Environmental and Molecular Toxicology
1007 Agriculture and Life Sciences Building
Corvallis, Oregon 97331-7301
T 541-737-3791  F 541-737-0497
http://emt.oregonstate.edu
Graduate Council Review of the Graduate Program in Toxicology
Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology
Notes from the Department on the Evaluation Report
On behalf of the Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology, we wish to reiterate and highlight
our deep appreciation to the review team for their careful and thorough review of our graduate program. The
report will serve as a most helpful guide as we continue to work to improve our training of graduate students
in toxicology. We note several minor corrections (detailed below) to the Evaluation Report.
1. Page 2, second to last paragraph: reference is made to a student suggestion that there be “development of a
substitute for the 400 level Biochemistry curriculum to one that is more focused on graduate training”.
2.
3.
4.
5.
1.1. We note that the Biochemistry curriculum required for the Toxicology graduate program is three
terms of the 590-592 Biochemistry series, a slash listed course (400/500 level, not an undergraduate
class) and the same series required of Biochemistry graduate students.
Page 8, second paragraph: reference is made to the “recent change in the structure of the Graduate
committee, including the development of an executive committee and 4 subcommittees.”
2.1. We note that the Graduate Committee was restructured only into 2 subcommittees, one focused on
admissions and recruitment and one focused on curricular issues. The two subcommittees may meet
together to address significant issues, e.g. student grievances.
Page 9, first paragraph: reference is made to an uneven level of graduate advising within the department
faculty, noting “that the majority of the graduate students appear to be associated with four of the faculty,
while some Faculty have few to none.”
3.1. We recognize that graduate training is indeed uneven within the faculty. This is not unexpected and
tends to correlate with the amount of extramural grant funding available to each faculty member and
the career stage of each faculty during the program review window, as well as the duties established in
their position description. However, we also note the following correction to our self-study report.
One error not noticed in the final report is in Table 3.4 EMT Toxicology Graduate Faculty Advising,
included in the report on page 95. The number of students trained by Professor Williams was
inadvertently listed as 0, when in fact, Dr. Williams has advised to graduation 5 PhD students, 2
Thesis MS students and 1 non-thesis MS student, with 2 additional PhD students currently in training.
A corrected Table 3.4 is included below this list.
Page 9, middle paragraph: reference is made to research in Dr. Stubblefield’s laboratory being “more
oriented toward contract research and less towards hypothesis driven studies…” We note that although
research in Dr. Stubblefield’s laboratory is significantly funded with contracts rather than grants, it is
hypothesis driven.
Page 10, first paragraph: reference is made to the organization and implementation of our seminar series
class, and the use of Spring quarter to “provide in-depth topical discussions in each focus area.”
5.1. We share the reviewers’ enthusiasm for continuing with the re-organized seminar class. Our plan,
however, is to continue with all the students meeting together for a term-length, in-depth focus on a
topical subject within toxicology or the development of professional skills. Based on student
feedback, we have moved away from separate class meetings for the different focus areas within our
student population.
Oregon State University - Environmental and Molecular Toxicology
1007 Agriculture and Life Sciences Building, Corvallis, Oregon 97331-7301
T 541-737-3791 | F 541-737-0497 | http://emt.oregonstate.edu
Table 3.4 EMT TOXICOLOGY GRADUATE FACULTY
ADVISING
Name
Anderson Bailey Baird Buermeyer Curtis Dashwood Field Harper Hays Jenkins Jepson Kerkvliet Kolluri Marcus Simonich Stone Sudakin Tanguay Williams Stubblefield Master's
Students
Ph.D.
Students
Thesis
Non-Thesis
1
0
0
2
2
1
4
3
0
0
0
0
1
0
4
1
0
1
2
0
1
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
12
1
3
1
4
3
10
1
2
2
0
4
4
0
15
0
0
13
7
1
Total Students
14
1
3
4
6
4
14
4
2
2
0
4
5
0
19
1
0
14
10
1
Craig Marcus, Ph.D.
Professor and Head,
Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology
[email protected]
Oregon State University - Environmental and Molecular Toxicology
1007 Agriculture and Life Sciences Building, Corvallis, Oregon 97331-7301
T 541-737-3791 | F 541-737-0497 | http://emt.oregonstate.edu