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Medical Laboratory and Radiation Sciences Student Handbook of Departmental Policies

Arkansas State University

College of Nursing & Health Professions

Medical Laboratory and Radiation Sciences Department

Student Handbook of Departmental Policies 

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Mission, Philosophy, and Goals 

 

University Mission 

Arkansas State University educates leaders, enhances intellectual growth, and enriches lives. 

 

College of Nursing and Health Professions Mission

Our mission is to prepare leaders to meet current and future global healthcare demands and positively impact health and wellness in the Mississippi Delta region and beyond through innovative scholarship and outreach.

MLRS Department Mission 

The mission of the Department of Medical Laboratory & Radiation Sciences is to provide comprehensive, multi-skilled education preparingexperiences to produce students who are ready for entry-level practice intoin the medical laboratory, medical imaging, or radiation therapy professions. This mission is accomplished through collaborative education, research, and service efforts with the health care community.  

General Policies and Regulations (in alphabetical order)

Academic Integrity Policy

The College Student Academic Honor Code exists in addition to the University Code of Conduct, and the Academic Integrity Policy found in the Student Handbook. An academic honor offense by the college code is defined as an act of lying/willful misrepresentation, cheating/unauthorized collaboration, plagiarism, or facilitating academic dishonesty of others. These terms are defined as follows:

Lying/willful misrepresentation - a false statement (written or oral) made with the deliberate intent to deceive; something intended to or serving to convey a false impression. 


  • Fabricating quotations and/or sources

  • Fabricating, dishonestly adjusting, omitting, or otherwise misrepresenting research results and records, including information, data, statistics, research facts, and its analysis

  • Engaging in selective reporting or omission of conflicting data for deceptive purposes

  • Altering graded work, then resubmitting it for a new grade

  • Providing false information about reasons for class absences or late work when requesting a make-up quiz or exam or an extension for homework

  • Submitting the same paper in more than one class without the approval of the instructors involved 

  • Submitting a paper from a previous semester for a current class without the approval from the instructor 

  • Failing to provide required or requested information regarding academic performance or enrollments at previous institutions

  • Intentionally obstructing or interfering with other students’ academic work, or otherwise undertaking activity with the purpose of creating or obtaining an unfair academic advantage over other students’ academic work.

  • Altering documents affecting academic records, such as falsifying information on an official academic document, form, grade report, letter of permission, clinical record, student ID cards, or any other official document. 

  • Providing false information to others about academic performance, leadership activities, or membership in student organizations. 

  • Falsification of information records

  • Recording hours not actually worked

  • Submitting an altered or fabricated preceptor evaluation

  • Altering a score, grade, or schedule change on an academic record. 

  • Forging the signature of an instructor, advisor, dean, or another student without proper authorization

  • Creating false university, college, or other official correspondence (such as medical documentation)     


Cheating/unauthorized collaboration - to practice fraud or deceit; academic fraud is a form of cheating and includes such things as plagiarism (including Internet resources), false citation, false data, and submission of the same work to fulfill academic requirements in multiple classes.


  • Using notes, books, calculators, phones, photos, computers, websites, tweets, social media, or other aids during a quiz or an exam when not allowed by the instructor

  • Talking during a quiz or exam when told by the instructor that talking is not permitted

  • Looking at another student’s exam or quiz during the testing period

  • Continuing to work on a quiz or exam after the instructor has notified students that time for the test has ended 

  • Ignoring the guidelines specified by the instructor for an assignment or for a “take home” test and instead using materials or study aids that the instructor has forbidden

  • Receiving help with homework, reports, labs, paper, data collection, or other activities when not allowed by the instructor

  • Accepting credit for a group project without doing your share of the work

  • Helping others with their homework or other assignments when not allowed by the instructor

  • Allowing others to view your answers or copy part of your homework, lab, quiz answers, exam answers, or other related work when not permitted to do so by the instructor

  • A group doing another student’s work on a group project, lab, presentation, report, or other activity while presenting the work as if done by the entire group equally 


Plagiarism – as defined in the 1995 Random House dictionary is the “use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one’s own original work.” Within academia plagiarism is considered academic dishonesty or academic fraud and offenders are subject to a number of penalties including course failure or other severe consequences. 


  • Using the words, sentences, arguments, rhetorical structures, and ideas of another without proper citation and acknowledgement 

  • Copying data, facts, graphs, computer programs, spreadsheets, images, photos, film/video, or other materials and using them without proper citation or acknowledgement

  • Copying homework, quiz, or exam answers from an answer key, solution manual, textbook, web site, or other items from another student, thus presenting another’s work as your own

  • Failing to use quotation marks properly or when needed

  • Failing to give a source for quoted materials

  • Failing to paraphrase language completely

  • Failing to give a source for paraphrases

  • Failing to cite sources correctly and completely 


Facilitating academic dishonesty of others – intentionally or knowingly helping or attempting to help others commit an act of academic dishonesty.


  •  Writing a paper for another student 

  • Allowing another student to use your past homework assignments, paper, labs, or similar items

  • Sharing homework with another student when told collaboration is not allowed

  • Allowing or helping another student to look at your exam or quiz during a test

  • Sharing with other students your notes, books, calculators, phones, photos, computers, websites, tweets, social media, or other aids during a quiz or an exam when not allowed by the instructor

  • Completing another student’s exam or quiz by filling in the student’s answer sheet or by attending the exam in place of the other student 

  • Providing any materials, information, or assistance to another person with the knowledge or reasonable expectation that such would be used for dishonest purposes 

  • Stealing, reproducing, circulating, or otherwise gaining access to a quiz, exam, or homework materials prior to the time authorized by an instructor 


These academic honor code violations apply whether they are performed individually or in groups. They apply to didactic, laboratory, and clinical experiences of the Medical Laboratory and Radiation Sciences programs.

 

Academic Standards 

A student who receives a grade below "C" (i.e. a D, F, FN, or W) in any of the courses offered within the MLRS department programs may not continue in any of our programs. Students should review the Readmission Policy in this Student Handbook and discuss readmission requirements with the respective Program Director. 

Clinical requirements will be detailed for each semester in the course's syllabi. Unsatisfactory progress in the clinical education process can result in a failed clinical grade for that course. Unsatisfactory progress includes poor student evaluation forms (Affective Evaluation or Attitude and Behavior form), non-completion of required clinical competency exams, and/or poor attendance practices. Requested removal of a student by a clinical site will be addressed with the Clinical Coordinator. All attempts will be made to place the student in another clinical site within a week. If another site is not available, clinical education and graduation may be delayed. A student removed from two clinical sites for performance issues may be removed from the program based on the discretion of the Program Director.

 

 

Updated 8/17/2026

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