REQUIREMENTS FOR PH.D. STUDENTS

 

DEGREE: Ph.D. in Agricultural Sciences

 

MAJOR: Plant and Soil Sciences

 

AREA OF EMPHASIS: Agronomy (Crop and Soils)

 

 

I.        Admission Requirements: All applicants to the Ph.D. with an emphasis in Agronomy must complete an Application for Graduate Admission and must meet all of the following requirements to be accepted as a regular graduate student.

 

1.     Must have an M.S. degree or equivalent and hold a GPA of3.0 or above (on a 4.0 scale) in postgraduate courses.

 

2.     Must have completed the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) with a minimum total score of 500 on each of two of the three sections and a minimum total score of 1300 on the three sections.

 

3.     Must provide three letters of reference.

 

4.     Must provide a one to two-page letter of intent describing research and professional aspirations.

 

5.     Students whose native language is not English must have obtained a minimum score of550 on the TOEFL.

 

         Students who do not meet the above requirements, but have special qualifications or circumstances, may be admitted as provisional graduate students if approved by the graduate faculty committee, the division director, and the doctoral program coordinator. A faculty member in the applicant's discipline of interest must be willing to serve as adviser before any applicant will be accepted as a regular or provisional graduate student.

 

II.      Adviser: When a student is accepted into the doctoral program, the division director will appoint an adviser (major professor) in the appropriate field of study. The adviser must be a full member of the graduate faculty, a full-time employee of WVU, and a member of the Agronomy faculty.

 

III.    Graduate Student's Committee: The major professor, in consultation with the student and with the approval of the division director, will select a graduate committee before the end of the second semester of study. The committee will consist of five or more members (including adviser), the majority of whom must be WVU faculty stationed in Morgantown, with at least one member representing a discipline outside the College of Agriculture and Forestry. A majority of the committee members, including the major professor, must be regular members of the College graduate faculty.

 

IV.    Plan of Study: Before the end of the student's second semester in residence, the student and the adviser must prepare a plan of study which includes a list of courses and proposed research required for graduation. This plan of study must be approved by the student, the student's graduate committee, the division director, and the doctoral program coordinator. The student and adviser should prepare a summary of the student's undergraduate and graduate work for review by the graduate committee before approval of the plan of study.

 

V.      Required Course Work: Doctoral students must satisfactorily complete a set of required courses. These courses will be at the 300- or 400-level, except where indicated below. Certain course requirements may be waived if the student received equivalent training in prior graduate course work. Additional course work pertaining to the student's area of specialization will be determined by the student's adviser and graduate committee.

 

Required Coursesa                                             Semester Hoursb

1.     Biological/Earth Sciences                                            6

(excluding courses within student's major

field of study.)

2.     Biochemistry/ Advanced Chemistry                             6

(200-level or above)

3.     Statistics/Geostatistics/Computer Sciencec                   9

4.     Seminard, e                                                                  6

5.     Researchd (not including M.S. credits)                         9 

Total (minimum required)                                          36

 

a.     Courses in categories 1, 2, and 3 must be completed before the qualifying examination (see item VII.)

 

b.     Except for research, the required semester hours may include hours completed for the M.S. degree.

 

c.     A two-semester sequence in graduate level statistics/geostatistics plus a course in experimental design OR a two-semester sequence in graduate level statistics/geostatistics plus a computer science course beyond the introductory level.

 

d.     Both seminar and research are graded on the S and U system.

 

e.     A satisfactory grade (S) in seminar is dependent upon regular attendance and participation throughout the semester. Students must enroll in seminar in each semester in residence. All graduate students are required to attend Division-wide seminars.

 

VI.    Residence: Normally at least three (3) years of full-time graduate study are required to satisfy requirements for the Ph.D. degree. This must include a minimum of three (3) semesters of residence in full-time graduate study at WVU.


VII.       Qualifying Examination: After admission to the Ph.D. program and after a period of residence (normally one year before expected completion of the Ph.D. degree), the Ph.D. graduate student must satisfactorily pass a comprehensive preliminary or qualifying examination ( oral arid written). This examination is designed to demonstrate the student's ability to: (a) grasp the important phases and problems of the field of study and appreciate their relation to other fields of ~uman knowledge and accomplishments; and (b) employ rationally the instruments of research developed in the major and minor fields. It is the responsibility of the student's graduate committee to ensure that the student has an adequate background in his/her field.

 

VIII.     Dissertation: The Ph.D. student must submit a dissertation on a topic within the area of the student's major interest. The doctoral dissertation must represent the results of independent research, show a high degree of originality and creativity on the part of the student, and must constitute an original contribution to the field of Agronomy. The dissertation must have a good literary form and style, and must present a thorough review of prior study and work in the area of research with acceptable standards of documentation. After the adviser has reviewed the dissertation and has seen to it that the more obvious corrections and/or changes have been made, the student will submit one complete and typewritten copy to each of his committee members no less than four (4) weeks prior to the final exam date. Each committee member should take no longer than two weeks, including weekends, to review the dissertation. The dissertation is then to be returned to the student along with the suggested changes and/or corrections. Two (2) weeks remain in which the student should have ample time to make the dissertation acceptable to each member of the committee. A final draft acceptable to all should be in the hands of each committee member two (2) days before the final exam.

 

IX.        Final Examination: Upon completion of the dissertation and fulfillment of all other requirements, the Ph.D. student must pass a final oral examination conducted by the student's graduate committee. The examination will be primarily a defense of the dissertation, although other questions necessary to determine the candidate's logic, critical ability, and reasoning power in the general field of study related to the research may be required to establish the qualifications of the student for the degree.

 

X.          Graduate Requirements: This document supplements information in the West Virginia University Graduate Catalog. In order to graduate, students are responsible for meeting all requirements in both this document and the catalog in effect at the time of their enrollment.

 

 

Approved by Agronomy Faculty on     March 14, 1995                      .

 

Endorsed by Division Director _____________________________