The exact dates of the milestones vary for each student, but a general outline is provided below. It's a good idea to check in with your advisor, especially when filling out the Individual Development Plan and the Annual Activities Report!
Comprehensive Exams: Students will take the comprehensive exams following their first year
Chair Selection/Committee Formation: A chair should be chosen by the end of the 3rd semester and the committee should be chosen by the end of the 4th semester. The committee needs to be chosen by the 6th semester, or progress will be considered unsatisfactory. Your committee must be minimum 4 faculty with graduate faculty status with one external member (not from or affiliated with the Linguistics department)
Qualifying Exams: Qualifying exams will take place based on the recommendation of the chair and committee in collaboration with the student. Generally students should take qualifying exams by the end of their 6th semester but need to be taken by the end of the 8th semester. The exact process varies with every student, so it's recommended to check in with your chair and ask their typical process.
Additional information can be found in the graduate student handbook: https://lin.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/102/UF-Linguistics-Graduate-Studies-Handbook.pdf
Below are the milestones for satisfactory progress in the MA program:
Comprehensive Exams: Students will take their comprehensive exams after their first year of coursework
Chair/Committee Formation: Students should establish the chair of their supervisory committee no later than the beginning of their third semester (fall or spring) at UF. Both non-thesis and thesis committees should comprise a chair and one other faculty member
Students should complete the degree by the end of their fifth semester, or their progress is considered unsatisfactory
Additional information can be found in the graduate student handbook: https://lin.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/102/UF-Linguistics-Graduate-Studies-Handbook.pdf
The department does indeed have travel funding available for graduate students. The funding is for students presenting at a conference, but is not typically available for students merely attending a conference, conducting research, or taking other sorts of trips, unless they seek and receive approval for a special circumstance.
Grad students are eligible to receive $450 each academic year. (Dates run from 7/1 through June 30).
In general, there have not been any issues with everyone wanting to travel in the same year, so usually funding has been granted for all students who have requested it, however, we may get to a point where it’s first come, first serve, while supplies last!
Traveling students should submit a completed travel request form to Kelli at least a month prior to departing. https://lin.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/102/TAR-2.pdf
When the travel request form is received, a travel request will be created and then the student traveler will be informed when the request is ready for them to submit. The request then routes for approval. Most often, the CLAS SSC will help us with Travel Requests and Travel Expense Reports, but sometimes Kelli can jump in and take care of them in a pinch.
At the conclusion of the trip, the approved travel request can be used to create the expense report, which is the mechanism by which travelers receive reimbursement for their travel expenses. Travelers should reach out to Kelli when they have returned, and provide any receipts for expenses such as lodging, transportation, registration, etc., up to the amount of their award. (If a flight is $450 or more, other receipts are not necessary.) Receipts are not needed for meals – they are reimbursed at a standard rate.
The moment there is any sort of travel request begun in the system, the traveler will receive automated messages from Concur, pretty much every day - saying things like, you have a travel request that is not submitted, or you have a travel request but no expense report, etc. They can safely ignore ALL of these messages, ALWAYS. The best practice is for travelers to just wait until they have received an email from Kelli or the CLAS SSC personnel saying that there is a travel request or expense report ready in the system for them to submit.
Kelli will always need to receive a copy of the conference program, and to know where to find the traveler’s presentation listed in the program. An electronic copy is fine. When all receipts and the program are received, and anything else relevant, the SSC will receive a request to create the expense report. When it’s complete, you will be notified that there is an expense report to submit. The traveler is always required to submit the requests and expense reports themselves, regardless of who creates them. After the report completes the approval step, the expense report will be paid via direct deposit within a couple of weeks, if the traveler is employed by UF, or they will receive a paper check if they don’t have direct deposit set up through UF.
In general, it’s much preferred if an approved travel request is in the system prior to purchasing flights or lodging. Travel arrangements, especially airfare, should be booked through UF Go, either by the traveler directly, or if they need assistance, Kelli can help with booking. In these cases, they will need to pay for the airfare, lodging, etc. with personal funds, then we will reimburse them after the event. It’s possible to enter a personal credit card into UF Go to book travel. In many cases, there are significantly better deals using the booking tool in UF Go, but it’s not always the case.
There are some exceptions to the requirement to use UF Go, such as for a conference hotel with a better deal, or just cheaper arrangements overall, except for international travel. In cases where a cheaper fare is found elsewhere, the traveler must provide a copy of the higher fare through UF Go as a comparison, to prove the purchased rate is better. Just a PDF of the price quote is all that’s needed for that.
Rental cars can also be reimbursed – if a rental car is needed, this should be booked through UF Go, as we have contracts with certain rental car agencies.
When traveling for UF internationally, travelers must also register their travel with the UF International Center: https://internationalcenter.ufl.edu/travel/online-travel-registration
UF is committed to ensuring the health and safety of every student, faculty, and staff member while abroad on university business. To fulfill this commitment, UFIC provides 24-hour emergency contact, monitors international events, informs program participants of potential health and safety issues and provides international health insurance that includes emergency medical evacuation and repatriation coverage. To receive this service all UF students, faculty and staff traveling outside the US on official university business must complete an Online Travel Registration.
Additional travel funding:
CLAS Travel Awards are made available each semester. A call will come from the graduate advisor for applications when we receive the information from the dean’s office. Students should apply for these awards even if they have not yet received an acceptance for a conference. If there is a chance they’ll go, they should apply. If they are accepted after the application deadline has passed, it’s too late to apply for the funds at that point. If funds are awarded, but end up being unused, they go back to CLAS and the student is free to apply in another term.
When applying for the CLAS travel awards, under the funding info, students should always put in $450 as awarded from the department.
Applicants should also always include an abstract and/or a letter to the committee describing why they are requesting the funding for this particular conference. The form may say that the abstract is optional, but it is HIGHLY recommended, and increases the likelihood of receiving an award.
The Graduate Student Council also has travel funding, more information can be found here: https://sg.ufl.edu/resources/gsc/grants/
Applications must be submitted 45 days before domestic travel and 60 days before international travel
The UF Research Office has travel funding, more information can be found here: https://research.ufl.edu/research-program-development/research_program_development_docs/travel.pdf
Applications must be submitted at least a month before travel is planned and acceptance into the conference is required
If you're note sure which research/independent study class to take, here's some information:
1) Is the supervised work related to MA/PhD thesis work? If the answer is yes, the course number should be LIN6971 or higher. Students can register for between 1 and 12 or even 15 hours every semester (see the web site), with no maximum number of credit hours over multiple semesters. If the work is not related to dissertation research, then LIN6905 or LIN6910 are better choices; they come with different semesterly caps on credit hours, and different maximum number of credits that a student can register for during their studies. Note also that LIN6905 is the only supervised work that earns a letter grade – all other courses are graded S/U.
2) If the work is related to PhD thesis work: Has the student advanced to candidacy yet? (In our program, that means: has the student passed their Qualifying exam yet?) Pre-candidacy, LIN7979 is the best fit; post-candidacy, it should be LIN7980.
You can find a complete listing at the bottom of this page: https://lin.ufl.edu/graduate/graduate-courses/