The University of Arizona

Graduate Info

Departmental Policies and Procedures

Academic Advising

The sections on Master's and PhD programs describe the general requirements for those degrees. Specific requirements occasionally change. When changes are made, they are phased in so as not to adversely affect currently enrolled students.

Faculty Advisors

Faculty advisors are initially assigned to students by the Graduate Program Coordinator. When possible, you will be assigned to a faculty member whose research interests match your own. Frequently, however, such a match cannot be made and advisors are randomly assigned. Students have the prerogative to change faculty advisors at any time, with the concurrence of the new advisor. Please contact the Graduate Program Coordinator when making a change.

It is in your best interest to meet with your advisor as early as possible upon arrival in the department to discuss your program of study, and to meet with your advisor on a regular basis to discuss your progress. Before scheduling a meeting with your advisor, you should familiarize yourself with the requirements for a degree and with departmental offerings, and should have drafted a schedule of course work and examinations upon which a program of studies can be based.

Full Courses

Computer Science courses can be registered for using the universities WebReg. Any house numbered course (593, 599, 699, 900, 910, 920, or 930) must be registered for in the Academic Services office. All CS courses have enrollment limits, and demand sometimes exceeds these limits. Should a course be full, you may put yourself on the waiting list which is accessed from our courses link on our department webpage.

Independent Study Units

Registration for Independent Study units is not available by web registration. To register for these units; choose a faculty sponsor and obtain the sponsor's signature on the departmental drop/add form. Return this form to Academic Services, who will then process your enrollment. Grades available for these courses are S, P, C, D, E, I, and W.

Removal of Deficiencies

When evaluating applicant transcripts for admission, it is frequently difficult for the Admissions Committee to accurately translate course titles, especially on transcripts from international students. When in doubt, the committee will assign deficiencies to those applicants whose transcripts do not appear to have the prerequisites for admission. Therefore, it is possible that a student is assigned a deficiency for a course that he/she has already taken. Students are required to rectify deficiencies within their first year of study. Failure to do so may cause a delay in graduation. Students who are assigned deficiencies can have them removed in one of three ways. A student may discuss the deficiency with the course's current instructor or with his/her faculty advisor. If either person is satisfied that the student already took the course, or adequately understands the material, the deficiency can be removed. Second, the student may take the appropriate course. The third option is to take a graduate level course for which the deficiency is a prerequisite. In all cases the student should request that a "Removal of Deficiency" form be prepared for them. After the appropriate faculty signatures are obtained, the form can be returned to the Graduate Program Coordinator to be submitted to the Graduate College.

The Master's Program

There are two Master's degree programs. The first consists of 31 units of course work. The second consists of 24 units of course work, a six-unit Master's thesis, and an oral defense of the thesis. Both programs include core courses, specialized and advanced topics courses, and electives. Students will be required to submit to the Graduate College a written Plan of Study by the end of the second semester in residence. This Plan of Study is developed by students in conjunction with their advisors or major professors.

The specific course requirements for the two programs are described in the handout, Synopsis of Requirements for the Master's Degree.

In general, students' programs should be composed of Computer Science courses taught by faculty in this department. These are called home-department courses; they do not include cross-listed courses taught by faculty in other departments. One or two courses from related departments may be used as electives, provided a student is doing well in home-department courses and has advisor approval. Advisors with students who wish to include more than two courses from outside the department in their M.S. programs should consult with the Department Head before approving the student's program.

The Graduate College allows up to 6 units to be transferred from other institutions, provided each transfer course was taken for graduate credit and a grade of A or B was earned. Advisors should carefully review transfer courses to determine whether they are acceptable for inclusion in a Computer Science program, and whether they should be treated as home-department courses or electives.

Satisfactory Academic Progress - Master's Program

Year 1

Year 2

Graduate students who are on university academic probation for two consecutive semesters will be converted to non-degree status by the Graduate College.

Colloquium Requirement

The colloquium requirement (C SC 695A) is a one unit class. Each master's student who chooses this option will be required to attend, at a minimum, 10 colloquiums during their course of study within the department. Registration for this class should be during the last semester of coursework. Attendance of the colloquiums may be at any time during the course of study.

Thesis Option for the Master's Program

The Thesis Option for the M.S. degree consists of 24 units of course work and a six-unit thesis followed by an oral defense of the thesis. The choice of course work is subject to the restrictions described in the departmental brochure. Permission to take the Thesis Option is granted to qualified, motivated, and well-prepared students. Permission is not granted to students who simply wish to avoid the written Master's examination. The thesis research must be a contribution to knowledge. Simply doing a large project does not qualify.

Students electing this option must form a Master's committee consisting of a thesis advisor and two additional faculty members. At least two members of the committee must be Computer Science faculty members.

Application for the Thesis Option is made by the student and the thesis advisor who submit a memorandum briefly describing the proposed thesis research to the Department Head. The committee must be formed at the time of the application. The Department Head and thesis committee must unanimously approve the proposal.

In the event that a student changes thesis advisors, approval, as described above, is required for continuation of the thesis option.

The Ph.D. Program

Students in the Ph.D. program take a variety of courses and examinations, culminating in an original dissertation and a defense of the dissertation. The courses consist of a collection of core courses covering topics the faculty believes all computer science graduates should know, a selection of specialized and advanced courses, and minor coursework either external and/or internal. Students will be required to submit to the Graduate College a written Plan of Study by the end of the third semester in residence. This Plan of Study is developed by students in conjunction with their advisors or major professors.

The specific course requirements in computer science are described the handout Synopsis of Requirements for the PhD Program. A minor is normally in a closely related field, such as Computer Engineering, Linguistics, Mathematics, MCB, MIS, or SIE. There is also an internal minor option.The choice of minor must be approved by a student's advisor; if it is in a field other than the above, it must also be approved by the student's dissertation committee. The specific course requirements for a Ph.D. minor are determined by the minor department. Most require 12 units of graduate-level course work (i.e., four three-unit courses). The Graduate College minimum is nine units.

Each Ph.D. student must pass Qualifying and Comprehensive Examinations in both the major and minor. The requirements and nature of these examinations are described below.

Ph.D. Qualifying Examination

The purpose of the Ph.D. Qualifying Examination (Quals) is to assess preparation and aptitude for work at the doctoral level. The entire content of all core courses is examined in the written examination. The student must be fully familiar with this material before taking the examination. Therefore, in normal circumstances, it is assumed that all cores courses will be completed before the Qualifying Examination is taken.

The qualifying examination must be taken within the first two years of graduate study for students admitted without a Master's degree and within the first year for students admitted with a Master's degree. Exceptions require the approval of either the Department Head or the student's doctoral committee (if one has already been formed).

The Qualifying examination consists of two parts, written and oral. The written qualifier is the Master's Comprehensive exam, which can be waived if the student has obtained at least one A and one B in each core area. The oral qualifier is an oral presentation of the required Research project. The oral presentation will focus on the students understanding of the project and other related topics.The Quals are compiled and administered by the Ph.D. Qualifying Examination committee. They are offered once a year, early in the spring semester. A student who passes the Quals is considered to have passed the final examination for a Master's degree. Hence, a Ph.D. student need not take the Master's Examination.

Ph.D. students are also required to pass a Qualifying examination in their minor field. The requirements for this examination are determined by the minor department. It is often waived, but a student should check with the minor department as soon as a minor has been selected.

Ph.D. Comprehensive Examination

In depth Department Procedures for the Comprehensive Examination.

The purpose of the Comprehensive Examination is to assess mastery of topics related to the student's chosen field of research. The examination consists of written examinations in both the major and minor field, followed by an oral examination covering both fields. It is taken when virtually all course work has been completed.

Prior to scheduling the Comprehensive, a student must form a dissertation committee consisting of at least three Computer Science faculty and at least two faculty from the minor department. If a student has chosen a split minor, then one faculty member from each minor department is required.

The format of the written examination in Computer Science is determined by the Computer Science faculty members on the student's dissertation committee.The format of the written examination in the minor is determined either by the minor department or by the minor members of the dissertation committee.

After taking both written examinations, the student schedules the oral part of the Comprehensive. This is conducted by all members of the dissertation committee, as well as a representative of the Graduate College. The oral examination is at least two, but no more than three, hours long. Its format is determined by the examining committee; a typical format is a series of general questions from each member of the major and minor departments.

At the conclusion of the oral examination, the committee discusses the candidate's performance on all parts, then decides whether the student passes or fails. If a student fails, the committee decides whether to allow the student another chance. All parts of the Comprehensive (written and oral) must be completed within two consecutive semesters, not including summer sessions, and at least three months prior to the dissertation defense.

Satisfactory Academic Progress - Doctoral Program

Every spring semester, the Faculty meet to review the progress of every doctoral student towards their degree. The outcome of that review is a determination of either "satisfactory" or "unsatisfactory" degree progress.

A student must maintain continuously satisfactory degree progress in order to receive financial support from a Graduate Assistantship, Fellowship, Scholarship or other source managed by the Department.

In order to obtain a determination of "satisfactory" degree progress, a student must:

1. Meet and sustain all requirements of the Graduate College for appointment as a Graduate Assistant in Teaching, including language fluency requirements.

2. Obtain continuous evaluations of "satisfactory" or better in performing their assigned duties as a Graduate Assistant or Associate. For Teaching Assistants, performance is evaluated by their supervising course instructor with the review and concurrence of the Department Head. For Research Assistants, performance is evaluated by their research supervisor with the review and concurrence of the Department Head.

3. Meet the requirements set out in the following schedule of milestones set forth in the Ph.D. Satisfactory Progress Policy, according to the times and deadlines specified:

Year 1

Meet with faculty advisor to prepare an appropriate plan of study for program completion

Begin Computer Science courses with emphasis on completing core courses. The student must have completed at least three core courses during the first year.

The student must have taken at least one CSc 695c and have earned the grade of at least P.

The student must have attended the UA Graduate Assistantship in Teaching Orientation.

International student must have passed the ETS Test of Spoken English or the UA SPEAK Test.

Year 2

The student must have taken at least two CSc 695c's and have earned the grade of at least P in both.

The student must have passed their PhD Oral Qualifying Examination presentation on one of their CSc 695c projects. (by third semester with MS or fifth semester with BS)

The student must have satisfied the Colloquium Attendance Requirement, by earning the grade of at least P in CSc 695a.

The student must have completed six core courses and earned a GPA of at least 3.5 on these core courses.

The student must maintain an annual cumulative GPA of at least 3.33 (where the GPA is checked at the end of the year).

File for MS degree

Identify research areas of interest and possible dissertation director

Plan minor program and coursework

Year 3

Complete major coursework

Select dissertation director by end of fall semester· Complete dissertation research plan and obtain research director's approval

Year 4

Begin plan of research

Complete minor coursework· Assemble doctoral committee (5 members - 3 major and 2 minor)

Take major and minor written and oral Comprehensive Exam

Focus on research and begin writing dissertation

Year 5

Finish research and write dissertation

Prepare for final oral Defense

Graduate students who are on academic probation for two consecutive semesters will be converted to non-degree status by the Graduate College.Some of our students have finished in less than five years, usually if they already had an M.S. degree. Many of our students have taken longer than five years, especially when their research is in an experimental area. However, all Ph.D. students need to have a research advisor and be actively involved in research by the end of their third year.

Computing Labs

The department provides several computing laboratories for instruction and research. All Computer Science graduate students have access to the Graduate Laboratory (GS 228). Students working on research projects also have access to the Research Laboratory (GS 756). Students also have access to the Computation Laboratory (GS 930).

All graduate students are given accounts on the main instructional machine (lectura) and on the Sun 4 workstations in the Graduate Laboratory. Students working on research or independent study projects directed by faculty members are given accounts on appropriate research machines. The application for a computing account contains the department's Appropriate Use Guidelines.. Please abide by them or privileges will be revoked.

The Department's machines are networked together and are also connected to the internet. Your account can be used to communicate with faculty, office staff, and fellow students. The lab staff has set up several mail aliases to make sending electronic mail (email) to groups of people within the Department quick and easy. Every graduate student is put on at least one alias list.

Be sure to read your email frequently since the staff often uses email to advise students of deadlines, policies, etc. Handouts describing how to use the mail programs are available in the main office.

Financial Aid

The department has several forms of financial aid: tuition waivers, registration fee waivers, fellowships, and assistantships. These are awarded on the basis of merit.

The Graduate College allocates to the department graduate tuition scholarships (GTS) and graduate registration scholarships (GRS). The GTS waives the out-of-state tuition. The GRS waives registration in-state fees. Every semester email is sent to graduate students inviting them to apply for these scholarships. The Graduate Admissions Committee selects recipients.

Research assistantships (RAs) are funded by research grants and are awarded by individual faculty members. Teaching assistantships (TAs) are awarded by the department to the most highly qualified students who are not supported as RAs or by fellowships. You must have an assistantship application on file to be considered for a TA position. Applications are available in the Graduate Program Coordinator's office. Assistantships include an out-of-state tuition waiver, 90% remission on in-state registration, and health insurance.

RAs and TAs are appointed to one of five levels, which have increasing stipends and required qualifications. (The official titles for these positions are Graduate Assistant and Graduate Associate.) The different levels, qualifications, and 2007-08 academic-year stipends for a half-time (.5) appointment are:

Graduate Assistant/Associate Salaries

Grad Asst. 1 $14,269 M.S. candidate
Grad Asst. 2 $14,821 Ph.D. candidate
Grad Assoc 1 $15,371 Ph.D. candidate with M.S. degree in CS
Grad Assoc. 2 $16,075 Ph.D. student, passed Ph.D. qualifier and completed 30 units
Grad Assoc. 3 $17,129 Ph.D. student, passed Ph.D. Comprehenisve Exam, proven research ability

Please alert FAS when you feel you have moved from one level to another so that you can be assured of receiving the correct stipend amount.

All assistants who are not in the Ph.D. program are at the Graduate Assistant 1 level. Ph.D. students are appointed to the highest level for which they are qualified. When supported students change status-- for example by passing the Ph.D. qualifier--their stipend increases at the start of the next fall or spring semester (but not summer).