Read and understand sections VIII Academic Honesty Policy and IX Graduate Student Honor Code found in the Graduate Student Handbook. Also, all graduate students should try and obtain a copy of Sigma Xi. 1986. Honor in Science. The Scientific Research Society, Research Triangle Park, NC, 41pp. Academic Honesty Policy for the University of Massachusetts is outlined at http://www.umass.edu/honesty

Title IX is a U.S. law that prohibits discrimination in education on the basis of gender. A focus of Title IX is the prevention of sexual misconduct on college campuses. “Sexual Misconduct” includes sexual assault, sexual harassment, domestic or dating violence, and stalking.

To create a caring and compassionate university culture, it is important for all of us to understand the resources that are available and our Title IX reporting responsibilities. Sexual misconduct harms its victims and the entire campus community; it is in the interest of all of us to prevent such offenses.

As a student, you or a peer may be a potential target of Title IX-related violations. If you are also a graduate student employee, you have Title IX reporting obligations as well. Under federal law, graduate student employees who are made aware of a possible incident of sexual harassment, sexual assault, or any other kind of sexual misconduct are required to report it.

If you or someone you know needs to report a possible Title IX offense, please follow these procedures:

• If the accused is a student, the report should be made to Patricia Cardoso, Deputy Title IX Coordinator, Dean of Students Office (DOSO): 227 Whitmore Administration Building, telephone (413) 545- 2684 or email at @email
• If the accused is an employee, the report should be made to Kelly Burgess, Deputy Title IX Coordinator, Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity (EOD): 243 Lederle GRC Lowrise, telephone (413) 545-3464 or email at @email
• Graduate student employees are not confidential reporters and cannot guarantee confidentiality to anyone reporting a Title IX issue. If a student or employee asks to discuss such a matter in confidence, graduate student employees must state that they may not be able to maintain confidentiality. If you are approached regarding a possible Title IX violation, you might respond in this manner: “While I’m not a confidential source, I respect your privacy rights and will work with the campus Title IX coordinator and other resource areas to provide support.”

 If the individual reporting the incident to you chooses not to continue the conversation, you should encourage them to contact the Dean of Students Office, the Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity, the UMass Police Department (UMPD), the Center for Women and Community (CWC), or the Center for Counseling and Psychological Health (CCPH). UMPD, CWC, and CCPH are permitted to maintain confidentiality.

Failing to report a possible Title IX offense deprives the campus community of valuable information and will not help victims/survivors to get the resources they need.

You can find extensive additional information about Title IX and the University’s resources and policies by navigating to the UMass Title IX webpage, https://www.umass.edu/titleix

It is expected that your research or special project work will lead to publication in refereed journals. Even though Master’s Theses and Doctoral Dissertations may be copyrighted, you and your major professor have a responsibility to make sure your work is indeed published and made accessible to the broader scientific community.

Typically, you should write the articles stemming from your work. It is expected that your major professor will be included in the author list even if you have done most of the writing. If a year passes after your final defense and the appropriate rough draft(s) is still not written, your major professor is entitled to write the article and assume the first authorship even though you have the copyright to the dissertation or thesis. Determining who should be included and in what order in the author list is sometimes a problem. R. H. Schmidt (Bull. Ecol. Soc. 68:8-10, 1987) gives a worksheet approach to help determine the relative contributions to the five areas of "conception, design, data collection, data analysis, and manuscript preparation." R. A. Day (see reading list) asks "And what do these colleagues do when everything suddenly falls into place as a result of a searching question by the traditional 'guy in the next lab' who had nothing whatever to do with the research?" J. G. Dickson et al. (Wildl. Soc. Bull. 6:260-261, 1978) suggest "if the professor conceives and designs a project and is instrumental in other areas, he should be the first author."

In short, authorship is a tricky business, one that should be discussed at length with your major professor. The best time to discuss authorship is before the start of a project to avoid any misunderstanding and conflicts down the road. Also, Weltzin et al. (Front Ecol. Environ 4(8): 435–441, 2006) recommend communication between coauthors throughout the research process. It is highly recommended to follow the guidelines on publication and research ethics listed by the Ecological Society of America (ESA): https://www.esa.org/about/code-of-ethics.

All oral and poster presentations and publications should acknowledge sources of funding and other support for the research.

For thesis/dissertation degree students, the department expects a digital copy of your thesis/dissertation in pdf format. Your paperwork may be held up by the GPD or Department Head if you don't provide one. Also, you should provide your major advisor a copy of your thesis/dissertation and all research data on a computer disk before graduation.

The Graduate School expects you to finish your program promptly which means within four years for the MS and within seven years for a Ph.D. (assuming the candidate already has the MS). Please note funding restrictions will apply: admitted students ranked in merit by the GPC are guaranteed funding support for their entire PhD (5 years maximum) and MS (2 years maximum).

The first extension is granted automatically, but your major advisor must inform the GPD of this request so that we can approve the extension. A second extension requires a special petition to the Graduate School. To do this, you must write a memo to your major professor that summarizes your progress and the difficulties causing the need for an extension. Your major professor will send a cover memo to the GPD supporting the request, and the GPD will normally forward a copy of this memo as an attachment to his/her notification or request for the SOL extension.

Most research students in the program will receive monetary support in the form of a teaching assistantship (TA) or research assistantship (RA). The amount of stipend varies somewhat among students but is usually sufficient (i.e., 10 hr/week TA) to merit a tuition and partial fee waiver. Note, you must be appointed on a TA or RA amounting to at least 10 hr/week to qualify for a tuition waiver. It is your major professor's responsibility to expedite your appointment as an RA or TA with the office. If you and your major professor do not arrange for an assistantship, you will be responsible for paying tuition, with one exception. If you are receiving a stipend from another source equivalent to a 10-hr TA/RA for work directly related to your academic program, you can apply for a tuition waiver. UMass refers to this as an "externship" see:

https://www.umass.edu/graduate/funding/externship-policies-procedures

For this option, you must complete a special form (obtained from the front office in Graduate School in Goodel Building) documenting your employment and verifying that the work and stipend are directly related to your academic progress. Your employer must sign the form, which is accompanied by a letter from your sponsor on letterhead describing the work to be completed, the amount you will be paid and the period (start and end date) over which the work will be completed. Also, this form and accompanying letter from the sponsor must be submitted each semester separately.

If you don't receive a payroll or expense check when you expect it, don't delay in asking your major professor to help you. Please do not contact the Main Office about your stipend unless your major professor has specifically instructed you to do so.

Any semester that you are not enrolled full-time (at least 9 credits) for coursework, including thesis or dissertation credits (e.g., during semesters you are in the field conducting research), you may need to request full-time status to be eligible to receive fellowships, scholarships, and student loans. Your major advisor must recommend a full-time status to the GPD, who will upgrade your status to full on SPIRE. A memo is no longer needed to request an enrollment status change. Note, this must be done before the last day of add/drop for the semester and does not have to be done during the summer months.

If you are not enrolled for any credits, including thesis or dissertation credits (e.g., during semesters you are in the field/lab conducting research), you must still register for the Continuation (Program) Fee only; otherwise, the Graduate School will automatically drop you from the program. Specifically, to register for Continuation Fee only, you must enroll (via SPIRE) in the following: GRADSCH 999 (note, the specific schedule # changes each semester, therefore check on SPIRE), and you will need to enroll before the last day of add/drop.

IMPORTANT: If you are paying continuation fee only (i.e., not enrolled for course credits, including thesis or dissertation credits) OR you are signed up for less than 5 credits (including thesis or dissertation credits), then you must physically go to the Health Center and sign up for Health Insurance at the beginning of each semester, otherwise it will be dropped automatically. Health Insurance is only automatically carried forward if you are signed up for 5 or more credits.