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A guide to the GradProg system for BYU CS graduate faculty. University requirement tracking for students has moved to GradProg, overall this is good. However, our department has requirements and traditions that are not part of the university requirements or GradProg system. Milestones in the CS graduate program are listed below along with how they fit in GradProg---or do not fit in GradProg.

Link to gradprog

Link to CS Grad Handbook

MS and PhD Students

Out of cycle admissions

  • It's possible for a very strong student that you want to work with to apply after the published department deadline but about 6 weeks before the University decision deadline. Contact the graduate coordinator for details.

Forming a committee

  • Now done online in GradProg. Fully paperless.
  • You'll get an email, click links and buttons until you've accepted the assignment.
  • Now needs to be done in the first semester. This is a change in our culture.
  • You and your student will select all committee members. Each committee member has roughly the same function and standing depending on the committee member's relevant expertise.
  • Committee members can come from other departments.
  • Committee members must have graduate faculty status, which means that they hold a terminal degree in their field and have been approved as graduate faculty by their department, college, and BYU Graduate Studies. Professional faculty are not graduate faculty.
  • Having committee members from outside of BYU requires special permission. This is a bit unfortunate. Generally, it's better for everyone if external people participate but not as formal committee members.

Program of Study

  • Now done online in GradProg. Fully paperless process.
  • But, can not be done until after the forming a committee milestone is completed.
  • Still needs to be done by the end of the first semester.
  • This means we'll need to form committees sooner than we have in the past. Forming graduate committees in the first semester, rather than waiting a while, may help our grad students complete their thesis more quickly. This will probably be a good change for our department.
  • Classes should satisfy the MS coursework requirements for MS students and the PhD coursework requirement for PhD students.
  • MS students need to satisfy breadth requirements and can take upto 3 400-level classes.
  • Breadth groups are listed at the MS coursework requirements for MS students
  • PhD students cannot count 400 level courses toward their degree.
  • Classes from other departments are easy to add to a study list. However, classes from the BYU Information Systems program are often not approved because they are not a good match for graduate work in Computer Science.

Changing the program of study

  • Done online in GradProg, but in a way that does not match our program.
  • Changing the program of study is not a big deal. The program of study must be formed during the first semester. We expect that it will change.
  • Have the student use a program of study change form as we have in the past. This can be done fully paperless by emailing the form around to the committee and Jen.
  • The full explanation is that GradProg is set up to prevent students from dropping major/core classes from their program of study without departmental permission. GradProg requires departmental permission to change most classes on our students' study lists anyway. Most of the time, Jen will need to be involved. Having a form keeps the process organized and makes it clear to Jen, and the committee, what is being done.

MS Students

Scheduling the Masters Proposal

  • GradProg has no support for scheduling a proposal defense.
  • In GradProg, the proposal is called a prospectus. We considered changing "proposal" to "prospectus" in our department but ultimately decided not to because "proposal" is a better match for what we ask students to do.
  • Don't click "approve prospectus" until after the proposal defense. This is a mismatch between how GradProg handles proposals and how we handle proposals.
  • We'll continue to use the same process and pdf form we've used for scheduling proposal defenses but it may be emailed

Masters Proposal

  • The "prospectus" on GradProg is what we call the "written thesis proposal"
  • Don't click the big green "APPROVE Prospectus" button until the proposal defense has been successfully completed.
  • This is because some departments do not require what we call a Proposal Defense and some do. For the departments that don't, APPROVING the prospectus is the only approval process. That's not true for our department. There are currently no plans in our department to eliminate the oral Proposal Defense.

Scheduling the MS Thesis Defense.

  • In GradProg, the "Ready for Defense" milestone is some, but not all, of the process we use for scheduling a thesis defense.
  • Continue to refer to the department graduate handbook for instructions on how to prepare for the thesis defense. GradProg was not intended to replace or document department policy and procedures.
  • Our department will continue to use a pdf form (CS Department forms) for scheduling a thesis defense.
  • In GradProg, "Ready for Defense" means that the thesis is ready to defend.
  • "Ready for defense" does not offer any support for actually scheduling the thesis defense.
  • Our department would like to keep a verifiable process for scheduling a thesis defense. We'll use the same form we've used in the past for this. This avoids misunderstandings about when the defense will be.

After the defense

  • In GradProg, the "Thesis Defense" milestone is where the committee records the outcome of the thesis defense. This is easy, paperless and a great change.
  • Complete the post defense survey. This is a departmental process intende to track the quality of written theses and dissertations.
  • You may request a bound copy for the committee. The department will pay for 1 bound copy.
  • The advisor and committee have sole responsibility for clicking buttons in GradProg to record the outcome of the defense. If the advisor does not click the buttons, then the student did not pass the defense and eventually graduation will be delayed.

PhD Students

PhD residency requirement

  • PhD students are expected to "be resident" for the duration of their PhD studies.
  • Resident means, among other things, not working off campus.
  • If a PhD student needs an exception to residency, they should get an exception from their committee and the Graduate Coordinator in advance.
  • Reasons for an exception to residency include health, other unusual personal reasons, or a situation that will "make progress on their doctoral degree"
  • Research-based internships for PhD students can be a fabulous addition to PhD studies and are regularly approved with enthusiasm.
  • There's no form for getting an exception to residency, an email chain is sufficient.

PhD teaching requirement

  • Each PhD student is expected to teach a class.
  • For the student, this can be a deciding factor in whether or not to pursue an academic career.
  • The student should work with Mark Clement (or whoever is over scheduling classes) well in advance so that the class can be scheduled. 12 months is not too far in advance.
  • The student should let Mark know which classes they'd like to teach. Generally this should be a 100-300 level class and ideally is a class that you teach.
  • Students can, but are not required to, complete CS 795R teaching practicum in the semester or term in which they teach. This can appear on their study list.
  • Students are paid by the department for teaching a class. Details arranged with Gordon.

PhD Qualifying Exam

  • Not part of GradProg
  • Our qualifying exam is "work with your advisor to write a paper"
  • In many cases, a student's MS thesis defense at BYU in CS will also be the qualifying exam. If that's your plan, make sure you form the PhD committee before the MS thesis defense so that the entire committee can attend the qualifying exam.
  • We'll continue to use our department process and forms (CS Department forms) for this but forms may be emailed

PhD Proposal

  • Also not part of GradProg.
  • We'll continue to use our department process and forms (CS Department forms) for this but forms may be emailed. See "PhD dissertation proposal" in PhD Program
  • The "prospectus" on GradProg is what we call the "written thesis proposal"
  • Don't click the big green "APPROVE Prospectus" button until the proposal defense has been successfully completed.
  • This is because some departments do not require what we call a Proposal Defense and some do. For the departments that don't, APPROVING the prospectus is the only approval process. That's not true for our department. There are currently no plans in our department to eliminate the oral Proposal Defense.

Scheduling the PhD Dissertation Defense

  • In GradProg, the "Ready for Defense" milestone is some, but not all, of the process we use for scheduling a dissertation defense.
  • Continue to refer to the department graduate handbook for instructions on how to prepare for the dissertation defense. GradProg was not intended to replace or document department policy and procedures. See "Dissertation" section near the bottom of PhD Program
  • Our department will continue to use a pdf form (CS Department forms) for scheduling a thesis defense.
  • In GradProg, "Ready for Defense" means that the thesis is ready to defend.
  • "Ready for defense" does not offer any support for actually scheduling the thesis defense.
  • Our department would like to keep a verifiable process for scheduling a thesis defense. We'll use the same form we've used in the past for this. This avoids misunderstandings about when the defense will be.

After the PhD Dissertation Defense

  • In GradProg, the "Dissertation Defense" milestone is where the committee records the outcome of the dissertation defense. This is easy, paperless and a great change.
  • Complete the post defense survey. This is a departmental process intende to track the quality of written theses and dissertations.
  • You may request a bound copy for the committee. The department will pay for 1 bound copy.
  • The advisor has sole responsibility for clicking buttons in GradProg to record the outcome of the defense. If the advisor does not click the buttons, then the student did not pass the defense and eventually graduation will be delayed.