Current Graduate Students
New Students
Welcome! Now that you've been admitted, you'll need to enroll in classes, get campus ID, and such. Here's a checklist for what you need to do!
Basically, though, you'll want to get in touch with your faculty advisor to coordinate arrival time, choose classes, and make sure your funding is in place (if you were admitted with funding). International students, follow up with the instructions sent to you by the graduate college to get your visa paperwork processed.
And as always, contact Cheryl Craddock with questions!
MS Students
You're in luck! The paperwork to do for a Master's student is fairly straightforward. You need only complete a plan of study (by the end of your second semester) and the completion of degree requirements form (when you defend). Check out the following resources as you pick your committee and develop your plan of study.
Guidelines for completing your MS degrees
School Plan of Study (for Natural Resources Studies Master's students only)
For PhD Students
PhD students have some complicated paperwork to get through, but never fear--it can be done! The most challenging thing you'll likely face is getting all of your committee members in one room at one time. Trust me, don't try to do things at the last minute! Here are several resources for you.
Guidelines for completing your PhD degree
School Plan of Study (for Natural Resources Studies PhD students only)
For All Students
For answers to commonly asked questions about grad college paperwork, policies, and deadlines: http://grad.arizona.edu/degreecert/
When you turn in your thesis or dissertation to Cheryl, be sure to include this form.
Log on to the grad college website to link to web-based forms
Here's our Graduate Student Handbook (that includes some of the above information and more!)
The Natural Resources Graduate Student Organization advocates for and informs graduate students
To help prepare you for the paper submission process, SNRE grads have produced this List of Essentials for Responding to Reviewers' Comments
Getting permission to work with vertebrate animals (IACUC approval)
If you are faculty, a student, or a research assistant involved in any aspect of research or teaching that involves vertebrate animals, you must receive training and certification relevant to working with animals. This includes but is not limited to completing on-lines study modules that introduce relevant Laws and Regulations and Animal Hazards; these two modules must be completed by all involved in research. The need to complete additional modules will depend on the species being studied. All modules are available through the UA IACUC training website (http://www.iacuc.arizona.edu/training/).
Before beginning any research or teaching project that involves vertebrate animals, the principal investigator must submit a description of the research protocol to be used so that it can be reviewed by the University IACUC committee to approve the use of the animals. The first step in this process is to obtain a Protocol Review Form that is available through the UA IACUC forms website (http://www.iacuc.arizona.edu/iacucforms/). A protocol must be submitted for all work involving animals, even if the work involves only observation and no actual animal handling. Projects that do not involve animal handling usually qualify for an "accelerated review"
which is a simplified process. Details on the protocol review process and all other apspects of animal use are available through the UA IACUC website (http://www.iacuc.arizona.edu/).
Although these procedures might seem inconvenient at first, virtually all funding agencies require that research institutions regulate work on animals, ensure that animals are treated humanely, and that all research-related personnel are trained appropriately.
Getting permission to work with human subjects
A human subject is considered "a living individual about whom an Investigator (whether professional or student) conducting research obtains data through intervention or interaction directly with the individual or with his/her identifiable private information or an individual who is or becomes a participant in research, either as a recipient of the test article or as a control."
If you intend to survey people or attempt to manipulate their behavior experiementally, you MUST receive approval from the Human Subjects Protection Program (http://www.irb.arizona.edu/home). Dr. Randy Gimblett is the School's contact for HSPP, and is available to discuss your research and whether it would require HSPP approval.
