College of Agriculture & Natural Resources Department of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences

Admission

Regular admission may be granted to those students who have a bachelor's degree or its equivalent, a 3.00 grade point, and appropriate training in the biological and physical sciences and mathematics. Provisional admission may be granted to those students who do not meet the requirements for regular admission.

General Requirements

During the course of study leading to the doctorate, the student will meet all University, College, and Department requirements, including: 

1. Completing courses in major and related fields as prescribed by a Guidance Committee.
2. Fulfilling department or college language requirements.
3. Meeting academic standards, including maintaining a 3.00 grade point average.
4. Passing doctoral comprehensive examinations covering the major and related fields.
5. Preparing a dissertation that is acceptable to the Major Professor, Guidance Committee, and Department, and is based on original research which makes a significant contribution to knowledge.
6. Passing a final examination in defense of the dissertation.

Course Requirements:

Courses are as specified by the Major Professor and Guidance Committee.

In addition, Ph.D. students must follow this list of recommendations:

PLP 894 - Seminar in Plant Pathology (minimum of 3 enrollments)
PLP 405-   Plant Pathology
PLP 812 - Epidemiology of Plant Diseases
PLP 881 - Molecular and Biochemical Plant Pathology
PLP 885 - Plant Diseases in the Field
PLP 847 - Advanced Mycology or PLB/PLP 402 -Biology of Fungi
PLP 884 - Prokaryotic Diseases of Plants 

Seminar Requirement:

Each Ph.D. student must enroll in at least three graduate level seminar courses in the biological sciences which require a formal presentation.  At least two of these must be PLP 894.

In addition to meeting course requirements, all graduate students are expected to attend a seminar in Plant Pathology and other seminars as recommended by major professor.  Each candidate for the Ph.D. degree is required to present a departmental seminar concerning his/her research prior to defense of the dissertation (this is usually presented in the hour preceding the defense and is considered to be part of the final dissertation defense).

Teaching or Extension Experience:

Each Doctoral student must gain teaching experience as a TA by  participating in the teaching of at least one course at the 1/4-time level of effort or by the development and delivery of programmatic material suitable for Extension programming. Students are expected to participate in the University TA orientation program prior to teaching. Refer to the Plant Pathology graduate handbook for  more details on this requirement.