Graduate Student Resources

Information for Graduate Students

Academic Dishonesty

Download the Academic Dishonesty Policy (PDF)

This document is addressed to all students enrolled in either undergraduate or graduate computer science classes. Every student enrolled in a computer science course is expected to be aware of and adhere to the University's policies on academic honesty as described in "Digest of Rules and Regulations." That document can be found in the campus telephone directory. The guidelines given in this document are the official Departmental policy on academic dishonesty and plagiarism in programming projects and exercises. They represent an extension and clarification of the University's policy on academic honesty as it pertains to the special situations arising in computer programming projects and exercises.
One of the following policies will be adopted regarding how much cooperation and joint work is permitted in each of these classes:

  1. Students are to work on their programming assignments without consulting with anyone that is not explicitly approved by the instructor (such as a grader or tutor).
  2. Students are allowed to discuss the meaning of programs or problems together but are expected to work totally independently of anyone that is not explicitly approved by the instructor when working on the solutions to a program or problem and when doing their coding.
  3. Students are allowed to discuss the programs or problems or to work on the solution together but are expected to work totally independently of anyone that is not explicitly approved by the instructor when doing their coding.  
  4. A clearly identified group of students may work together in developing solutions to a program or problem and are to turn in their work as joint work with all their names included, indicating co-authorship.
  5. The instructor distributes a written policy (possibly as a part of their syllabus) that specifies how much cooperation and joint work is permitted on their programming assignments.

Policy A is the policy that will be used unless the instructor specifies in writing (e.g., in their syllabus) that one of the other policies will be followed. Students are to clarify with their instructors any questions they may have about how much cooperation and joint work is permitted on programming assignments. Independent of the value of the particular programming assignment in question or of a student's performance on other course requirements, violation of this plagiarism and cheating policy is likely to result in failure in the course. In addition, instructors are expected to report all cases of cheating or plagiarism to the student conduct officer. Further action may also be imposed under the code of student conduct. This action may include probation, suspension, or disciplinary dismissal from the University.

Further details concerning the University's cheating and plagiarism rules can be found in the "Digest of Rules and Regulations" in the University's Telephone Directory. Some information also may be found in the Graduate or Undergraduate Catalogs.
In cases involving cheating or plagiarism, a person who knowingly assists another person in cheating or plagiarism is considered as guilty as the person receiving help. Using solutions or code from a problem assigned in a previous semester without the explicit permission of the instructor is also considered to be cheating or plagiarism.

It is each student's responsibility to place protection on their files containing assignments, avoid leaving their computer account open in the labs when they are not present, protect current and old printouts of their code, and take other reasonable precautions to ensure that these files are not accessible to another student. A student who becomes aware of cheating is strongly encouraged to report this matter. It is important that the students and instructors work together to achieve an academic environment that is fair to all students.

Advising

Each graduate student's schedule of classes for each semester should be approved by the student's Academic Advisor. This can be done by scheduling a short advising session in the preceding term.

Committees and Colloquia

One graduate student is elected each year by his or her peers to serve on the Graduate Student Council. Also, the departmental Curriculum Committee and the Graduate Studies Committee will ask a graduate student to serve on their committee.

The Department of Computer Science sponsors a series of colloquia during the academic year. These talks, covering many areas of computer science, have several purposes: to acquaint the audience with the frontiers of research in a particular topic; to give an exposition of some problem, study, or topic of wide interest; or to give an historical perspective and/or survey of some problem, study, or topic of wide interest.

Graduate students benefit from the colloquium series by being exposed to computer scientists, from outside the University, who may be actively involved in problems or topics in which they are interested or have worked. In addition, graduate students will, in some colloquia, be exposed to topics of computer science that are not emphasized within the Department. Thus, the colloquium series helps to reinforce and broaden the student's graduate education and experience. For these reasons, graduate student attendance at department colloquia is strongly urged.

Deadlines
Departmental Facilities

Every graduate appointee will be assigned a mailbox and office space by the department; typically an office is shared with several other graduate students. Instructional- related copying privileges are available to each graduate appointee; copying of personal materials will be done at the student's cost.

Grievance Procedures
  1. A student who has a grievance concerning a graduate course must first contact the professor in charge of the course in order to try and resolve the dispute.  
  2. If the student is dissatisfied after Step 1, the student then contacts the CS Graduate Coordinator.
  3. If the CS Graduate Coordinator is unable to reach a solution satisfactory to the student, the student will then contact the Chairperson of the Department.
  4. If, after Step 3, the student's grievance still exists, the student will contact the Division of Research and Graduate Studies.
  5. A graduate student who has a grievance concerning policy of the Department should start the grievance procedure at Step 2.
Satisfactory Progress

Part of the advising procedure will include monitoring the student's academic progress, the quality of work, and progress toward meeting deadlines for taking required examinations. Graduate students are expected to maintain a 3.0 average in all work attempted at Kent State University. Failure to do so makes the student liable to dismissal.

A graduate student who receives more than seven hours of "C" or lower grades, or more than four hours of grades lower than "C", is subject to dismissal. When the Department has determined that the number of "IPs" or Incompletes on a student's record indicates poor progress toward completion of a degree, it may recommend dismissal of the student to the Division of Research and Graduate Studies.

It may also recommend dismissal in those cases where the student has failed to meet deadlines with respect to taking the Qualifying Examination or the Candidacy Examination.

Schedule of Core Course Sequences

Since the enrollment in 60000/70000-level courses is small, these sequences are offered on an alternate year basis according to the Graduate Course Rotation Schedule.

Student Organization

The Computer Science Graduate Student Association meets throughout the academic year.  It's a good opportunity to get to know faculty and other grad students.

Learn more about the CSGSA

Forms & Guidelines

Kent State Graduate Program Forms
College of Arts and Sciences Forms and Resources
Department of Computer Sciences Forms, Guidelines and Applications
Office of Global Education Forms and Guidelines
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