Glossary of Terms

Faculty Advisor:  A faculty member of the Department of Geological Sciences who is chosen by the student.  The Faculty Advisor supervises the development of the student’s study plan, research, and writing and editing of the M.S. Thesis.  The Faculty Advisor also acts as the chair of the student’s Thesis Committee.

Thesis Committee:  A committee of at least three full-time Faculty members at C.S.U.F., two of which (including the Faculty Advisor) must be from the Department of Geological Sciences.  A fourth member of the committee may be a C.S.U.F. faculty member, a faculty member from a related department in C.S.U.F., a faculty member from another university, or a professional geologist working in government or industry.

Graduate Advisor: The Geological Sciences faculty member who is chair of the Graduate Committee. 

Graduate Committee: A committee of the Department of Geological Sciences that supervises the graduate program in geology. (see Thesis Committee)

Deficiencies: Upon admission to our program, the Graduate Committee may determine that a student must complete certain coursework that would ordinarily be required prior to admission.  A student may also be admitted with a deficient G.P.A. (either in geology, related fields, or overall.  Additional course work (or repeated course work) must be taken in order raise the G.P.A. to the published minimums. Any deficiencies must be complete prior to submitting a study plan (and before completing more than 9 units of graduate course work). 

Classified Standing: An admitted graduate student who has submitted a study plan that has been approved by the Office of Graduate Studies .

Study Plan: An official document that outlines the coursework that will be taken to fulfill the requirements for the M.S. degree.  A study plan must be submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies and approved prior to the student becoming classified (see classified standing).