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Department of French and Francophone Studies
Graduate Student Handbook
Graduate Student Responsibilities and Privileges
Responsibilities
- It is the responsibility of graduate students to remain informed
about departmental and Graduate School policies and procedures. All
such policies have been clearly formulated in this Handbook and more
extensively in the Graduate School Bulletin. Failure to read pertinent
information or to obtain it from appropriate sources may result in
serious delays in progress toward the degree.
- It is the responsibility of students to strike a reasonable and
manageable balance between teaching responsibilities and academic
work. It is best to determine early in one's graduate career how much
time should be devoted to both sets of responsibilities in order to
accomplish them both successfully.
- It is the responsibility of students to seek out their advisors,
understanding that faculty members are not necessarily always available
when students find it convenient. Faculty members are engaged in teaching,
research, committee work (departmental, College, University), advising,
departmental administrative duties, and a variety of consulting activities.
They must often juggle complex schedules that allow for little flexibility.
However, every faculty member has posted office hours. Students should
take advantage of these hours to have frequent discussions with their
advisors.
- It is the responsibility of Teaching Assistants to fulfill all
of the terms of their employment
contracts in a professional manner. For specific information on teaching
responsibilities, please see the Handbook for Teaching Assistants.
- Most important, it is the responsibility of students to engage
in their academic work in a manner consistent with the scholarly goals
set forth by the Department and with the more tangible goal of completing
the degree requirements in a timely fashion through work of high quality.
Students should not define academic work as merely the material assigned
in courses but should also supplement their learning through independent
research in the library and by attending lectures given by faculty
and visitors. And finally, engaging in informal conversations with
colleagues and faculty as well as with students in small groups goes
a long way in furthering the learning process. As Martin Kramer states
in his article "Curriculum Reform" (Change, July/August
1990, p. 54), "When a good deal of 'extra-academic' transfer
takes place, one can be pretty sure that learning has been internalized
in important ways."
Students should feel assured that the faculty of the Department of
French will make every effort to facilitate the learning process.
We recognize the crucial role that graduate students play in the intellectual
well-being of the Department and of the profession as a whole. We
appreciate the contributions that they make, not only in the teaching
of undergraduates, but as future scholars in both academic and non-academic
professions. In short, we view our graduate students as colleagues.
Rights and Privileges
- Students can expect that, although any programmatic modifications
cannot be applied retroactively, they always have the choice of entering
the modified program. Policies and procedures in place at the time
of admission to the program will continue to apply to them through
the end of their program. However, interrupted study is likely to
result in the application of the new policies at the point of re-entry
(with the exception of participation in Penn State international exchange
programs).
- Students can expect faculty to react substantively and in depth
to written and oral work presented in courses. They should feel free
to discuss their work in separate meetings with instructors in order
to get corrective feedback and constructive criticism.
- Students have the right to evaluate each faculty member at the
end of each course, using both the standardized University evaluation
form and the departmental qualitative form.
- Students, either individually or through the FGO, should feel
free to raise issues and make suggestions to the Department Head and
to individual faculty members. We believe that the channels of communication
have been firmly established in the Department and that faculty members
welcome student input into matters of concern to the Department as
a whole.
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