EC_Handbook

The policies and procedures for graduate study at CUNY are stated in the CUNY Student Handbook. The policies and procedures stated here are additional requirements of all Psychology Ph. D. students, plus further requirements for students in the Cognitive Neuroscience (EC) Subprogram. No Psychology or EC requirement can supercede those described in the CUNY Student Handbook - which will be placed in your mailbox in the main Psychology Office annually.

The Four Levels of Administration: Advisor, EC, CUNY Psychology, CUNY Administration.

As a student, you must learn to respond appropriately to the three levels of doctoral administration: CUNY, Psychology, and Cognitive Neuroscience. (Note, that CCNY administration extends to the undergraduate and MA programs only.) In general, you must take every educational and administrative issue to your Advisor, with whom you must work out your program of studies and registration for each semester. Then you take your registration form to the CUNY Psychology office at 365 5th Ave., and pay your fees at the CUNY Registrar’s office.

Most other educational and administrative issues must be initiated at the EC office. Some questions may only require the approval of the Head; others, as described later, may require approval by the EC Executive Committee. In no case may you take an educational or administrative matter that is the province of the EC Subprogram, to the CUNY Psychology Office. The current Psychology Executive Officer (EO), Joe Glick, and his Executive Assistant, Maria Helena Reis, oversee 10 Psychology subprograms and are not happy if you ask them to do the business that is the responsibility of our subprogram.

Deadlines.

Administrative deadlines are set at the CUNY Administration level – e.g., the Registrar. To meet those deadlines, the CUNY Psychology Office needs at least two additional days, so the deadline for the EC office will be exactly one week earlier than the Registrar’s deadline. We have had repeated cases where the CUNY Psych. Office has found problems with students’ requests that should have been picked up by the Advisor and the EC Head. Now the EC Head has student records on line so these problems should no longer reach the CUNY Psych. Office.

A primary source of friction between the EC and Psychology Offices occurs when your advisor or the EC Head is not available when you are ready to register - especially for the Fall term. To eliminate this problem, we ask you to follow this procedure. Arrange with your advisor, well in advance of the registration deadline, for a convenient time to meet and obtain the advisor’s signature on your registration form. If you cannot reach your advisor, contact the EC Head, currently, John Antrobus or cognition@ccny.ccny.cuny.edu, or 212 650-5721, or 212 431-7405. If you cannot reach the Head, email Art Spielman, or 212 650-5397, 212 832-1544, or 914 582-9333. If you cannot reach Art, Call the EC Asst. Sectretary, Esther Langston at 212 650-5653. In the event that none of these are available, email the Dept. Chair ProfBrettS@aol.com or 212 650-5700.

Communication.

All our administrative communication with you will be carried out by email. You may obtain a CUNY email address by going, in person, to the Information Resource office located on the C level of the Library at the Graduate Center. You must check your email at least once a day. Please check your mailbox in the CCNY Psychology Office at least once a week. Formal communications will be supplemented with hard copy. Additional materials will be placed in your mail box. . Check it frequently.

Most communication with the CUNY Psychology Office and CUNY administrative offices will be by mail, and less frequently by telephone. For that reason it is imperative that you keep your telephone number and mailing address current in the Office of the CUNY Registrar. Use the following address: Vdeluca@gc.cuny.edu to inform the Registrar of any changes.

Student Services.

The Grad Center has a Wellness Center. Call 212 817-7020 for information.

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Committees with Student Participation.

Two students serve as members of the five member EC Executive Committee, which meets monthly during the academic year, and serve, as well on the Admissions and Curriculum Committees. Student members are elected annually in May - by mail ballot. One of these students also serve on the CUNY Psychology Council that meets monthly at the Graduate Center. Students have a full vote on all matters except educational requirements and examination, and faculty promotion and tenure. The Clinical and EC students are invited to send one representative to the CUNY Doctoral Students’ Council but have not done so in the past 40 years. The Doctoral Students’ Council is in the R. E. Gilleece Student Center, Suites 5485-5499, Ph 817-7845.

Course Requirements.

The required courses, as of February 7, 2000 are: U70100, U70500, U70600, U73500, U73800, three neuroanatomy or neuroscience courses, and an instrumentation of computer programming course. See Administrative note, February 20, 2000. Student who entered the program before the date of any new policy, are grandfathered for that policy.

On October 20, 1999, the Cognition Executive Committee approved the requirement for a minimum grade of B for all required courses. Failure to obtain a minimum requirement of B in any course means that the student will automatically dropped from the EC Subprogram. A student may, however, retake a course with a C grade.

EC Program Meetings and EC Executive Meetings.

All meetings are held in the Thursday noon hour - on the first Thurs. of the month, unless holidays or other College business intervene. All students at Levels 1 and 2 are expected to attend. If you work in a hospital or college, you must notify your supervisor of this requirement when you take your job.

First Doctoral Exam

The First Doctoral Examination is normally taken in June at the end of the first year of full-time studies in EC, and may sometimes be administered in January as well. This written examination evaluates the student’s ability to design experiments. It is given in two parts: The first is concerned with the process of translating theoretical concepts into experimental procedures and measures; the second with the formal design of experiments, statistical tests and statistical inference. Students are expected to be competent in 2-way ANOVA, including randomized blocks and mixed designs, and with multiple regression, including semi-partials. Questions are designed to fit the general area of the student's specialization.

CUNY students cannot register for more than 45 credits until they pass the Exam. If a student fails the exam twice, he/she may appeal to the Executive Committee for a third test.

Second Year Research Presentation

Students must, on each semester until they have completed their 60 credits of course work, do research related to their course of studies, under the supervision of a psychologist, in a lab approved by the EC Head -. They must present their research in a full EC Colloquium sometime after the end of their second year, and before submitting proposals for the Second Doctoral Examination. The Second-Year Research Presentation must demonstrate proficiency in all aspects of research, including lab procedures, theory, research design, data analysis, research writing and oral presentation.

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