Key Information for All Enrolled Graduate Students

Key Contacts:

• Day-to-Day Contact – Caryn Taylor, coordinator in the Graduate Student Services Office, Room 2109, 301.405.2380. ctaylor@jmail.umd.edu.
• Master’s Program Coordinator – Associate Dean Steve Crane, Room 2116, 301.405.8806. scrane@jmail.umd.edu.
• Director of Doctoral and Research Studies – Prof. Linda Steiner, Room 4101, 301.405.2426. lsteiner@jmail.umd.edu.

To Plan Course of Study:

• Public Affairs Reporting
• Broadcast Journalism
• Online Journalism
• Returning Journalists -– Curriculum for all RJs must be done in consultation with assigned advisor.
• Doctoral Program -- Curriculum must be done in consultation with assigned advisor.

To Register:
After notifying the College of your start semester (either summer or fall), you automatically will be given electronic stamps to register for the required classes in your specialization. For electives for PAR, BN and Online master’s students, write to Associate Dean Steve Crane at scrane@jmail.umd.edu for permission. For electives for doctoral students and Returning Journalists, contact your assigned advisor. To register, go to: http://www.testudo.umd.edu/apps/dropadd or call 301.403.0500. First time students use their date of birth as their initial PIN (Personal Identification Number).

Orientations:
Summer start: Orientation conducted in JOUR501.
Fall start: The first week of school (TBA)

Grade Requirements:
Master’s students must maintain a minimum of a B (3.0) average to receive a master’s degree. Courses at the 500-level are not calculated into a student’s official graduate GPA, but are included when monitoring the 3.0 minimum.

Housing:
For information on on-campus and off-campus housing, call 301.314.3645. A list of off-campus rooms, apartments and houses is available in room 1150 of the Stamp Student Union or online at http://www.inform.umd.edu/OCH.

Campus ID:
Student IDs are needed for borrowing books from the library, riding the free shuttle buses and many other campus services. To get a student ID go to the Information Center in the front lobby of the Mitchell Building, 301.314.8219.

E-mail Accounts:
For a university e-mail account, go to: http://www.helpdesk.umd.edu/topics/email/.

Tuition Payments/Questions:
The Bursar’s Office in room 1135 of the Lee Building or call 301.314.9000.

Applying for Graduation:
Graduate degree candidates must submit an Application for Graduation to the Registrar’s Office. The deadline is early in the semester of graduation. The application is available at: http://www.testudo.umd.edu/apps/candapp.

Master’s Approved Program Form:
The College will submit a Master’s Approved Program form for each student who has submitted an Application for Graduation form. The program coordinator generates these forms via SIS and gives them to the dean in charge of the graduate program for verification before sending to the Graduate School. MA (thesis) students also must submit at this time their Nomination of Thesis Committee form at www.vprgs.umd.edu/gems/forms/Nomination&Thesis.doc.

View a list of selected thesis papers: http://www.journalism.umd.edu/grad/theses.html

Other Deadlines for Graduate Students
http://www.vprgs.umd.edu/gems/forms/deadlines.pdf

The MJ Review Committee:
The MJ is a non-thesis degree. The culmination of the degree is a one-hour conversation with a “Professional Committee” made up of three faculty members. This is not a traditional graduate degree “defense,” but rather a review of your professional knowledge and a critique of your Capital News Service clips or tapes. The idea of the MJ Review Committee is to evaluate where you are as a journalist and provide a roadmap for your future as you leave the graduate program for the newsroom.

It is the graduating student’s responsibility to secure commitments from three members of the College faculty at least one month before the committee meeting. Your committee may consist of people whom you have not yet met in addition to faculty members whom you have had for past coursework. You should ask one of the committee members to serve as the committee chair. Any member of the faculty and directors of the College’s centers are eligible to serve on the committees. We suggest contacting potential committee members early via e-mail.

It is also the student’s responsibility to provide each faculty member with a full set of clips or tapes a minimum of 14 days prior to the committee meeting. The packet also should include an updated resume and a one-page letter to the committee members analyzing your own work and discussing your short-term and long-term career goals.

Once the graduating student has secured commitments from three faculty members, that list should be e-mailed to Caryn Taylor at ctaylor@jmail.umd.edu, who will assign times and rooms for the various committees.

At the culmination of the committee meeting, the student and chair of the Review Committee sign the Certification of Master’s Degree form and submit it to the College’s Graduate Student Services Office.