Ohio University

Section Governance:

The section is governed by a three-member Section Committee consisting of an elected Section Leader and the two Graduate Committee representatives.

Student Supervision: The faculty mentor, in consultation with the student’s thesis or dissertation committee, has primary responsibility for monitoring student progress and ensuring student adherence to guidelines of the PNG and the graduate committee. In addition, the Section Committee will review student progress in Spring quarter each year, based on a progress report provided by the student, and recommend to the student’s committee any remedial actions required to bring the student into compliance with the guidelines. If necessary, the section committee may recommend remedial actions or dismissal to the graduate committee. The committee will prepare written summaries of the reviews for the students and Graduate Committee. The Section Leader will act as temporary supervisor for students who wish to be affiliated with the Physiology and Neuroscience Section but have not yet selected a faculty mentor.

Curricular Requirements: There are two educational programs within the Physiology and Neuroscience Section: 1) Comparative and Exercise Physiology and 2) Neuroscience. Each track has its own mandatory courses and suggested electives for students at the masters and doctoral levels. More detailed descriptions of the curricular tracks are provided at the end of this document. Students may, with the approval of the student’s advisor, petition the Section Committee of the PNG for permission to waive required courses. The petition must give a reason for the request and provide supporting documents: syllabus, institution, and grade. The Section Committee will forward its recommendation to the Graduate Committee for final approval.

Rotations: Laboratory rotations are not required, but may be worked out on an individual basis by the student and their advisory committee or the Section Committee.

Presentation Training: As described in the graduate program bylaws, each student must complete one research presentation each year. A variety of venues are available, including: Seminars in Neuroscience (BIOS 172), Muscle/Exercise Journal Club, Muscle Biology, Ecolunch, Seminar in Molec/Cell Biology (MCB 741).

Breadth Courses: For Ph.D. candidates, two graded courses (6 or more credit hours total) outside of the student’s research discipline must be completed to satisfy the breadth requirement. Each educational program will determine the courses that will satisfy its breadth requirements and list these courses in the detailed curricular guidelines for the program. Students may select courses from this list to satisfy the breadth requirement; this selection must be approved by the student’s Dissertation Committee and the Section Committee. Students may petition their Dissertation Committee and the PNG Section Committee to satisfy breadth requirements via other course work.