II. Graduate Faculty Membership - Return to Index

A. Criteria and Categories.

Faculty with the rank of Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, Instructor, or Adjunct Faculty are eligible to be nominated as regular members of the graduate faculty. Nominations are made by the Graduate Studies Committee. Potential graduate faculty members must have both an active program of research and a sincere commitment to student advising.

The Graduate School Handbook describes the criteria for appointment and responsibilities of graduate faculty with Category M or P status. Graduate faculty status affects the official role a faculty member may take as an advisor (see the Graduate School Handbook). Briefly, category P faculty may advise PhD and MS students; category M faculty may advise MS students. The Horticulture and Crop Science program also permits category M faculty to serve on examining and advisory committees of PhD students.

B. Removal of Graduate Faculty Status.

Procedures for removing or reducing the rank of graduate faculty members are needed in order to protect the quality of the graduate program. The Graduate Studies Committee, with input from graduate faculty and students, may recommend to the Policy and Standards Committee of the Research and Graduate Council that the category level of a graduate faculty member be reduced or that the individual be removed from membership in the graduate faculty. Criteria for category reduction or removal from the graduate faculty may include poor performance as adviser or mentor, poor quality of graduate students' research proposals, poor record of publication of graduate students' research, or poor performance in teaching graduate classes.

Reduction of category level or removal from the graduate faculty may not take place without a probationary period of at least two years, during which time the faculty member will be given the opportunity to demonstrate significant improvement. The Graduate Studies Committee may set limits on the number of advisees or advisory committees of a probationary faculty member.

Reducing the category level of a graduate faculty member or removing the faculty member from the graduate faculty will require the approval of a majority of the faculty members of the Graduate Studies Committee. Both placement on probation and final action against a probationary faculty member will require a majority vote. Voting will be by secret ballot. Graduate student and staff members of the Graduate Studies Committee may participate in discussion of these issues but may not vote.

Prior to voting, the Graduate Studies Committee will allow opportunity for input from administrators, faculty, and graduate students. Input may include reports of exit interviews with graduate students, publication records, student progress reports, and any other relevant information. The issue will be discussed at a meeting of the faculty; if possible, this meeting will coincide with a faculty meeting at which promotion and tenure of faculty members is to be considered. The Graduate Studies Committee will inform the faculty member of the action being considered and will give the faculty member an opportunity to meet with the Committee prior to any vote.

The Graduate Studies Committee will review each member of the graduate faculty annually, based on information supplied in the faculty member's annual report of accomplishments.

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