Academic Honesty at SMEA

The School of Marine and Environmental Affairs, College of the Environment, and the University of Washington are committed to providing excellence in teaching. We developed several procedures to support students and faculty.

We scrupulously adhere to the highest standards of academic conduct. As students in this program, we expect you to meet these standards. It is your responsibility to understand and comply with university standards regarding academic honesty and plagiarism. Violation of student conduct codes carries
substantial consequences and can result in early termination of your graduate program. Simply put, plagiarism and other violations of the code of academic conduct will not be tolerated.

I ask you to read and become familiar with three items. The first is the University of Washington Student Conduct Code that outlines overall standard of behavior. WAC 478-121 calls for high standards of academic and professional honesty and integrity and can be found online.

The second is the “Student Academic Responsibility” page. It presents a clear statement defining plagiarism and provides examples of the common forms of plagiarism. It is a helpful document: for example, it provides illustrations of the wording that would be an acceptable paraphrase of a point made in literature, and that only needs citation, not quotation.

Additionally, the second document discusses honesty in “collaboration”. At SMEA you will often be asked to work with fellow students in small groups. This is an important part of the educational experience we offer. It is important that all students conduct themselves responsibly when working in a group. The
discussion in the paper is helpful. Please read it.

SMEA faculty, staff, and the director welcome student feedback, including criticism and grievances. All grievances are respected and treated seriously. We are committed to addressing academic problems or grievances in an equitable, respectful, and timely manner. Academic advisors, graduate program
coordinator, and the director are available to provide advice and direct students to other resources on all aspects of academics. I encourage you to read about the college academic grievance procedures.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding these matters, please feel free to raise them with your course instructor, faculty advisor, or with me.

– Nives Dolšak, SMEA Director