Current Student Resources

The PLSC Graduate Program Handbook was approved by the PSLA faculty.  It contains important policies and useful information for students whose first semester of enrollment is spring 2016 or after.  Policies specified by the previous versions of the PLSC Graduate Program Handbook are still applicable to graduate students who joined the PLSC program before spring 2016.

Topics covered in the PLSC Graduate Program Handbook are as follow:

• PLSC Graduate Program Overview

• Facilities and Special Resources

• Admission to the Plant Science Graduate Program

• Financial Aid

• Advisement and appointment of Advisory Committee

• Specific Responsibilities of the Major Professor and Advisory Committee

• Review of Student Progress and Accomplishments

• Requirements for Degree of Master of Science (thesis option) and Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

• Student Benchmarks

• Deadlines for Graduate Students

• Course Registration Policies 

• PLSC Forms and General Forms from the Graduate School

• Department Contacts

Downloadable Graduate Handbook

If you have any questions please email pslagradadvising@umd.edu.

Departmental Deadlines

The following table summarizes student benchmarks for both PLSC M.S. and Ph.D. students:

Graduate School Information and Deadlines

Deadlines for admissions, class registration, fellowship and award, thesis, dissertation and graduation can be found on the Graduate School's website.  

University academic deadlines (drop/add, credit level changes, withdrawal, etc.) can be found on the Office of the Registrar's Academic Deadlines page.

• Admissions Deadlines

• Doctoral Degree Completion Checklist

• Master's Degree Completion Checklist

• Fellowship Deadlines

• Graduation Deadlines

• Registration Deadlines                                                                                                                    

Reminder: It is the responsibility of the student to comply with the various deadlines.  In many cases, exceptions will not be granted.

Graduate Student Registration

Please remember that it is your responsibility to keep track and understand the deadlines and implications of not meeting them.  There are financial implications when the deadlines are not met. 

 Academic Deadlines    Explanation of Schedule Adjustment Period             

Graduate School Forms:

Click below to access graduate school forms including:

• Fellowship and Financial Forms

• Petitions, Requests, and Waivers

• Thesis and Dissertation Forms

• Approved Program Forms (M.S. only)

• Graduation Forms

• General Forms (GA, TA, and RA Statement of Mutual Expectations)

• Faculty and Staff Forms

Graduate School Forms

PLSC Forms:

If you fill out a form this may require the signature of the Graduate Director. Please include the Graduate Director, Dr. Gary Coleman, and your graduate advisor, when submitting these forms to the Graduate School.

These forms are filled out between you and your advisor. Copies of these forms go to the Instructional Programs Office pslagradadvising@umd.edu.

Click below for downloadable PLSC graduate forms:

• Appointment of Qualifying Examination Committee

• Appointment of Ph.D. Candidacy Examination Committee

• Graduate Outcome Assessment- M.S. Thesis Defense Evaluation

• Graduate Outcome Assessment- Ph.D. Candidacy Examination Evaluation

• Graduate Outcome Assessment- Ph.D. Dissertation Defense Evaluation

• Plan of Study  

• Qualifying Examination Reporting Form  

• Research Proposal/Plan approval

• Report of Annual Advisory Committee Meeting

The instructional section numbers will be required when you register for the following classes:

• PLSC399 Special Problems in Plant Science

• PLSC799 Master's Thesis Research

• PLSC898 Pre-Candidacy Research

• PLSC899 Doctoral Dissertation Research

Calendars:

Check out the main university calendar as well as other university calendars below:

• Academic Calendar

• Alumni Events

• Athletics Schedules

• Main University calendar

Please visit COVID 19 vaccine Information page.

All of our students have a mandatory advising block. In order for these to be lifted please email pslagradadvising@umd.edu the following:

• Written confirmation from your advisor that you are cleared to register for the next semester. See Tips below on how to format the email.

• Your UID#; we need this to access your account.  

• An updated Plan of Study, if applicable. 

• It is recommended that you take the two required courses, PLSC608 and PLSC618, in your first year.  We offer PLSC608 in the fall and PLSC618 in the spring. Please sign up for these in your first and second semester, depending on your enrollment date.

• Dr. Jianhua Zhu is the PLSC Director and Dr. Shirley Micallef is the Chair of the Admissions & Examination Committee.

Tips

• Before registering for classes you must meet with your faculty advisor to confirm your progress towards completing your degree. Either your advisor can email directly on your behalf or you can email a statement and CC your advisor such as the one below:

  • With this email I confirm that I have met with my faculty advisor and/or committee, [INSERT NAME] who is included in this email. No modifications have been made to my Plan of Study. My faculty advisor has approved that I register for courses for the upcoming semester. My name is [INSERT NAME] and my UID number is [INSERT UID #].

• Updates: If any modifications need to be made to your Plan of Study please update the plan and send the latest version to pslagradadvising@umd.edu. It is of the utmost importance that your Plan of Study is updated as these changes will be made into uachieve.umd.edu which is used by the Graduate School at the time of your graduation. 

• Again, always copy your faculty advisor when emailing regarding lifting advising blocks.

Tips - for all students

• Important: Please remember that it is your responsibility to keep track and understand the deadlines and implications of not meeting them. There are financial implications when the deadlines are not met.

  • Academic Deadlines 

  • Explanation of Schedule Adjustment Period

    • It is important to read through this page. Modifying your schedule may result in financial penalties that become your responsibility. 

      • We would like to avoid you getting charged for modifying your schedule after the first day of classes. Graduate students do get a financial charge if they drop and add courses on different days and that do not equal in credit hours. 

        • You must drop before classes begin or make adjustments according to the policy.

        • During the Schedule Adjustment substitutions must occur on the same day, and 

        • Substitutes must be equivalent in credits.

        • For more information, please see heading Graduate Students - Refund Schedule for Drops.

If you have questions or concerns, we encourage you, especially those in their first year in the program, to set up a meeting with our PLSC Director, Dr. Jianhua Zhu, and the Chair of the Admissions & Examination Committee, Dr. Shirley Micallef, to check-in. If you have any questions or concerns we want to let you know that we are here to provide support and be an outlet for students. You may also want to meet with our Department Chair, Dr. John Erwin. Other support you have in the department and on campus include:

• Plant Science & Landscape Architecture Graduate Student Association

• Graduate School Support Services: Ombuds Office

• Did you know? You should meet with your major professor to fill the Statement of Mutual Expectations form at least once a year.

Welcome to UMD! 

Looking forward to having you join us this upcoming semester! Just a reminder that these are some great resources for you:

•  Graduate School 

  • Checklist for New Students - Includes information on fulfilling conditions of enrollment, Directory ID setup information for access to UMD resources, student ID, submitting immunization records, and how to register

  • New student resources 

  • Graduate School New Student Orientation - Check their website for more information!

  • Graduate Student Teaching Orientation

  • Graduate School Events Calendar

• Department

  • We recommend that you read through the tabs on this page as well as check out our People page to familiarize yourself with our faculty, staff, and students!

• Technology

  • As a UMD student, you have access to a variety of useful software programs.  To download these and other resources, visit Terpware. For questions or help with other IT related issues, please contact our IT Specialist, Chris Behnke, at cbehnke@umd.edu.