| 07/05/2023 |
Allan Corns submitted first round of proposal documents |
| 07/26/2023 |
JS completed initial round of revisions |
| 08/03/2023 |
JS sends email draft to AF for GSAS based on JS's initial review/AAA meeting between AF and JS |
| 10/04/2023 |
AF reaches out to Allan Corns w/ feedback: Hi Allan, Thanks for your patience. I have worked with Jesse to compile the review for this proposal. As you can imagine, to NYSED this is going to look like a big change, even if it's just aligning with the cognition and perception program. Consequently, I'd like to be a little more proactive with making it clear that the changes will not have any major impact on student experience or outcomes. Below is some overarching feedback and attached are inline comments for the NYSED proposal doc. Let us know if you have any questions. Student Progression: as the program is moving from an open-ended, elective heavy structure to one which is much more constricted, it would be helpful for NYSED to see a sample student schedule to illustrate how students progress through the program - especially given that several of the courses are taken multiple times over the a student’s time in the program. Syllabi/Coursework: are any of the courses new to the university or new to the program? If so, please send syllabi. If any are new for this program, please send course descriptions. Since this program would be moving to a much more rigid structure, NYSED may ask for these. Doctoral Labs, Research and Projects: It should be clear how these courses “relate” or align with one another. For example, do the Doctoral Psychology First Project and Doctoral Psychology Second Project courses align with the Doctoral Research Laboratory for the spring semester of the second and third years? In addition, there are courses that students are required to take multiple times (Doctoral Research Lab, Dissertation Research, and Predoctoral Research in Psychology). It would be beneficial to elaborate more on these: are the course requirements identical? Do the requirements, deliverables or objectives diverge at all? New concentration in Quantitative Psychology: this concentration appears to have a higher minimum grade requirement – B+ vs. B – than students not enrolled in this concentration. Please confirm/clarify the justification for this difference. For the concentration being eliminated: we will need confirmation that there are no students currently enrolled in this. Current Student Impact: given the much more structured program this change proposes, it is important to include language around how students enrolled in the current program will be impacted by these changes. Will currently enrolled students be able to complete the new requirements in a timely manner?” |
| 10/19/2023 |
Allan Corns submits round 2 of revised documents based on OAPRA feedback, JS to review |
| 11/02/2023 |
JS provides TW w/ feedback on revised documents: Hi Titilayo, I am writing to provide my follow-up review/comments to the revised documents sent by Allan for the PhD Social Psychology program change proposal. Based on these documents, I do not believe this is ready quite yet for NYSED submission. Most of the feedback sent by Alex has been addressed, however I do have a few outstanding questions/comments especially as the Graduate Program Schedule and Course Descriptions forms were submitted for the first time in round. Please see below, we can discuss in more detail during our Monday meeting: Graduate Program Schedule: All semesters listed on this document total 9 credits: given recent NYSED feedback related to demonstrating FT status for FT programs (i.e. at least 12 credits), I would advise adding language here (as we have done in the recently approved PhD Environmental Studies) to indicate that FT status for this doctoral program is fulfilled by noncredit work i.e. independent research, etc. Term Credit Total is missing: please add The section in this form to “identify any comprehensive, culminating element(s) (e.g., thesis or examination), including course number if applicable” is blank: please complete. Please confirm: do any of the courses listed in this document have prerequisites? New Quantitative Finance Concentration: The question on this was not addressed in the revisions: please confirm why the grading standard is different for the new quantitative finance concentration, i.e. a minimum of B+ vs. B for students not enrolled in this concentration. NYSED Change Form: The last page on this form states that “syllabi are attached” for “newly required courses.” Syllabi were not included in the submission documents for this proposal. If no courses are new to the university, please remove this section (this was included in the first round of feedback, but is unresolved). One of the proposed changes is a shift away from comprehensive exams as a means of assessing student progress to “milestone projects” to be completed in years 1-3. Please provide details of these projects and what they entail. Furthermore, there are two course requirements proposed - Doctoral Psychology First Project and Doctoral Psychology Second projects. Please confirm: are these independent from the aforementioned “milestone” projects? Course Descriptions: Doctoral Research Laboratory: this document states that “students are therefore required to enroll in Doctoral Research Laboratory, PSYCH-GA 3000, each semester (spring/Fall) in year one, two, three, and four of the program for a total of 24 points.” However, the graduate program lists a total of 21 points towards this course (it is not listed in the first Fall semester): please confirm the correct amount. |
| 12/07/2023 |
TW responds to JS's feedback notes: Hi Jesse, When you send these, can you send me a link to the proposal folder. Your notes below are fine to send. I would modify the request for the Graduate Program Schedule: I ask that you add the FT status work that doctoral programs tend to have and highlight them in yellow. In your feedback, provide the rationale for why you made the edits and ask Allan to review the changes highlighted in yellow for accuracy. Please note, we can make minor changes like adding a term credit without sending it back to the school. We can highlight changes we make either by utilizing the yellow highlight or making the changes via track changes and asking the school to approve them. You can move forward with sharing the feedback with Allan. |
| 12/08/2023 |
JS provides feedback to Allan |
| 12/12/2023 |
Allan submits revised documents based on OAPRA feedback - JS to review |
| 12/13/2023 |
JS reviews Allan's revisions, sends an update to TW: Hi Titilayo, I am writing to update that I have reviewed Allan's responses to my notes, as well as the documents submitted in round 3 - the feedback we sent was incorporated. I do have one note on the Graduate Program Schedule - the language on the final experience (i.e. the thesis) is very brief (just one sentence): "students must complete and defend a doctoral thesis." I am wondering if this is enough detail from NYSED's perspective. Otherwise, this appears to me to be ready for submission. |
| 12/13/2023 |
TW confirms proposal is ready for submission: Jesse, Since this was submitted to our office back in July and it is a simple program change, I am fine submitting it to NYSED as is. If there is any pushback from NYSED, we can address it then. I've reviewed the proposal and it is ready to submit. Please prepare the proposal for NYSED submission. |
| 12/13/2023 |
JS prepares docs for NYSED submission, sends to TW |
| 12/13/2023 |
TW submits to NYSED, JS informs Allan |
| 02/08/2024 |
TW reaches out to NYSED, requesting status update: Dear Colleagues, I hope this message finds you well. I am reaching out to follow-up on our previously submitted request for change for the PhD in Social/Personality Psychology program. If you require any additional information, please let me know. |
| 02/08/2024 |
NYSED (Paul Sheehan) responds: Hi Titilayo, I’ve actually been reviewing this today and hope to get my initial questions out to you this week. I’m sorry; I’ve been sidetracked a few times today by urgent issues but I will be in touch soon. Thanks! |
| 02/08/2024 |
NYSED responds with feedback: Hi Titlayo, Regarding the proposal, it appears to reference two programs. It indicates that the award is PhD/MPhil and the program codes are given as 08366/77111. The remainder of the proposal references a 72-credit program leading to a PhD in Social Psychology. I have a few questions: Does this proposal pertain to both the PhD and the MPhil? Are there any changes happening for the MPhil program (77111) such as title change, content, credits, concentrations, etc.? If so, please clarify what changes are affecting this program. Does the rest of the proposal refer exclusively to the PhD program (08366)? Specifically, the proposal reference a five-year, 72-credit curriculum with a new concentration and curricular requirements. With the addition of the Quantitative Psychology concentration and the removal of the Developmental Psychology concentration, how many concentrations will this program now have? I note the new concentration requires 12 credits beyond the two quantitative oriented courses required of all students; is there a difference in total credits between different concentrations? The sample course schedule indicates semesters each with less than 12 credits. The NYS definition of full-time is 12 credits per semester. Will students have the option of doing 12 credits or more per semester? Or is this to be designated as a part-time program registration? Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you! |
| 02/12/2024 |
per check-in meeting, TW to provide GSAS w/ NYSED feedback |
| 02/13/2024 |
TW reaches out to Allan Corns: Allan, We received feedback from NYSED regarding the PhD Social Psychology proposal. In looking at the feedback, it looks like they do not understand the relationship between the MPhil and the PhD. We can make it clear for them that our MPhil is everything but the dissertation, which means any change to the PhD impacts the MPhil, with the exception of changes to the dissertation requirement. Please see below (my comments are in purple): Does this proposal pertain to both the PhD and the MPhil? Are there any changes happening for the MPhil program (77111) such as title change, content, credits, concentrations, etc.? If so, please clarify what changes are affecting this program. Please confirm the MPhil is everything but the dissertation so that all proposed changes, also impact the MPhil. Does the rest of the proposal refer exclusively to the PhD program (08366)? Specifically, the proposal reference a five-year, 72-credit curriculum with a new concentration and curricular requirements. Please confirm the MPhil is everything but the dissertation so that all proposed changes, also impact the MPhil. With the addition of the Quantitative Psychology concentration and the removal of the Developmental Psychology concentration, how many concentrations will this program now have? I note the new concentration requires 12 credits beyond the two quantitative oriented courses required of all students; is there a difference in total credits between different concentrations? The sample course schedule indicates semesters each with less than 12 credits. The NYS definition of full-time is 12 credits per semester. Will students have the option of doing 12 credits or more per semester? Or is this to be designated as a part-time program registration? As a reminder, for terms that fall below 12 credits, we should provide an additional narrative that describes any research, training, internships, or exams that require students to do the equivalent of coursework. Can you draft the responses to the prompts and put them in a Google Doc? If you could share the responses by the end of the month, that would be great. Please let me know if you'd like to discuss. |
| 02/13/2024 |
1., 2. Ok first off, they define the MPhil, so I don’t get this at all. Just tell them whatever they want to hear on this because frankly these questions stupefy me and I have no idea how I’m supposed to define a degree that they define. 3. One concentration, Quantitative Psychology. Since there is only one, there is no other concentration to compare to. The points distribution is fully laid out in the side by side 4. This is a research degree. Students are fully involved in lab work from day one. They could do 12+ credits a term if they really wanted to, but their lab work takes them to full time as the program is described. |
| 02/15/2024 |
JS drafts response to NYSED, sends to TW |
| 02/15/2024 |
TW edits slightly, sends to NYSED |
| 04/05/2024 |
TW writes to NYSED, requesting status update for proposal review |
| 04/10/2024 |
NYSED approves proposal, JS notifies Allan Corns |
| 04/10/2024 |
JS notifies all stakeholders |