Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Dr. Hugh Horton,

I am a first year Master's student enrolled in Experimental Medicine here at Queen's University, and recently completed my undergraduate studies last year in Life Science. I am submitting an Academic Appeal for grades I received in my Pharmacology Undergraduate Research Project (PHAR 499) fro the 2013-2014 year.
In May of 2014 I received a final grade of 75.82 (B). The final mark is based on the sum of the marks for my first oral presentation (10 of final mark: 8.33), second oral presentation (20 of final mark: 16.46), poster presentation (5 of final mark: 5.0), written report (35 of final mark: 25.03), and laboratory performance (30 of final mark: 21.00). After receiving these grades I was specifically concerned with my laboratory performance and written report. Before considering an official Academic Appeal, I attempted to resolve my grade within the Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences (DBMS) by contacting Dr. James Brien (PHAR 499 Course Coordinator) and Dr. Michael Kawaja (Associate Dean of Life Sciences). On May 12th 2014 I met with Dr. James Brien and Dr. Louise Winn (Associate Head of the Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences). Following this meeting my laboratory grade was increased from 21.00/30.00 to 22.50/30.00, resulting in my final grade increasing to a B (I did not internally dispute my written report grade, as it was unavailable at the time). Unfortunately this increase was not reflective of my laboratory performance throughout the year. I followed up with Dr. Brien on May 21st 2014 to inquire about the small magnitude of my grade increase (only 1.50 marks) and if further changes could be made. After waiting a month for a response, I approached Dr. Michael Kawaja on June 21st 2014. We engaged communications throughout the summer, and he requested for my grade to be re-evaluated in October 26th, however, it could not be changed any further.

The following extenuating circumstances negatively impacted my laboratory performance and written report, exemplifying that my grades do not reflect my academic effort in the PHAR 499 course. Furthermore, these situations demonstrate that Dr. Brian Bennett's lab was not fit to support a PHAR 499 student, in terms of supervision and laboratory materials.

In regards to the project supervision, when I was first accepted into the course I had a short meeting with Dr. Bennett and Yohan D'Souza (PhD candidate), at which point I was told that Yohan would be responsible for finding me a project and assisting me throughout the course. During this meeting Yohan showed very little enthusiasm for supervising my project, which was reflected in his attitude and actions throughout the entire year. Dr. Bennett rarely took it upon himself to inquire about my progress or any potential problems I may have had. Furthermore, we would rarely meet as a group to discuss my project, whereas fellow 499 students would be meeting with their supervisors on a weekly basis. As a fourth year student new to the field of research, progress meetings are essential to ensure the student is on the right track and not falling behind. A lack communication or active interest by a supervisor can be detrimental to the progress of a student's project, and was so in my case. When starting in the lab, my training process for Bradford protein assays and Western blots was very poorly organized and extended well over a month, as Yohan could only meet 1-2 times a week. My training was not complete until mid-October, preventing me from independently carrying out experiments and causing me to fall behind with regard to data collection. This was detrimental to the efficiency and progress of my work in the lab. In addition to rare availability and poor punctuality for meetings, Yohan provided me with poor advice on experimental procedures and data analysis. He suggested that I didn't use a loading control (-actin) for Western blots, quantifying results was unnecessary, and that it would be better if I didn't carry out statistical analysis. This advice adversely affected my written report mark. Unfortunately I have not been able to thoroughly evaluate its grade because the paper cannot leave the department for one year, according to Dr. Brien. However, after briefly reviewing the paper with Dr. Brien I found that many marks were lost for small sample size, lack of controls, lack of quantified data, and lack of statistical analysis on my results. A loss of marks for these reasons was due to events out of my control and poor advice from a supervisor that was not fully engaged or interested in my project. In January of 2014 I approached Dr. Bennett to inform him of Yohan's lack of interest and disconnect from my project, however, his attitude did not change for the remainder of the semester.

Throughout the year it was difficult to consistently conduct experiments on a week-to-week basis due to a lack of materials. First and most importantly, I was given one set of samples to work with for the entire year, even though I was supposed to have 6 sets. This was detrimental to the significance and quality of my project. Although it was beyond my control, a sample size of 6 (n6) is far to low for statistical significance and this was reflected in my written report mark. Furthermore, I was given one aliquot of primary antibody to detect my proteins of interest for the entire year, and was told by Yohan that it was good to reuse. It was not until late January 2014 where I suggested to Yohan that the antibody may no longer be viable, and he confirmed it within the week. It took Yohan almost two months to acquire new antibody, putting my project on hold and preventing me from making any further progress.

I have always considered myself to be a highly academic student and truly put all my effort into the PHAR 499 course. The mentioned extenuating circumstances exemplify the little support I had to successfully complete my project and contributed to any shortfalls in my lab performance and written report. An increase in my PHAR 499 grade from a B to at least an A- would more accurately reflect the time and effort I put into the course. This would increase my 4th year winter term GPA from 3.650 to 3.850, a crucial change to my grade as I plan on applying to medical school in the near future, where the minimum GPA required is 3.700. It is important that my grades are a true representation of my effort for my future education and academic career. Thank you for your time and consideration evaluating my Academic Appeal.

Sincerely,

Matt Sangoi