The purpose of this manual is to provide a ready source of information concerning graduate education procedures and policies of the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology and the Graduate School of the University of Georgia. The manual is furnished for the benefit and guidance of all graduate students in the department. It is the responsibility of each graduate student to study and be aware of the contents and to meet deadlines on time. By so doing, the graduate student can expect his/her stay within the department to be a pleasant and scholarly experience.

It is the responsibility of the student to keep this checklist up to date and to meet all requirements on time.

Date completed

_____ 1. Register for classes after making appropriate consultations. Consult with your major professor. If a major professor has not been obtained, see the department graduate coordinator to get initial course information.

_____ 2. Obtain a major professor. Make appointments with faculty members to discuss the research being conducted in faculty laboratories. Some time may be spent in a professor's laboratory in order to become familiar with the research being conducted. Choice of a major professor is a mutual agreement between the student and professor, with approval of the graduate coordinator.

_____ 3. Introduce yourself to professors in the department. This requirement may be automatically met as you arrange for a major professor. If your major professor was chosen before your arrival, you must still contact department professors to introduce yourself as a new graduate student in the department.

_____ 4. Choose an Advisory Committee. Work with your major professor to select an Advisory Committee consisting of a major professor and at least two additional faculty members. List the members of your Advisory Committee on form (A-1) for signature by the major professor, committee members, graduate coordinator, and graduate dean. This form should be on file in the Graduate School by the end of the 2nd semester of study.

_____ 5. Give the graduate coordinator a proposed program of study. The coordinator will check the program for proper completion and adherence to Departmental and University regulations.

_____ 6. Obtain approval of the program of study from the Advisory Committee and send it to the graduate coordinator on the proper form (A-2). This form must be submitted during the first year.

_____ 7. Submit your research proposal to the Advisory Committee. See page 12 for format and approval procedure.

_____ 8. Submit application (A-3) for admission to candidacy to the Graduate School before the end of the first week of classes of the semester during which the courses on the program of study will be completed.

_____ 9. Apply for Graduation. Application (A-4) must be filed in the Registrar's Office no later than Friday of the first full week of classes two semesters prior to the anticipated graduation date. You must be registered for a minimum of 3 hours the semester in which you complete all degree requirements.

_____ 10. Submit your thesis to your major professor at least four weeks prior to final oral examination.

_____ 11. Request your major professor to read the thesis, and distribute copies to your Advisory Committee. At this time, a copy of the thesis will be placed in the departmental office for examination by other faculty. The Committee will (a) approve, (b) approve with suggested changes, or (c) disapprove thesis and report this action on form A-5. All wordprocessing will be the student's responsibility.

_____ 12. Stand for the final oral examination. The Advisory Committee with the major professor acting as chairman conducts the final oral examination covering coursework and the thesis. Results of this examination are reported on form A-5.

_____ 13. Pay the thesis binding fee at the Treasurer's Office and receive a receipt.

_____ 14. Submit the original and three copies of the approved thesis and thesis binding fee receipt to the Dean of the Graduate School at least two weeks before graduation.

_____ 15. Complete and report all requirements for the degree to the Graduate School at least one week before graduation.

Checklist for Ph.D. Degree

It is the responsibility of the student to keep this checklist up to date and meet all requirements on time.

Date completed

_____ 1. Make appropriate consultations prior to registration for the first semester's classes. Consult with your major professor. If a major professor has not been obtained, see the departmental graduate coordinator to get initial course information.

_____ 2. Obtain a major professor before the end of the 1st semester of classes (see pg 10).

_____ 3. Introduce yourself to professors in the department. This requirement may be automatically met as you arrange for a major professor. If your major professor was chosen before your arrival, you must still contact department professors to introduce yourself as a new graduate student in the department.

_____ 4. Have an Advisory Committee approved (Form A-6) (see pg 10).

_____ 5. Develop a preliminary program of study with advice from your major professor and submit it to the graduate coordinator by the end of the first year of residence (see pg 11).

_____ 6. Submit the preliminary program of study (Form A-7) to the Advisory Committee for approval.

_____ 7. If approved, prepare the final program of study form (A-8), have it signed by the major professor and Advisory Committee, and submit it to the graduate coordinator for forwarding to the Graduate Dean.

_____ 8. Submit a research proposal form (A-9) to the Advisory Committee. See page 12 for format and approval procedure.

_____ 9. Complete coursework.

_____ 10. Obtain approval from your major professor to take the comprehensive examinations. The Advisory Committee is responsible for arranging the comprehensive examinations.

_____ 11. Request the major professor or graduate coordinator to notify the Graduate School of time and place of oral examination. This notification must be done at least two weeks prior to the examination (there is no form).

_____ 12. Take the written and oral comprehensive examinations. The comprehensive examinations will cover all completed coursework and training within the student's field of study. Questions may deal with elementary and advanced topics. These examinations are administered by the student's Advisory Committee. Other faculty members may also be present.

_____ 13. Ask your major professor to notify the Graduate School of results of written and oral comprehensive examinations on the appropriate form (A-10).

_____ 14. Apply to the Graduate School for admission to candidacy at least two semesters before your proposed date of graduation, using the appropriate form (A-11). This step normally will be done at the same time that item 14 is done.

_____ 15. Apply for graduation. Application (A-4) must be filed in the Registrar's Office no later than Friday of the first full week of classes two semesters prior to the anticipated graduation date. You must be registered for a minimum of 3 semester hours the semester in which you complete all degree requirements.

_____ 16. Submit a copy of your dissertation to your major professor at least four weeks before the date you plan to schedule the final defense of the dissertation. To avoid possible problems with deadlines, caused by revision of the dissertation, a good target date for submission of the dissertation to the major professor is the first day of classes of the semester you plan to graduate.

_____ 17. Submit copies of the dissertation to the Advisory Committee at least three weeks before defense of research. A copy of the dissertation must be placed in the departmental office at least three weeks before defense of research. All wordprocessing will be the student's responsibility.

_____ 18. Ask your major professor to initiate approval (form A-12) for doctoral dissertation and final oral defense. The Advisory Committee may (a) accept, (b) accept with changes, or (c) reject the dissertation.

_____ 19. At least 3 weeks ahead of time, schedule the final oral examination and defense of dissertation. The final oral defense committee is composed of the Advisory Committee. Other faculty members may also be present. Copies of the approved dissertation must be in the hands of the members of the Advisory Committee at least three working days prior to the examination.

_____ 20. Ask your major professor to report the action of the Advisory Committee to the Graduate School on the appropriate form (A-12).

_____ 21. Submit the original of the final copy of the dissertation to the Graduate School, Room 519 or 552, to be checked for format prior to making official copies.

_____ 22. Pay the dissertation binding fee and microfilm fee at the Treasurer's Office. The dissertation may be copyrighted by paying University Microfilms, Inc. at the time the dissertation is presented to the library. Make sure that a copyright does not result in a situation in which it is illegal for the line of research to continue in the major professor's laboratory.

_____ 23. Submit at least four copies of the dissertation, approved by the major professor, to the Dean of the Graduate School at least two weeks before graduation.

_____ 24. Submit to the Graduate School:

1. Two copies of the abstract.
2. The binding receipt.
3. The receipt for microfilming.
4. The Survey of Earned Doctorate questionnaire, obtained from the Graduate School.
5. The microfilm contract, obtained from the Graduate School accompanied by an extra copy of the title page.

_____ 25. Submit to the main library:

1. At least four copies of dissertation approved by the Graduate School on 100% cotton rag paper.
2. A copy of the abstract.
3. The microfilm contract with an extra copy of the title page.
4. A statement from the Graduate School that microfilm fee has been paid at the Treasurer's Office.
5. The binding receipt.

_____ 26. Make sure all requirements for the degree have been met and report to the Graduate School at least one week before graduation.

I. Purpose and Objectives of the Graduate Program

The objective of this program is to provide students with the tools to conduct original research in some aspect of physiology, pharmacology, or toxicology. These tools are provided with an intensive experience in the research laboratories, supplemented with academic instruction (course work, study of current literature, seminars). Each student's program is tailored to meet this objective and to attain a high level of competency in his/her field. Having completed the requirements for the advanced degree, each student should be prepared for a career in research and/or teaching.

A primary objective of a graduate program is to teach the student to perform effective, independent research. The essence of research is problem solving and, therefore, you must learn to precisely define the problem, design meaningful experiments to test a proposed hypothesis, conduct experiments and collect data in a careful and precise manner, analyze and evaluate collected data, and finally, draw logical conclusions from the research data. Research skills and problem solving ability will be acquired only in the laboratory by dedicated work and long hours of effort. The student should anticipate spending the usual 8 AM to 5 PM hours of the work week in the laboratory (if not attending classes or fulfilling departmental teaching assignments) and additional weekend work in the laboratory is commonplace as well. This effort will be rewarded by the acquisition of skills that are unattainable from course work or library studies.

For developing a scholarly attitude, there is no substitute for spending long hours reading and scanning literature found in scientific journals. Physiology, pharmacology, and toxicology are based upon biological and physical sciences. Therefore, advanced study in physiology, pharmacology, or toxicology requires a working knowledge of chemistry, mathematics, anatomy, and physics as well as biology. Training will be centered in the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology but some courses will be taken in other departments.

In addition to the in-depth training offered by the research and course work experience it is important to develop communication skills. The importance of being able to communicate cannot be overemphasized for without this ability, research findings could not be reported to the scientific community, and a career in teaching would be unsuccessful.

II. Academic Responsibilities

For graduate students who do not hold assistantships, 3 semester hours is the minimum enrollment required to be considered a full-time student by the Graduate School, whereas 15 semester hours is the maximum credit hour enrollment permitted without special permission from the Dean of the Graduate School. Departmental policy requires that graduate students with at least 1/3-time assistantships (including DVM graduate assistants) enroll for at least 9 semester hours each semester including summer semester. Clinical interns and residents and other part-time students may enroll for fewer credit hours. Graduate students must enroll for a minimum of 3 semester credit hours if they are using University of Georgia facilities.

Students with a cumulative graduate course grade average below 3.0 for two consecutive semesters are placed on academic probation by the Graduate School. They then must make a 3.0 or higher graduate average each succeeding semester that their overall cumulative graduate average is below 3.0. These students are no longer on probation when their cumulative graduate average is 3.0 or above. If they make below a 3.0 average while on probation, they are dismissed. When students repeat a graduate course, the last grade will be utilized to calculate the cumulative graduate average that is used for probation and dismissal. Grades of "S", "U", "I", and "V" will not be used in calculating the cumulative graduate average. When students are dismissed under the terms of this policy, they may not apply for admission to another graduate program offered by the University.

Students may be dismissed by the department at the end of any semester if they have not made sufficient academic progress to warrant continuation of study or have not met their responsibilities or admittance stipulations or maintained accepted standards of conduct. This would apply to: students on academic probation, students who make a grade below a "C" in a required course, students who fail to pass the comprehensive examination or the final oral examination, students who fail to make acceptable progress in their thesis or dissertation project, students who fail to gain approval of their thesis or dissertation, students who were admitted with stipulations that they submit acceptable GRE or TOEFL scores or B or better letter grades in their first 9 semester credit hours of coursework and who have not satisfied the stipulations, or ethical violations.

Ethical violations considered by the faculty to be sufficiently serious to warrant dismissal from the department include, but are not limited to the following:

1. Violation of ethical principles concerning treatment of animals.
2. Violation of ethical principles concerning teacher-student relationships.
3. Falsification of data or records.
4. Academic dishonesty, including incorporating materials in papers, theses, dissertations, etc. without appropriate attribution.

Procedures for considering dismissal are:

1. The major professor shall convene the Advisory Committee. After considering the suitability of the student, the committee shall recommend: (a) retention; (b) dismissal; (c) detailed warning. The graduate coordinator, after due consideration, shall execute the recommendation with a copy of the recommendation to the Dean of the Graduate School.
2. After being duly notified by the graduate coordinator, the student shall have 10 days to contest the recommendation with the department head. Department head shall respond to the contestation with a ruling within 5 days of receipt.
3. Following the decision by the department head, if the department head upholds the Advisory Committee, further appeals should be directed to the Dean of the Graduate School. Expulsion from the department does not necessarily mean expulsion from the Graduate School.

III. Assignment of Faculty Advisor and Major Professor

Initially, the graduate coordinator, can act as the faculty advisor for graduate students who have not selected a major professor at time of entry into the program. The graduate coordinator will direct and advise the student concerning the required course work so that time and energy will be spent on relevant courses. Normally, however, a major professor will be identified before the student begins course work. Eventually the student, the major professor, and the Advisory Committee will prepare and approve a complete program of study.

To choose a major professor each student is expected to make an appointment to interview each faculty member prior to or at the beginning of the first semester's classes. During interviews with faculty, the student should discuss such items as the faculty member's research interests, possible research problems, special course work requirements for the area of interest, and opportunities for employment upon completion of degree requirements. Early enrollment in VPHY 6930 and completion of rotations in selected professors laboratories is useful. In this manner, the choice of major professor, if not already decided, can be based upon mutual interests. At this time, the faculty member can also indicate his/her need, desire, or qualifications to have a graduate student. An early choice of a major professor is desirable and this choice should be made prior to enrolling in the second semester of classes. This choice should be made known to the graduate coordinator who will keep the departmental faculty informed as to who is serving as advisor for each graduate student.

IV. Role of the Major Professor

A. Selection of the Advisory Committee

As soon as a major professor has been identified and approved, he/she and the student should select the Advisory Committee. The make-up of the Advisory Committee must be approved by the Dean of the Graduate School. There is a form (A-1) for prospective masters candidates and a form (A-6) for prospective doctoral candidates to be signed by the graduate coordinator.

For the Master of Science degree the Advisory Committee will consist of the major professor (who must be a graduate faculty member or provisional member) and at least two other faculty members (one of whom must be a graduate faculty member).

For the Doctor of Philosophy degree the Advisory Committee will consist of the major professor as chairman and at least four other faculty members. The major professor and at least two of the other members of the committee must be appointed members of the graduate faculty. At least two of the members of the committee must be tenure-track core budgeted members of the department. At least one member of the Advisory Committee must be a member of some department other than Physiology and Pharmacology (joint or adjunct appointees of the department qualify for this requirement).

B. Program of Study

You must develop a preliminary program of study with advice from your major professor, and submit it on form A-7 to the graduate coordinator by the end of the first year of residency. The graduate coordinator will check the preliminary program for proper completion and adherence to departmental and University regulations. A copy of the program will be posted in the department commons for perusal by departmental faculty. As soon as the Advisory Committee has been formed, the major professor will call a meeting of this committee and the student for the purpose of reviewing the program of study. At the discretion of the Advisory Committee, a maximum of 10 credit hours may be transferred from other institutions (form A-15) and substituted for required courses for the Masters degree but not the PhD degree. Courses used for a previous degree, however, may not be used to satisfy credit requirements for a subsequent degree, but they may be used to satisfy departmental core course requirements as long as this action does not violate Graduate School policy on overall credit requirements for the subsequent degree.

Once the program of study has been approved by the Advisory Committee, submit it on form A-9 for signatures of the major professor and the Advisory Committee. Then submit it to the graduate coordinator for forwarding to the Graduate Dean.

C. Progress Reports

The student is required to report to the major professor at frequent intervals for the purpose of detailing progress in graduate work.

D. Assist in Selection of Thesis or Dissertation Problem

It is expected that close communication between the major professor and student will serve to guide the student toward planning a meaningful research proposal. A thorough review of the literature in the area of interest should be the basis for formulating the thesis or dissertation proposal.

V. Role of the Advisory Committee

A. Program of Study

The Advisory Committee will meet with the student to formulate a program of study tailored to the needs of the student, taking into consideration the student's research area of interest and future plans. Subsequent deletions or additions to the program of study must also be approved by the Advisory Committee.

B. Thesis or Dissertation Problem

The student is required to prepare and submit a written preliminary research proposal (prospectus) to the Advisory Committee as soon as possible after the Advisory Committee has been formed. The major professor and Advisory Committee shall guide the student in planning the thesis or dissertation. The student will prepare a thesis or dissertation prospectus. When the major professor certifies that the thesis or dissertation prospectus is satisfactory, it must be finally considered by the Advisory Committee in a meeting with the student. This formal consideration may not take the place of the comprehensive oral examination.

For a thesis, the Advisory Committee may (a) give tentative approval to the preliminary research proposal, (b) give tentative approval to the proposal after recommending changes, or (c) reject the proposal (form A-9).

Approval of the dissertation prospectus signifies that members of the Advisory Committee believe that it proposes a satisfactory research study. Approval of the prospectus requires the agreement of the majority of members of the Advisory Committee as evidenced by their signing an appropriate form (A-9) which, together with the approved prospectus is filed with the graduate coordinator.

The preliminary research proposal should contain the following:

1. Introduction—State the overall problem.
2. Literature Review—Review previous work and describe the current research status of the intended problem. A thorough search of the literature is an important activity of a graduate degree problem.
3. Rationale—This should consist of a brief statement regarding the reasons for doing the proposed research.
4. Materials and Methods—Describe the experiments which will be conducted. Include the design of the experiment, the assay procedures which will be used, the animals which will be used, the data to be collected, and the statistical methods which will be used to analyze the data.
5. Estimated Budget—Include the cost of purchase and care of experimental animals, cost of chemicals, drugs, supplies, services, and travel needed for the research, and cost of any additional equipment needed for the study.
6. Discussion—Discuss the potential significance of the proposed research. Point out any novel ideas or concepts of the study.
7. Bibliography—The research proposal which is accepted by the Advisory Committee will be presented to the department as a seminar (See page 11). An abstract of the points described above should be distributed to those attending the seminar and should serve as an outline for the oral presentation at the seminar.

C. Comprehensive Written and Oral Examinations

The Advisory Committee, in addition to advising and approving the student's program of study and research proposal (prospectus), also is charged with arranging the comprehensive written and oral examinations, approving the completed thesis or dissertation, and approving the student's defense of his/her research.

VI. Doctoral Comprehensive Examination

To become a candidate for the Ph.D. degree, the student must first pass both a written and an oral comprehensive examination. The comprehensive examinations are designed to ensure that the student has gained a thorough knowledge of his/her chosen major field (physiology, pharmacology, or toxicology) and appropriate related fields.

The examinations are administered by the student's Advisory Committee. The Advisory Committee will decide the time and place for each written examination and for oral examination.

The comprehensive examinations should be administered when the student completes most or all course work requirements. When the written comprehensive examinations have been passed, the graduate coordinator will notify the Graduate School of the date, time, and place for the comprehensive oral examination. The Graduate School must be notified at least two weeks prior to the oral examination.

VII. Master's Thesis Approval and Defense

A candidate must submit a thesis which shows independent judgment in developing a problem from primary sources. The thesis shall be written under the direction of the student's major professor, who may be an appointed member of the graduate faculty or a faculty member approved by the department head. The thesis must be approved by the major professor who will distribute copies to the remaining members of the Advisory Committee and schedule a final examination. Written assent of two of the three committee members will be required before a thesis will be approved as ready for a final defense. The final oral examination is primarily concerned with the thesis but may also cover relevant course work. The examination is conducted by the major professor and the Advisory Committee.

The thesis, signed by the major professor, must be submitted to the Dean of the Graduate School for his approval no later than two weeks prior to graduation.

A candidate must register for at least three semester hours of thesis under the course number VPHY 7300. Instruction for typing the thesis may be obtained in the Graduate School.

VII. Dissertation Approval and Defense

When the major professor is satisfied with the completed dissertation, he/she will certify that it is ready to be read. The major professor will then distribute copies of the dissertation to the remaining members of the Advisory Committee and will schedule a final oral defense and notify the Graduate School. Subsequently, the Graduate School will announce the time and place of the defense of the dissertation to the University community. The committee members will have three weeks to read and evaluate the completed dissertation.

Written assent of a majority of committee members (other than the major professor) will be required before a dissertation will be approved as ready for a final defense. If the Advisory Committee declines to approve the dissertation as ready for the final defense, the major professor will notify the student and the Graduate School.

The defense of the dissertation will be chaired by the student's major professor. In addition to the major professor, a majority of the remaining Advisory Committee must approve the student's dissertation and defense and must certify their approval in writing. The results of the defense of the dissertation must be reported to the Graduate School at least one week prior to graduation. The dissertation must be submitted to the Graduate School for final approval no later than the last day of classes of the following semester. If this deadline is missed, the dissertation must be defended again and reapproved by the Advisory Committee.

IX. Department Seminar Program

Department seminars are considered an important part of the training of all graduate students. It is here that one learns to communicate in scientific language and learns to critically review scientific literature and scientific presentations. Furthermore, the seminar permits a significant broadening of the knowledge of all in attendance by bringing together the newest information on the particular subject of the day. For these reasons, ALL GRADUATE STUDENTS ARE EXPECTED TO ATTEND ALL SEMINARS.

For the M.S. degree, the student is required to present two 40 to 50 minute seminars (enroll in VPHY 8900 each time). The first seminar will be presented after the candidate has chosen a thesis topic. The seminar will specifically address the experimental design of the thesis project, prefaced by a review of pertinent literature (See page 10, item 7). The second seminar will be a report on the results of the research.

For the Ph.D. degree, the candidate is required to present one 40 to 50 minute seminar per academic year (enroll in VPHY 8900 each time). Credit is given in the semester in which the student presents the seminar. It is suggested that the first seminar deal with a minor project that the candidate performed while becoming familiar with ongoing projects in the major professor's laboratory. The second seminar should include a review of the pertinent literature, the experimental design and preliminary results of the dissertation project (See page 10, item 7). All remaining seminars should report the results of the dissertation research.

X. Program of Study for the Master of Science Degree

The Graduate School requires 30 semester hours beyond the baccalaureate degree, excluding thesis credit hours, for the M.S. degree. Twelve credits must be from courses open only to graduate students. A candidate must register for at least 3 semester hours of thesis (VPHY 7300, M.S. Thesis). A maximum of 6 semester credit hours of VPHY 7000, M.S. research) can be included on the Program of Study.

The courses required by the department for M.S. degree are:

1. STAT 6210, or equivalent (3 semester hours)
   
2. BCMB 8010, or 6000 (3 semester hours)
   
3. VPHY 8900. Physiology and Pharmacology Seminar (2 hours)
   
4. Physiology or Pharmacology courses (3 courses exclusive of seminars)

XI. Program of Study for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree

The program of study shall be compiled by the Advisory Committee and candidate. The Graduate School requires a minimum of 3 semester credit hours of dissertation research (VPHY 9300), at least 30 semester credit hours of course work including VPHY 9000, doctoral research, but excluding VPHY 9300, and at least 2 consecutive semesters of full-time work in resident study on campus. A total of 21 semester hours open only to graduate students is required. If not already taken as part of the course requirements for the M.S. degree at the University of Georgia, the following courses must be included in the Program of Study for the Ph.D.

Physiology

A. Departmental Requirements

VPHY 6090 and 6100 or equivalent. Mammalian Physiology (6 semester hours)
VPHY 8010. Mammalian Cellular Physiology (3.0 semester hours)
BCMB 8010 (or BCMB 8020). Advanced Biochemistry (3 semester hours)
VPHY 6930. Research Methods (2 semester hours)*
VPHY 8900. Physiology and Pharmacology Seminar (1 semester hour yearly)
STAT 6210, 6220, and 6310. Statistical Methods (6 semester hours chosen from the three)**
Two other VPHY 8000 level courses excepting VPHY 8900 (seminar)

*One semester credit must be VPHY 6930.
**Substitution of other statistics courses is allowed if approved by the Advisory Committee, Department, and Graduate School.

Pharmacology

A. Prerequisites

VPHY 5200. Pharmacology I or equivalent (4 semester hours)

B. Departmental Requirements

VPHY 6090 and 6100 or equivalent. Mammalian Physiology (6 semester hours)
VPHY 6930. Methods in Toxicology (2 semester hours)*
BCMB 8010. Advanced Biochemistry (3 semester hours)
VPHY 8900. Physiology and Pharmacology Seminar (1 semester hour yearly)
VPHY 8460. Molecular Pharmacology (3 semester hours)
PHRM 8260. Pharmacokinetics (4 semester hours)

One of the following:
VPHY 8450. Advanced Clinical Pharmacology (Chemotherapy)
PHRM 8420. Cardiovascular Pharmacology
PHRM 8430. Advanced Pharmacology
PHRM 8440. Methods in Pharmacological Research
PHRM 7210. Special Topics in Pharmacy: Neurophysiology/Neuropharmacology of the Synapse
VPHY 8000. Cardiovascular Physiology
VPHY 8100. Comparative Medical Endocrinology
VPHY 8120. Renal and Fluid-Electrolyte Physiology
VPHY 8200. Animal Molecular Biology: Concepts and Current Literature
ADSC 8400. Advanced Animal Reproduction
VPHY 8400. Neurophysiology
VPHY 8910. Organ System Toxicology
VPHY 8920. Organ System Toxicology
VPHY 8930. Chemical Toxicology
GENE 8924. Nucleic Acids
STAT 6210, 6220, and 6310. Statistical Methods (6 semester hours from the three courses)**

*One semester credits must be VPHY 6930.
**Substitution of other statistics courses is allowed if approved by the Advisory Committee, Department, and Graduate School.

Pharmacology/Toxicology

The department supports the Toxicology program offered by the Faculty of Toxicology at the University of Georgia by providing major professors and facilities for students seeking a Ph.D. in Toxicology. Students receiving the Ph.D. in Toxicology with a major professor budgeted in this department are required to successfully complete the following course requirements. As an alternative, a student may fulfill the course requirements for the Ph.D. in Pharmacology with Toxicology emphasis offered in this department, by successfully completing the following course requirements.

A. Department Requirements

VPHY 6090, 6100 or equivalent. Mammalian Physiology (6 semester hours)

All students are required to have a good knowledge of cellular and molecular biology. The Advisory Committee may require VPHY 8010, and VPHY 8460 to correct any deficiency.

VPHY 6910. Introductory Toxicology (3 semester hours)
VPHY 8910 and VPHY 8920. Organ Systems Toxicology (6 semester hours)
VPHY 8900. Physiology and Pharmacology Seminar (1 semester credit/yr)*
VPHY 9300. Dissertation Research (5 semester credits)

At least one of the following:
VPHY 8920. Chemical Toxicology (3 semester hours)
VPHY 8010. Mammalian Cellular Physiology (3.3 semester hours)
VPHY 8460. Molecular Pharmacology (3 semester hours)
VPAT 8020. Cellular Pathology (3 semester hours)
FOST 8050. Food Toxicology (3 semester hours)

Courses related to area of specialization:
BCMB 8010/8020. Advanced Biochemistry (6 semester hours)**
VPHY 6930. Methods in Toxicology (2 semester hours)†
STAT 6210, 6220, and 6310. Statistical Methods (6 semester hours)††

*All students are required to attend Departmental seminars. Exemption from registration may be allowed if the student registers for Toxicology Seminar during that year.
**The Advisory Committee may allow BCMB 6000 as substitute for BCMB 8010/8020.
††Substitution of other statistics courses is allowed if approved by the Advisory Committee, Department, and Graduate School.

Under the guidance of the major professor and the Advisory Committee, a student may petition the graduate faculty to have substitutions made for any of the above required courses or to have them waived. For example, a program with emphasis in cell biology, molecular genetics, and/or animal biotechnology will be expected to include alternative requirements if these requirements cannot be met by elective courses in the program of study. Previous course work and/or experience would be considered a valid reason for omitting certain courses. A majority vote of the graduate faculty will be required for approval of petitions on a case by case basis. Letters of petition should be addressed to the graduate coordinator and should contain detailed reasons to justify the requested changes or waivers.

XII. Policy for Resident/MS Degree Program

1. Identification of the major professor should be done within the first 3 months of residency. Members of the Graduate Committee should be identified by the student and major professor.

2. The clinical resident advisor should serve on the committee to help in the coordination between the clinical and graduate training.

3. The first Graduate Committee meeting should be held within the first 6 months of the graduate/residency program. The program of study will be determined at that time. It is the responsibility of the student to schedule this meeting.

4. A time plan for the research project should be developed early in the program and be presented at the time when the clinic schedules are arranged (usually in the Spring). The major professor must be present when clinic schedules are set up and every effort should be made to optimize the student's time schedule for year 2 and 3 to allow the student performance of the research project.

5. Quarterly meetings should be held with the major professor and the clinical advisor. The student should meet with his Graduate Committee at least once yearly. It is the responsibility of the student to schedule these meetings.

6. The major professor should be present at the resident evaluation.

7. Class and seminar participation should be allowed during clinical as well as research rotations.

XIII. Departmental Policy for Vacation Time (Annual Leave)

The department abides by the policy formulated by the Associate Dean for Research, College of Veterinary Medicine, for annual leave for Graduate Assistants. Graduate Assistants accrue leave at the rate of 6.67 hours per month, i.e., 10 days per year. Leave forms should be submitted to the departmental secretary with the signature of the Major Professor prior to taking leave. Leave may not be taken until accrued. Effective each January 1, any leave remaining from the preceding fiscal year ending June 30 will be deleted. Graduate Assistants may take University holidays if it does not interfere with program responsibilities.