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Useful links for graduate students

  1. Graduate studies links

    2.
    1. With TAMUDirect you can download class rosters and email your students, and the new Aggie Computing Gateway has taken the place of the Neo.tamu.edu system for campus network-wide ID and password management.

    2. The Office of Graduate Admissions handles admissions.

    3. The Office of the Registrar's web site: http://www.tamu.edu/admissions/records/ includes links to:
      1. the Academic Calendar (listing holidays and various deadlines -- these are also listed on a calendar distributed by the office of student activities),
      2. courses.tamu.edu for courses offered in all departments,
      3. on-line versions of the University catalogs,
      4. etc.

    4. From the Office of Graduate Studies web site: http://ogs.tamu.edu/ you can download various forms that graduate students need.
      1. The OGS Calendar lists all of the deadlines graduate students must meet in order to graduate.
      2. The Degree Plan form lists the courses that will fulfill your degree requirements, and you can now submit your degree plan on-line.
      3. The Application for Degree must be filed by late January in order to graduate in May, at which time you must also pay the diploma fee (at the Fiscal Office in the Pavilion).
      4. On the Thesis Proposal form you say what you're going to do in your thesis. OGS has some related guidelines, but note that these guidelines were written to cover scientific research. They ask you to state (1) the "objective" of the research, (2) the "present state of the question," and (3) "the steps to be taken to achieve the objective," including things about "procedures" and "data." In philosophy, of course, this won't involve an experimental protocol, it will just involve stating what question you plan to answer or what thesis you plan to defend, why your thesis or question is significant, and at least roughly what body of literature you plan to discuss by way of arriving at an answer to your question or defending your thesis. Your thesis advisor (thesis committee chair) is the person to discuss the details of this with, but you may also have the DGS or master's program advisor look at a draft proposal.
      5. You use examination forms to schedule your thesis or dissertation defense.
      6. You have to file various petitions to change your degree plan, change your committee members, etc.

    5. The Thesis Office sets detailed standards for the preparation of theses and dissertations, and they now require that you submit these on-line via their web site. You're going to need their Thesis Manual, which contains the approval page your thesis committee has to sign at the defense.

    6. International students should visit the International Student Services web site, which includes information on and sample questions from the English Language Proficiency Exam that all international students must pass before they can be employed as GATs.
    7. Here's something on interpreting TOEFL scores.

    8. The Financial Aid Office gives estimated tuition and fees.

    9. The Office of Graduate Studies has detailed information on health insurance for graduate students.

    10. Adult, Graduate and Off Campus Student Services might be able to help you find housing.

    11. APA (American Philosophical Association) policy requires that philosophy departments give applicants until April 15 to turn down financial offers: http://www.apa.udel.edu/apa/governance/statements/aid.html.

    12. The Faculty Senate web page has a document titled "Minimum syllabus requirements" (http://www.tamu.edu/faculty_senate/Syllabus.PDF) with a list of required elements that every syllabus must include.

    13. The Registrar's Office website includes some information on the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) which applies to everyone who deals with student records, and a related Powerpoint presentation: http://www.tamu.edu/admissions/records/WebFERPA.ppt.

    14. The Best Places web site includes lots of information comparing communities across the country, including cost of living comparisons and even a list of "best and worst cities for dating" (by the way, College Station is on neither list, but nearby Austin Texas is on the "best" list!).

  2. The Philosophy graduate program

    1. Graduate studies administration contacts in Philosophy:

      1. Gary Varner, Director of Graduate Studies / Ph.D. program advisor

      2. Linda Radzik, Associate Director of Graduate Studies / M.A. program advisor

      3. Graduate Program Secretary
          862-6979
          Office: 314 Bolton Hall

      4. Mark Dondero, department representative to the Graduate Student Council

      5. Cale Harfoush, student member of department's Graduate Program Advisory Committee (GPAC)

    2. The members of the GPAC this year are Harfoush and Professors Derrick Darby, Michael Hand, John McDermott, Colleen Murphy, Linda Radzik, and Gary Varner (chair).

    3. Requirements for the M.A. and Ph.D. in Philosophy

    4. Comprehensive exams administered to date in the PhD program

    5. Degree plan checklist for the M.A.

    6. To meet our teaching practicum requirement, our Ph.D. students can earn a certificate of completion for the Graduate Teaching Academy from the Center for Teaching Excellence.

    7. Our budget includes some money to support travel by graduate students to present papers at conferences. The application form is on-line.

    8. The Center For Humanities Research provides funds for the same purpose, and in order to support as much graduate student travel as possible each year, we ask students to first (or simultaneously) apply to the CHR for support. The CHR call for applications is also on-line, but you have to submit a paper application.

    9. The CHR also has various other funding opportunities for graduate students, including Stipendiary Fellow awards that provide $1000 in support of research (this can be used for research-related travel, book purchases, etc.).

    10. Department Constitution and Bylaws

  3. Miscellaneous philosophy-related links

    1. At Epistemelinks.com, you can search journals by title, area, historical philosophers, etc.
    2. Here is a list of links to the journals' home pages: homepages.ed.ac.uk/pmilne/links_html/journals.html
    3. And on The Philosophical Gourmet (a.k.a. The Leiter Report) site, you can find some discussion of journals' strengths and weaknesses

    4. ConferenceAlerts.com lists upcoming conferences in philosophy and other fields, and you can subscribe for email alerts

    5. The American Philosophical Association
    6. APA statement on offers of aid to graduate students
    7. The APA placement (job search) brochure
    8. A list of philosophy departments in the U.S., the Leiter Report (a.k.a. The Philosophical Gourmet), and criticisms thereof
    9. Some advice on job-seeking in philosophy from Brian Keeley of Pitzer College
    10. The Virginia Philosophy Department's job seekers guide.

    11. A Field Guide to the Philosophy of Mind
    12. David Chalmers' Mindpapers a bibliography in philosophy of mind with links to many papers available on-line

    13. "Philosophy Talk" is a radio program that "questions everything but your intelligence."

    14. The Center for Environmental Philosophy home page,
      • Including links to begillions of other publications and environmental groups, and
      • A massive bibliography you can search, covering the two main journals in the field, Environmental Ethics and Environmental Values, plus the newsletter of the International Society for Environmental Ethics and two annotated bibliographies prepared by Eric Katz. This is an excellent source of scholarly references on environmental ethics, animal rights, etc.
    15. The International Society for Environmental Ethics (ISEE) webpage
    16. The ISEE email list
    17. Ethologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
    18. Animal Ethics Blogspot.com
    19. The Center for Applied Ethics at the University of British Columbia
    20. The Ethics Update page, maintained by Lawrence Hinman

    21. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
    22. The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
    23. A meta-encyclopedia (using which you can compare entries on the same topics in the above two encyclopedias and other resources

    24. 300+ proofs for the existence of God

    25. NSF's Fastlane grant management tools

  4. Miscellaneous TAMU links

    1. On the Human Resources page you can check on your benefits and download your W2 form.
    2. SSO/HRConnect (Human Resources, for benefits info. &c.)
    3. BlueCross BlueShield of Texas (one of the main health care plans at TAMU)
    4. The Code Maroon emergency notification system
    5. Pharmacare (the related pharmacy plan)
    6. College of Liberal Arts info page
    7. The Liberal Arts Council page
    8. The TAMU home page
    9. Office of Rules and Regulatory Compliance
    10. The TAMU Student Government Association
    11. Aggie Athletics
    12. The Texas A&M Plagiarism Website
    13. Turnitin at A&M, an on-line plagiarism detection service
    14. The TAMU calendar of events
    15. Office of Institutional Studies and Planning (includes profiles of the student body, faculty salary comparisons, etc.)
    16. Maps of Texas A&M
    17. The on-line grant application system
    18. The MARS (Measurement And Research Services) home page, including directions for scoring multiple choice exams
    19. The ISI publications database
    20. The Internet Grant Proposal System (IGPS)
    21. GSA (A&M reimburses out-of-state business travel expenses up to the per diems listed here)
    22. The state Comptroller of Public Accounts' Texas Mileage Guide
    23. Aggies for Animal Rescue
    24. An unflattering but accurate newspaper "portrait" of Texas A&M
    25. The Office of the Registrar's web site includes links to:
      • Final exam schedules
      • The Academic Calendar (lists holidays and various deadlines).
    26. Course listings are on-line at courses.tamu.edu.
    27. The tamudirect.tamu.edu web site gives instructors access to class rosters, student email lists, etc.
    28. On this map of Texas A&M: www.tamu.edu/map/ you can locate any building you need to visit.
    29. On the Transportation Services web site: http://transport.tamu.edu/ you can get information on campus bus routes (which serve much of College Station and Bryan) and parking.
    30. The TAMU Student Rules: student-rules.tamu.edu state official policies on grades, incompletes, grade changes and appeals, etc.
    31. The Melbern G. Glasscock Center for Humanities Research: glasscock.tamu.edu supports research in the humanities and interdisciplinary research through conferences, colloquia, reading groups, and so on.

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