A Studyof the GraduateProgram Biologyat the Universityof Richmond* by WARWICK R. WEST, JR. and WILLIAMS.
T
HE University of Richmond is a private institution of medium size located in Richmond, Virginia, with the primary purpose of providing undergraduate training in the liberal arts. Since 1920 the graduate program has provided training for a large number of students in several departments. In the training of graduate students in biology the contributions made by large graduate schools are obvious; however, those of biology departments in the small and intermediate-sized liberal arts colleges are often overlooked. To this date there has not been a serious evaluation of the graduate program at the University of Richmond. It is the objective of this paper to show how the program at Richmond contributes to the graduate study of biology; to the training of graduate students; and how it contributes to the over-all program of the University. Data used in this study were collected from permanent record files of students who received Master's Degrees between 1940 and 1962 from the University of Richmond. Additional information came from questionnaires that were returned by these same graduates. Response was exceptionally good as approximately 75% were returned and many of these contained unsolicited comments that were of special interest to this study. In order to maintain the proper perspective it should be kept in mind that the organization of the Department of Biology is primarily for the training of undergraduate students and that the graduate program is relegated to a secondary role. During the period represented in this study the staff has grown from three to seven full time teachers, each of whom carries three four-credit hour classes of teaching responsibility ( eighteen contact hours). The participation of all the staff members in a senior-graduate student seminar each week increases the contact load to nineteen hours. Research courses and thesis direction for graduate students involves from three to ten additional hours a week on the part of the faculty members involved. At present all full-time members of the staff hold the Ph.D. Degree, are graduates of six different * Reprinted from the Bulletin of the Society of Southeastern Biologists. The study was made on a Faculty Research Grant of the University of Richmond where the authors are associate professors .
WOOLCOTT
graduate schools, and represent seven different areas of interest. Further, it should be considered that the academic average of many of the graduate students would not have allowed them to qualify for financial support in larger institutions, or their undergraduate program was inadequate to qualify them for more specialized work. In some cases the general immaturity of the students directed them to a smaller institution. Many of the better students have been those who came back into fundamental biology after being exposed to a period of training in medical school. It should be mentioned that the University does offer financial assistance, but it is not competitive with the support offered by larger institutions. For example, many fellowships are not large enough to cover tuition charges, and the largest has never exceeded $1,200.00. Students who do not qualify for fellowships are able to defray some of their costs by working on an hourly basis in the Biology Department. The Master's Degree in Biology has been awarded to thirty-four people during the period covered by this study. Half of these obtained their undergraduate degrees at the University of Richmond , while the remainder were graduates of ten other institutions (Table 1). The basic policy for admission at present is determined by a majority vote of the staff, while in the past the selection was primarily the responsibility of the departmental chairman. Criteria for admission are flexible but are essentially based on the student meeting the requirements for an undergraduate major in the Biology Department and with some good evidence of potential as a graduate student. Quite often personal recommendations have been of major importance in the acceptance of students for graduate study. Although the overall academic average is given consideration, more significance is attached to grades in biology and to the senior average. The overall grade range of accepted applicants has been from C- to B+ with the average c+. The last year average is B- with the range from a very low D+ to A. In biology the range was from C- to A- with the average B- (Table 2). Selection of students as degree candidates is not made until after they have completed one or not more than two successful semesters of graduate work. The usual time required for the completion of the degree is four semesters with the ( 12]
Table 1. Institutions that have contributed to the education of University of Richmond master's graduates in biology (1940-1962) with the number of individuals indicated after the name of the institution UNDERGRADUATE
SCHOOL
Bridgewater College . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Georgetown University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Juniata College . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Maryville College . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Randolph-Macon College . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 University of Richmond . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Roanoke College . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 University of Virginia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Wake Forest College . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Washington and Lee University . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 College of William and Mary . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 GRADUATE
SCHOOL
Cornell University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Duke University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 University of Florida . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Florida State University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Harvard University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 University of Illinois . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 University of Maryland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 University of Mexico* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 University of Michigan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 New York University* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 University of North Carolina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 University of Pennsylvania . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Purdue University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 University of Tennessee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 10 Medical College of Virginia* . . . . . . . . . . . . University of Virginia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Vanderbilt University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Virginia Polytechnic Institute . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
* Medicine.
accumulation of a mm1mum of thirty-two semester hours of graduate biology, including the preparation and defense of a thesis. As stated above, the areas of subject interest of the faculty are varied and this has allowed the research of the graduate students to be directed into a variety of fields. Although each research problem has been unique, by lumping them into general categories there are nine areas represented with physiology and ecology leading the list (Table 3). The influence of the training received at Richmond has carried over into the post-master's work of the Richmond graduates. This is especially evident since 1952, as thirteen of sixteen students who have sought advanced degrees continued in fundamental biology, while prior to that date most who obtained advanced degrees did so in the field of medicine (Table 4). Students who have entered the area of medicine trained at only four schools while those entering basic biology have attended fourteen different institutions (Table 1). Admission to these schools has been in-
