Find information below about the people in the department, scholarship opportunities, graduate student clubs, events, & awards, and assistantship details.

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People

 

Faculty

The department boasts 29 faculty with expertise in all species and disciplines of animal and food science.

 

Staff

We have the best staff in the country. From office and accounting staff, to herdsman, and farm support staff - we are all working to help you succeed in graduate school.

 

Grad Students

We maintain about 65 graduate students at any one time. It is an excellent mix of levels, origins, and interests. Most of our graduate students maintain lifelong friendships with their classmates.

 

Facilities

Our facilities are well equipped to do animal and food research. And they are very close to campus, which is a huge benefit to graduate students trying to balance classes, research, and life.

 

Scholarships

 

Departmental (AFS)

AFS has several scholarships for graduate students. Many of these are designated by the donor for students working in beef cattle and/or nutrition. These scholarships are typically $1000 to $2000 per year, and are awarded in April each year. Students should fill out the AFS scholarship application in December each year to be considered.

 

Other Funding Options

• Graduate Fellowships
• External
• NIH G-RISE
• Oklahoma Cattleman's Association
• Lallemand Animal Nutrition Scholarship

 

Graduate Student Clubs, Events, & Awards

 

Departmental Seminar

During the fall and spring semesters, AFS organizes and hosts an activity called General Seminar on most Fridays at 12:30 in ANSI 124. Graduate students (and faculty) are the primary intended audience. Grad students are expected to attend General Seminar. Please discuss with your faculty advisor.

 

Discipline Seminar

Several disciplines (nutrition, meats, genetics, etc.) organize a weekly discipline seminar. Times vary. Students in that discipline are expected to attend and participate. Please discuss with your faculty advisor.

 

AFS Graduate Student Association

Current officers are Melanie Whitemore (Pres) and Avianna Liuzzo (Treasurer). Meeting information TBD.

 

Totusek Lectureship

The lectureship series is held every November on a Friday evening in honor of Dr. Robert “Bob” Totusek, who was a member of the OSU faculty for more than 38 years, including 14 years as head of the Department of Animal Science. Graduate students should plan to attend, and many are involved in the planning and logistics of the event.

 

Animal Science Weekend

Animal Science Weekend is held in April and includes the Awards Banquet (Friday night), the Alumni Gala (Saturday night), and the Cowboy Classic sale (Sunday afternoon). Graduate students should plan to attend the Awards Banquet.

 

Whiteman Symposium

Hosted by the AFS department and open to AFS graduate students. Occurs in early February each year.

 

FAPC Research Symposium

Occurs annually. To participate in the FAPC Food Science Research Symposium, students must submit a PDF abstract and a PowerPoint of the slides they plan to present. For more information, visit the FAPC Research Symposium webpage.

 

BIOC Research Symposium

Occurs in early February each year. Held in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and jointly sponsored by BIOC and DASNR. AFS students are eligible to participate by submitting an abstract and either oral or poster presentations for prize money. For more information, visit the BIOC Research Symposium webpage.

 

Outstanding AFS PhD and MS student

AFS students are nominated and voted by faculty; awards are presented at the AFS Banquet in April.

 

Other Awards

• Graduate College Awards
• GSPSA Awards

 

Assistantships

 

Policies

You may attend graduate school without an assistantship. All of the normal policies for students and attendance costs apply (non-resident tuition, etc.)

Unless other arrangements are made, M.S. assistantships are for 24 months and Ph.D. assistantships are for 36 months (post M.S.) or 60 months (post B.S.). It is the student’s responsibility to complete their program in this time frame. After this time, assistantships are discontinued and students who have not graduated will be responsible for all costs to complete their degree. Additionally, assistantships are not automatically renewed, and students must maintain good standing academically and as an employee.

 

Your assistantship means you are an employee. We typically don’t require that you log time.  However, you are expected to work, on average, at least 20 hours per week for your lab (for a half-time assistantship). This may include teaching or teaching assistant, work in the office, in the lab, or at farms doing data collection or animal care, weekends, holidays, etc. Work time does not include doing your own research, going to class, writing your thesis, etc. In most labs, it is expected that you work some every day, and that you are present at work some portion of each day. (e.g. do not expect that you can work 50 hours one week and then not show up for the next 2 weeks.)

 

Graduate assistants do not accrue vacation time. You are committed to 20 hours per week on average, year-round. You do not have to come to work on weekends and University holidays (unless required to complete duties assigned by your advisor/working group), but all other vacancies must be requested and approved by your supervisor in advance. You cannot just decide to leave for semester breaks, spring break, summer, weddings, interviews, etc., without approval from your advisor.

 

In general, students on assistantship should not also have outside employment. Any request for outside employment, even temporary, must be approved beforehand by your supervisor, and disclosed to the graduate coordinator. Be careful to avoid any obligation that could create a potential conflict of interest with your duties to OSU. These may arise from consulting, professional services related to animals (fitting, judging, etc.), and others.

 

Assistantship Benefits

Assistantships offer several benefits to graduate students.

 

Stipend

Stipends are paid monthly. If you take a leave of absence from work (i.e. you do a summer internship or something similar), your stipend will be paused until you return. Taxes and deductions are taken from your stipend, so take-home pay is usually about $200-300 less per month than the gross pay. Taxes and deductions depend on your specific situation. The stipend table overview is below.

 

Tuition waiver

On assistantship, tuition is waived (both for residents and non-residents). Fees are not waived. Tuition and fees are determined by the University. Information is available for tuition and fees and tuition & fees estimator. For students on assistantship that take 6 hours per semester, fees amount to approximately $1500 per semester.

 

• If you are on an assistantship, you must submit a tuition waiver form EVERY semester to receive the waiver.  Be sure to keep the email confirmation you receive – this is your proof that you submitted it.  To qualify for a tuition waiver, you must be on assistantship AND you must be enrolled in the minimum # of hours as reflected in your offer letter. Please don’t submit the waiver multiple times because it will move you to the bottom of the list and it will take the Grad College longer to process it. It takes a while for the Grad College to manually go through all submitted waivers because they must verify each person is enrolled and on assistantship.  If for any reason they do not get your submitted tuition waiver applied to your bursar before the bursar due date, rest assured they will apply the waiver and remove any associated late fees.  (This only applies to tuition and does not apply to any fees or other charges to your bursar that are not paid by the due date.) If you are not enrolled in classes by the time Payroll runs their monthly reports, they will deduct FICA (Medicare/Social Security) from your check.  (If you’re enrolled, they do not deduct FICA.)   Please make sure you’re enrolled as soon as possible each semester so you don’t have any more taken out of your check than necessary!!
• Tuition is waived for OSU face-to-face and online courses. Tuition is not waived for other institution’s online courses, or Ag-IDEA, etc. courses. It usually takes 2-3 weeks for the waiver to show on your bursar account, so go ahead and pay only the fee portion when it is due.

 

Health Insurance

On assistantship, OSU provides health insurance for the student for $25 per month. Dependents are eligible for coverage at additional cost.

• Grad students on assistantship are automatically enrolled in the Student Health Insurance Plan. There is a $25 charge for this that will be deducted from your monthly stipend.   If you already have health insurance, you can decline this coverage by completing the Declination Form. (International grad students cannot decline this health insurance coverage.)
•  I’m not sure they send out physical insurance cards, but I believe if you go to the United Healthcare website, you can create an account and then print out your insurance ID card.
• Email address for benefits: osu-benefits@okstate.edu if you need more information.

 

GRA and GTA Job Descriptions

Students may be assigned one of 2 assistantship types, either a GRA, a GTA, or some fraction (25%, 50%, or 75%) of each. The assignment affects job duties and is a function of the funding source for the stipend. Thus, it is important that students perform the job they are being paid for. 

Teaching loads for GTAs are determined by the faculty advisor, but a general guideline is serving as TA* for 2 classes per semester.

GRAs also serve as TAs, because TA experience is important for the professional development of most graduate students. TA load for GRAs is less than GTAs, usually 1 class every other semester.

Students should visit with their major advisor to request the specific classes and timing they prefer to TA.

GRA and GTA assignments may be changed periodically during the student’s program as determined by the funding available and the needs of the advisor and the department. Both M.S. and Ph.D. students are eligible for either GRA or GTA assignment. Find more information at OSU Graduate Student Tuition Waiver Benefit Information and Best Practices and Guidelines for Graduate and Teaching Assistantships.

*TA - Teaching Assistant - duties can include attending courses, periodic lecturing, setting up and conducting labs, grading assignments and exams, taking attendance, holding office hours to assist students, etc.

 

Assistantship funding

 

Stipends

Minimum monthly stipend for a GRA or GTA:

 

*If GTAs or GRAs are only on a 9-month appointment, they only get 9 months of stipend.

 

GRAs

Funding for GRAs is provided either by external funding, or by the department to a faculty member as part of their startup package. Faculty should include GRA funding requests in grant proposals. Faculty should request a minimum of $25000 per year stipend for Ph.D. students and 21,000 for M.S. students.