| Session | Date | Topics & Class Materials, Assignments |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jan 21 | [Synchronous] Introduction of the Course |
| 2 | Jan 26 | [Asynchronous] Research Integrity SRAI Module |
| 3 | Jan 28 | [Asynchronous] Research Integrity SRAI Module |
| 4 | Feb 02 | [Asynchronous] Research Integrity SRAI Module |
| 5 | Feb 04 | [Asynchronous] Research Integrity SRAI Module |
| 6 | Feb 09 | [Asynchronous] CITI Research Integrity Training Modules |
| 7 | Feb 11 | [Asynchronous] CITI Research Integrity Training Modules |
| 8 | Feb 16 | [Synchronous] Research Integrity and Compliance: JMU's Office of Research Integrity and Compliance |
| 9 | Feb 18 | [Synchronous] Research Integrity and Compliance: Research integrity case studies |
| 10 | Feb 23 | [Synchronous] Research Integrity and Compliance: Working through an IRB (Internal Review Board) Protocol |
| 11 | Feb 25 | [Asynchronous] Navigating the Research Ecosystem SRAI Module |
| 12 | Mar 02 | [Asynchronous] Navigating the Research Ecosystem SRAI Module |
| 13 | Mar 04 | [Asynchronous] Navigating the Research Ecosystem SRAI Module |
| 14 | Mar 09 | [Asynchronous] Navigating the Research Ecosystem SRAI Module |
| 15 | Mar 11 | [Synchronous] The Research Ecosystem and Funders: JMU's Office of Research Development |
| 16 | Mar 16 | [Synchronous] The Research Ecosystem and Funders: Identifying Funders and Funding Opportunities |
| 17 | Mar 18 | Spring Break |
| 18 | Mar 23 | Spring Break |
| 19 | Mar 25 | [Asynchronous] The Sponsored Program Journey SRAI Module |
| 20 | Mar 30 | [Asynchronous] The Sponsored Program Journey SRAI Module |
| 21 | Apr 01 | [Asynchronous] The Sponsored Program Journey SRAI Module |
| 22 | Apr 06 | [Asynchronous] The Sponsored Program Journey SRAI Module |
| 23 | Apr 08 | [Asynchronous] Budgeting: Reading NOFOs & Funder Guidelines |
| 24 | Apr 13 | [Asynchronous] Budgeting: Reading NOFOs & Funder Guidelines |
| 25 | Apr 15 | [Asynchronous] Budgeting: Developing a Budget & Budget Justification |
| 26 | Apr 20 | [Synchronous] Budgeting: JMU's Office of Sponsored Programs-Administrative Services |
| 27 | Apr 22 | [Synchronous] Budgeting: Building a budget and Budget Justification |
| 28 | Apr 27 | [Asynchronous] Department of Education Post-award Training |
| 29 | Apr 29 | [Synchronous] Post-award Research Administration: JMU's Office of Sponsored Programs - Financial Administration |
| 30 | May 04 | [Synchronous] Post-award Research Administration: Case Studies |
| 31 | May 06 | [Synchronous] Careers in Research Administration |
| 32 | May 11 | [Asynchronous] Final Project |
Topics in Public Policy: Introduction to Research Administration Syllabus (2026 Spring)
| Course Title | Topics in Public Policy (POSC391) |
| Department | Department of Political Science |
| Class time & Classroom | Monday and Wednesday 1:50 PM – 3:05 PM / Remote |
| Instructor | Dr. Kadir Jun Ayhan |
| E-mail : ayhankx jmu.edu | Phone: : 540-568-5428 |
| Office Hours & Location | Monday 3:30 - 4:30 PM or by appointment / Virtual |
1 Course Overview
1.1 Course Description
This course introduces research integrity, pre-award procedures, and post-award procedures, the three primary areas of this fast-growing field. Instruction is provided through a mix of online modules and in-person project-based learning. You will interact with practitioners in JMU’s Office of Research Integrity, Office of Research Development, Office of Sponsored Programs-Administrative Services, and Sponsored Programs-Financial Administration.
Full details of the course can be found on the course syllabus page. We will have a mix of activities, which are outlined on the schedule below. The schedule also indicates which classes are online synchronous and which ones are online asynchronous activities.
1.2 Prerequisites
None.
1.3 Learning Objectives
1.4 Assignments and Evaluation
Letter Grades: A= 96-100; A-= 91-95; B+= 88-90; B= 84-87; B-= 83-80; C+= 75-79; C= 70-74; C-= 65-69; D+= 60-64; D= 55-59; D-= 50-54; F= below 50.
Explanation of the evaluation system:
2 Course Materials and Additional Readings
2.1 Textbooks
3 Course Policies
3.1 Contacting Me
Please contact me via email if you have any questions or would like to make an appointment.
3.2 Attendance Policy
Attendance is mandatory. I expect students to attend all classes and participate actively in discussions. If you miss a class, it is your responsibility to catch up on the material covered.
3.3 Academic Honesty
Students must use proper citation and avoid plagiarism. Please use the APA citation style. Plagiarism will not be tolerated and severely punished.
Plagiarism: presenting others’ work without adequate acknowledgement of its source, as though it were one’s own. Plagiarism is a form of fraud. We all stand on the shoulders of others, and we must give credit to the creators of the works that we incorporate into products that we call our own. Some examples of plagiarism:
a sequence of words incorporated without quotation marks;
an unacknowledged passage paraphrased from another’s word;
the use of ideas, sound recordings, computer data or images created by others as though it were one’s own.”
See also this link.
3.3.1 Generative AI Tools1
I permit you to use generative AI tools for “planning, organizing, outlining, brainstorming, and copy-editing your work for any major or minor assignment”, but this use must be responsible, ethical, and aligned with the goals of academic learning. AI tools should support your understanding, not replace your critical thinking or original contributions. Even when using AI, your assignments must reflect your own voice, reasoning, and ownership.
Think of AI tools as similar to using a dictionary or the internet: helpful for learning and refinement, but not a substitute for your intellectual work.
Please do not prompt AI tools to write your assignments for you. These tools, while powerful, do not understand the context of your assignment or the specific expectations of this course. They generate text based on patterns in training data, not on critical or creative thinking. As such, they often produce generic, superficial, or biased content, and may even hallucinate facts or logic.
3.3.1.1 Al Statement
If you choose to incorporate an Al tool into your writing process, you are required to include a separate “AI Statement” within your assignment. Think of this statement as a brief reflection essay. It should be about [200-250] words in length. In it, you should not only describe your experience of using the AI tool but, more importantly, convincingly convey the significant insights and lessons you gained through the process. These insights should be on par with what you might have learned had you completed the assignment without Al assistance. The assignment will be graded in light of your explanations in the Al statement, thus it is important to persuade the reader that your use of the Al tools provided a valuable learning experience. (Source: Prompted by David McGraw, a JMU ISAT faculty member, ChatGPT developed this syllabus statement for use in his courses.)
3.3.1.2 Proofreading Using AI Tools
You may use AI tools to proofread your assignments. However, the final submission must reflect your own understanding and voice.
To maintain control over your work:
Ask AI tools to review small sections (e.g., a paragraph or sentence) rather than entire documents.
Carefully review and evaluate any suggestions.
If you are unsure about a recommendation, trust your own judgment.
Remember: your cognitive abilities and contextual understanding are superior to those of AI tools.
1 “Generative AI (GenAI) is a form of artificial intelligence capable of producing new content using predictive algorithms. Text-based GenAI tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini are powered by Large Language Models (LLMs). LLMs are machine learning models pre-trained with large amounts of data to learn patterns and norms. In response to a user’s prompt, GenAI uses those learned patterns to predict and create plausible outputs. These are predictive models that generate new content based on learned patterns so no output will be the same (even though sometimes outputs have a common style or tone).” Source
3.3.2 JMU Honor Code
The JMU Honor Code is available from the Honor Council Web site.
3.3.3 JMU SafeAssign
In this course one or more of your writing assignments may be submitted to the instructor through Blackboard’s SafeAssign plagiarism prevention service as approved by JMU. Your writing assignment will be checked for plagiarism against Internet sources, millions of academic journal articles, the JMU SafeAssign database and the SafeAssign Global Reference Database. SafeAssign generates an originality report for the instructor that highlights any blocks of text in your paper that match the above reference sources and allows a line-by-line comparison of potentially unoriginal text from your paper with the matching document sections in the reference sources. Each paper you submit through SafeAssign for this or any class at JMU will be added to the JMU SafeAssign database and later used only to check against other JMU paper submissions. Neither Blackboard nor JMU claim any copyright ownership of your writing submitted through SafeAssign. When you submit your paper through SafeAssign you will be given the choice of whether or not to “opt in” and permanently contribute a copy of your paper to Blackboard’s Global Reference Database. This would protect your original writing from plagiarism at other institutions. Opting in and voluntarily contributing your work to the global database is an individual student decision and not required by your instructor or JMU. For more information about SafeAssign refer to the Web site.
3.4 Late Submissions
For late submissions, you will get 80% of your grading unless you have a valid excuse. You can always contact me if you have a valid excuse to ask for an extension. I do not require students to submit official documents (doctor report etc.). Your word is enough for me.
3.5 Adding/ Dropping Classes
Students are responsible for registering for classes and for verifying their class schedules on e-campus. Please refer to the JMU Academic Calendar for the last day to add or drop classes.
3.6 Disability Accommodations
If you need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability, you should contact the Office of Disability Services (Wilson Hall, Room 107, 540-568-6705) if you have not previously done so. Disability Services will provide you with an Access Plan Letter that will verify your need for services and make recommendations for accommodations to be used in the classroom. Once you have presented me with this letter, you and I will sit down and review the course requirements, your disability characteristics, and your requested accommodations to develop an individualized plan, appropriate for PUAD 605.
3.7 Inclement Weather Policies
3.8 Religious Observation Accommodations
All faculty are required to give reasonable and appropriate accommodations to students requesting them on grounds of religious observation. The faculty member determines what accommodations are appropriate for his/her course. Students should notify the faculty by no later than the end of the Drop-Add period the first week of the semester of potential scheduled absences and deter¬mine with the instructor if mutually acceptable alternative methods exist for completing the missed classroom time, lab or activity.
3.9 Special Needs
If you have other special needs, please let me know. I will do my best to flexibly accommodate your needs.
4 Student Resources
Please refer to the JMU Student Resources for additional resources available to students, including.
5 Course Schedule
Notes
The contents of this syllabus are not final. I may update them later.
Read the Syllabus!
