Course coordinators and instructors of the individual academic courses, together with the dean, are responsible for program administration and assessment of academic competence based on the student’s participation and performance. Students will be assessed at the end of each course. Academic assessments will be recorded on a pass/fail basis, along with instructor’s comments, which will become part of the student’s permanent graduate record. Copies will be made available to the student and the respective graduate advisory committee. The basis of assessment depends on the individual instructor and may be based on examinations and/or on the student’s participation and presentation of course topics.
Each student will prepare a research proposal in the form of a fellowship grant application at the end of his or her first year of study. This proposal will be submitted to the graduate advisory committee for determination. Approval will be based on the written submission, the student’s oral presentation of the proposal, and his/her answers to committee questions. To further their knowledge and experience, eligible students are encouraged to submit their proposals to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for a Ruth Kirschstein Individual Research Training Grant. Receipt of an award is not a requirement of the program, but students receiving such an award will have additional recognition of excellence.
Students are evaluated on an individual basis. There is no conventional grading to evaluate the academic progress of a student. Rather, each student is evaluated in conjunction with the meetings of the graduate advisory committee. In preparing its annual report, the graduate advisory committee will consider the written reports of faculty members who have conducted courses or seminars, supervised in research, or otherwise taken part in guidance and training of each student. These confidential reports are part of the student’s permanent academic record and are available for inspection by the student upon written request.
In the unusual event that termination of a student’s appointment must be considered for academic reasons, a special committee will be formed to review the student’s performance for possible remedial action. This committee will include the dean, a representative from the graduate advisory committee, and one other faculty member from the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research. The student may choose the third member of the committee if he or she so wishes. The student’s performance will be reviewed and a written report will be issued to the student summarizing the committee’s recommendations. A probationary period will typically be designated during which the student will be expected to rectify the problems. At the end of this period, the committee will reconvene to assess the student’s performance and reevaluate his or her status.
The Elmezzi Graduate School of Molecular Medicine
