduate Faculty Appointments -- Several faculty in other departments have accepted courtesy appointments in Linguistics, and they can serve on Reading Committees, Candidacy Examination Committees, and Dissertation Committees for doctoral students in linguistics without prior approval of the regular faculty and Graduate Studies Chair. There is also ample precedent for Ohio State University Graduate Faculty with courtesy appointments in Linguistics serving as one of two co-advisors for a student. (University-wide rules state that the first advisor of record must be a member of the department, however.) The home departments and contact information for Ohio State University faculty with courtesy appointments in Linguistics are listed on our web page.
Descisions to offer a courtesy appointment are made in a three-step process whereby two members of the Regular Graduate Faculty nominate a candidate by circulating a brief description of the rationale for the appointment to the Regular Faculty as a whole, who then discuss and vote on the nomination in a closed meeting (typically at the regular annual review of faculty performance). If the vote is favorable, the Department Chair is then charged with obtaining the concurrence of the College of Humanities (typically via the Associate Dean for Faculty and Research) for sending a letter inviting the candidate to accept the courtesy appointment. By University rules, courtesy appointments are reviewed and renewed annually.
10.3. Appointing Other Faculty to Committees --
Because of the highly interdisciplinary nature of research in
linguistics, students and their advisors sometimes find it
appropriate to appoint to a Reading Committee, the
Candidacy Examination Committee, or
the Dissertation Committee a member of the Ohio State Graduate Faculty
who has neither a regular appointment nor a courtesy appointment
in the Linguistics graduate program.
The local program rules state that such appointments can be made
on a case-by-case basis with the concurrence of the regular graduate
faculty.
Students and their advisors seek this concurrence by sending a
brief rationale for the ad hoc appointment to the Graduate Studies
Committee and requesting that the Committee circulate a petition
to the regular program faculty.
This concurrence should be obtatined before asking the non-program
faculty member to accept the proposed ad hoc appointment.
(A succession of such ad hoc appointments is often part
of the rationale for nominating a person for a courtesy appointment.)
History of changes since the Handbook went online in 1998