General Policies
General Policies
- Space: The Department Office will assign first-year students a desk from the general departmental "pool" of office space. Once a research advisor has been chosen, the student will usually be given a desk in the advisor's area.
- Travel: Advisors are usually responsible for travel support. Travel awards are also available through the Graduate Student Society, Graduate Women in Science (GWIS), T32 Training Grants, or professional societies. Other departmental travel awards include: the Neuman Travel Award, and the Sayeeda Zain Travel Award.
- Vacations: Graduate students are supported by fellowships or research grants from a variety of sources, both internal and external, and each agency has slightly different regulations regarding vacations. In general, most policies state that fellows and trainees are expected to engage in full-time work and are entitled to official University Holidays (New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, the Friday following Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day). The School of Medicine allows a two-week vacation period per year in addition to these holidays. Academic Semester breaks are not considered holidays (see the SMD Academic Calendar) and any absence during those times must be approved in advance (see below). The Department must submit monthly time reports on all graduate students and these are subject to close scrutiny by auditors from both the University and governmental accounting offices. Thus, every student should inform his or her advisor of any absence, and an absence of more than one week must be approved by both the Graduate Studies Coordinator and the Ph.D. advisor at least one month in advance. In addition, international students must follow procedures set by the International Services Office (ISO). Students are not eligible to receive stipend support if they are absent without authorization.