[Plsfaculty] Results of journal club poll

[Betsy Arnold]

Dear colleagues,
Thank you to all who provided a perspective on journal clubs for students
in our graduate majors.

Our poll reflected strong support for each point proposed by the Graduate
Student Program Committee (respectively, 15-2, 14-3, 14-3). Comments from
faculty regarding philosophical and logistical aspects of grad curriculum
and how journal clubs fit with that have been recorded and are much
appreciated.

As a result, the following memo has been sent to our incoming and current
students.

Thank you all and best wishes,
Betsy



 Dear graduate students,

I hope that everyone has had a wonderful summer.

At the moment, I am writing at the moment to share some information
regarding journal club opportunities.

*1. Every spring, our faculty has committed to offer a school-wide Plant
Sciences Journal Club. All students are strongly encouraged to enroll in
this course*, which will be coordinated by two faculty members each year.
This is an excellent and efficient way to fulfill your journal club
requirement (2 semesters, MS students; 4 semesters, PhD students), and a
fantastic opportunity to broaden your knowledge of key advances in areas of
relevance to our school while gaining critical skills in evaluation of the
scientific literature. Please consider enrolling in this excellent
opportunity starting in spring 2014. *The class number will be PLS 695A.*

*2. You also can fulfill your journal club requirement through 'research
discussion' courses taught by faculty outside of the Plant Sciences Journal
Club. These can be within our school, or outside the school.* The topics
may be more specialized, at times, depending on faculty interests and
faculty perceptions of student interests. Within-school options will be
offered primarily (when possible) in fall, to provide a curricular balance
between spring and fall terms.

*3. Dr. Judy Brown is kindly offering such a 'research discussion' course
this fall, and it is open to all.* Please contact Georgina if you would
like to register for this. It will focus on plant-pathogen-vector
interactions.

 *4. If you find another 'research discussion' opportunity outside of the
school, please let us know that you intend to take it (email Betsy and
Georgina, please).*

*5. If you want a research discussion course on a particular topic, and
feel that there's sufficient interest from a number of students to make it
work, please let us know and nominate plausible faculty to coordinate
it *(ideally
after having spoken with said faculty!).

Thank you for your attention, and for your patience as we continue to
improve our graduate curricula.

Cheers,

Betsy








-- 
---------------------------------
A. Elizabeth (Betsy) Arnold
School of Plant Sciences
The University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85721

http://arnoldlab.net
arnold at ag.arizona.edu
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