Technical Standards

The School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies maintains a strong institutional commitment to diversity and equal educational opportunities for students. A candidate for the MS or PhD degree must possess abilities and skills that include: observational, communicational, motor, intellectual-conceptual (integrative and quantitative), behavioral and social, as well as ethical and professional. The following technical standards may be met with or without reasonable accommodations, are requirements for admission, progression and graduation, and are intended to welcome and ensure that candidates for admission are able to complete the entire course of study.

• Observation: The candidate must be able to make accurate observations and acquire information presented through experiences in a variety of learning settings such as laboratory, classroom, and scientific conferences.
• Communication: The candidate must be able to communicate effectively, efficiently, and sensitively with parties such as students, staff, faculty, colleagues, trainees, and research subjects. This will require oral and written modalities or their functional equivalents.
• Psychomotor: The candidate must possess the skills necessary to, with appropriate training, design and perform laboratory experiments and statistical analysis of collected data. These skills require a degree of physical mobility and neuromuscular coordination.
• Intellectual-Conceptual Abilities: The candidate must be able to measure, calculate, reason, analyze, integrate and synthesize data, knowledge, and concepts. The candidate must be able to perform these actions within a reasonable time frame.
• Behavioral and Social Attributes: The candidate must work to their fullest potential while exercising good judgment. They must be able to function effectively in all environments - general, professional, academic, and research. Compassion, integrity, concern for others, interpersonal skills, interest, motivation, and work ethic are all personal qualities required for a successful scientific career, and are assessed during the admissions and educational process.
• Ethics and Professionalism: Students should maintain and display ethical and professional behaviors in all interpersonal interactions and research functions. The candidate is expected to understand the governmental, institutional, legal, and ethical aspects of the responsible conduct of research and function within the law and ethical standards of the profession.

The above technical standards are requirements for admission, progression and graduation and are intended to welcome all candidates and ensure that candidates for admission are able to complete the entire course of study and participate fully in all aspects of research training. Technical standards may be met with or without reasonable accommodations.

The School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies is committed to the full and equitable inclusion of qualified learners with disabilities. If you are an applicant with a disability, who may require accommodations in our program, we encourage you to contact the ADA Coordinator at 847-578-8354 or ada.coordinator@rosalindfranklin.edu for a confidential consultation. Requests from students who need, or think they may need, academic accommodations are reviewed by the ADA Coordinator in the Office of Accessibility and Academic Services to determine if they qualify for any reasonable accommodations in the academic setting.

Accommodations are not retroactive, and we recognize that student needs may change over time. For this reason, we encourage candidates to engage with the office of Accessibility and Academic Services early in their application and enrollment processes and on an ongoing basis as their education progresses. For more information about ADA accommodations at RFU, please click on the following link Services for Students with Disabilities: https://www.rosalindfranklin.edu/academics/academic-support-resources/disability-supp ort-services/