Mentor and student resources

Welcome Pharm/Tox students and faculty mentors.  There are many online resources to help you navigate administration processes here at VCU.  Below are some of the most frequently used resources.

Pharmacology & Toxicology Graduate Student Handbook (PDF)

VCU School of Medicine Graduate Faculty Resources  This page provides many links to forms and helpful documents for faculty members, advisors and course directors.

VCU School of Medicine Graduate Student Resources  This page provides many links to forms and helpful documents for current graduate students.

 

Pharmacology and Toxicology Graduate Program Administrative Action and Report Forms.

Below you will find several Google forms for initiating various program actions and filing reports with the Graduate Program Office.  If possible please utilize these forms when available for a specific request. Requests not covered by the forms should be send by email to the Program Director at klshelto@vcu.edu.   

Important note regarding accessing Google forms.  VCU Google forms are restricted to those having proper VCU credentials.   For students, the process should be seamless as you have a VCU email address.  Faculty access to Google Forms is confounded by VCUHealth email addresses being flagged as outside of the VCU organization.  This is a known and, unfortunately, unfixable problem.  For faculty access you will need to utilize your .edu email address rather than your .org email address.  Your VCU email address should be your EID (e.g. JSmith3) followed by “VCU.EDU”.  After entering the address you should be redirected to the VCU Central Authentication page to enter your EID and password or, if you are already logged in, given immediate access.  For faculty that do not have an .edu email address please contact the program director klshelto@vcu.edu for a PDF version of the requested form.

Graduate Advisory Committee Meeting Report Form.  According the Pharmacology and Toxicology program policy, Advisory Committee meetings should be held at a minimum of 6 month intervals.   As soon as possible following the conclusion of an Advisory Committee meeting the student’s mentor should complete the linked post-meeting report.

Request for course substitution.  A course substitution allows a course taken at VCU which is not explicitly listed in the VCU Bulletin as part of a degree plan to be utilized as a replacement for a listed course.  Typically a substitution is used when a student has taken an elective course which is not already on the list of PHTX-approved electives.  A substitution request may also (rarely) be utilized to allow a sufficiently similar course to substitute for a required course.  Please note that substitution requests are examined on an individual basis and approval is at the discretion of the Graduate Program Director and subject to higher level approval by the VCU Graduate School.  As such, please discuss any potential substitutions with the Program Director prior to enrolling in the course. 

Course waiver request.  Waivers are used primarily to allow students who have taken a VCU course or courses prior to matriculation in a program to avoid "retaking" the same course(s) once accepted into the program.  An example would be issuing waivers for classes taken in the VCU PHTX M.S. program after the student enters the BSDP/PHTX Ph.D. program.  Another example might be a technician who took a course as a non-degree seeking student and then entered our M.S. program afterwards. Waivers do not reduce the total number of credit hours required for a degree.  Waived hours will need to be covered by taking other classes (typically additional research credit hours).

Course override request.  Most VCU courses have specific prerequisites.  The VCU registration system will compare those prerequisites with the record of the student’s past courses.  If all prerequisites are not present the system will prevent registration.  Course prerequisites may be waived at the discretion of the Director of that course.   Please fill out the linked form to request assistance of the Graduate Program Office in initiating an override request.