East
Carolina University Faculty Manual
APPENDIX
F.
GRADUATE
SCHOOL ORGANIZATION
I. The
Graduate Faculty
A.
Functions
and Jurisdictions
The graduate faculty exercises the authority within the
university for development of general policies and procedures for all
graduate courses and programs. The graduate faculty may
modify this instrument, Graduate School Organization, directly or through the
concurrent approval of the Graduate Assembly and the Graduate School Administrative
Board.
B.
Membership
The following paragraphs address the general qualifications
for membership, rights, privileges and responsibilities, method
of appointment, and method of reappointment of each category
of membership on the graduate faculty and the methods of
implementing these policies.
There are five types of membership in the graduate faculty.
They are (1) graduate faculty member, (2) associate graduate
faculty member, (3) graduate teaching faculty member, (4)
ex-officio graduate faculty member, and (5) adjunct graduate
faculty member.
Graduate Faculty Members. Qualifications for graduate faculty members include:
·
The
highest earned degree in the field.
·
Demonstrated
evidence of success in research/creative activity.
·
Demonstrated
evidence of successful graduate teaching.
·
Demonstrated
evidence of successful supervision of research or creative activity, if
applicable. In some instances, extensive professional experience, high
productivity, or successful competition for research/creative activity support
may substitute for the highest degree.
Graduate faculty members are eligible to serve on the
Graduate Assembly, the Administrative Board of the Graduate
School, the Graduate Curriculum Committee, may teach
graduate classes, may chair doctoral or master's committees,
and may be a member of doctoral or master's committees. Code
units may define additional criteria for eligibility to
serve in doctoral programs.
Appointment to the graduate faculty occurs as the result of
the following procedure. Upon recommendation of the graduate faculty of the
code unit (the procedure for which has been outlined as described under
Implementation, below), the appropriate unit administrator forwards a
nomination to the dean of the college or professional school, as appropriate,
and then to the dean of the Graduate School. Each nomination should state the
type of appointment and contain evidence that the nominee has satisfied the
criteria for the type of membership sought in a manner consistent with the code
unit's interpretation of those criteria. The dean of the Graduate School will
review the recommendation of the academic unit to determine that it is
consistent with the unit’s criteria and appointment procedures. If the dean
concurs, he or she will notify the Graduate School Administrative Board, the
academic unit and the faculty member of his or her appointment. If the dean
does not approve the unit’s recommendation the application will automatically
be referred to the Graduate School Administrative Board. A two-thirds majority
of the Graduate School Administrative Board will be required to overturn the
administrative decision.
For individuals with permanent tenure, appointment to the
graduate faculty is for five years. At the end of the term, the appointment
shall be reviewed within the unit in the manner outlined for initial
appointments, except that the focus will
be on the activity during the five years immediately
preceding the evaluation. If it is the opinion of the code unit graduate
faculty that the appointment should be renewed, the appropriate unit
administrator will add his/her opinion and submit the appropriate renewal
application to the dean of the College or professional school, as appropriate,
and then to the dean of the Graduate School who will review the application. To
be reappointed, it is not necessary for an individual to have participated in
all phases of graduate education. Individuals appointed to major administrative
assignments (department chairs or above) who are members or associate members
of the graduate faculty at the time of their appointment are exempt from the
renomination process until five years after the expiration of the
administrative appointment. Individuals with other administrative appointments
may be considered for a waiver by the Administrative Board of the Graduate
School upon nomination by their code units.
It is recognized that the process for awarding permanent
tenure involves the evaluation of the individual's research, teaching, and
service to the university over a substantial period of time as well as relevant
experiences at other universities. Therefore, recipients of permanent tenure
subsequent to the implementation of these policies by the graduate faculty are
eligible for appointment as a member of the graduate faculty if that person is
not already a member. To effect this appointment, it is the responsibility of
the code unit to notify the dean of the college or professional school, as
appropriate, and then the dean of the Graduate School of any person in this
category to request an appointment to the graduate faculty. It is emphasized
that there is no permanent tenure for graduate faculty appointments and persons
appointed in this manner are subject to the same term limits and appointment
renewal policies as other members of the graduate faculty. This process is used
only by entities directly responsible for graduate degree programs.
For faculty on probationary appointments, the term on the
graduate faculty is coterminous with the length of that appointment or four
years, whichever is longer. Tenure track faculty will be renominated for the
graduate faculty as part of the contract renewal process immediately prior to
the expiration of the term on the graduate faculty. The appropriate dean or
chair will provide information on the faculty member's accomplishments during
the period to the appropriate graduate faculty in the unit and the nomination
process will proceed as outlined above.
Associate Graduate Faculty Members. Qualifications for associate graduate
faculty members include:
·
Highest
earned degree in the field.
·
Demonstrated
evidence of success or the potential for success in research/creative activity.
·
Demonstrated
evidence of successful graduate teaching or the potential of such success.
·
Demonstrated
evidence of successful supervision of research or creative activity or the
potential of such success, if applicable. In some instances, extensive
professional experience, high productivity, or successful competition for
research/creative activity support may substitute for the highest degree.
Associate graduate faculty members may serve as members of
the Graduate Assembly, may teach graduate classes, may chair doctoral or
master's committees, and may be a member of doctoral or master's committees. Code
units may define additional criteria for eligibility to serve in doctoral
programs. Code units must define criteria for associate graduate faculty
members to chair doctoral committees. All procedures for appointment and
reappointment as well as terms of office for the associate graduate faculty
will be the same as those for the graduate faculty members.
Graduate Teaching Faculty Members. Qualifications for graduate
teaching faculty members include:
·
Highest
earned degree in the field.
·
Professional
certifications or licensure as specified by the code unit.
·
Demonstrated
evidence of success or the potential for success graduate teaching.
·
Evidence
of professional growth, e.g., completion of continuing education, participation
in relevant seminars, or other professional activity. In some instances,
especially for clinical faculty, extensive professional experience, high
productivity, or successful competition for research/creative activity support
may substitute for the highest degree.
Graduate teaching faculty members may teach masters or
doctoral classes as appropriate for their background, certification, and
experience and may be the fourth member of a master's committee upon
certification of appropriate experience or expertise by the unit administrator.
All tenure-track faculty who hold the appropriate terminal
degree for the discipline in which they hold their appointments are deemed to
be members of the graduate teaching faculty upon their initial appointments.
Code units are responsible for notifying the dean of the college or
professional school, as appropriate, and the dean of the Graduate School of
these individuals and requesting an appointment to the graduate teaching
faculty. As part of their first evaluation for contract renewal of a probationary
appointment, if the code unit wishes the person to become a member or associate
member of the graduate faculty, it would use the information gathered in the
process of contract renewal to provide the nominations as outlined above. If
the code unit wishes the person to remain a member of the graduate teaching
faculty, it renews the appointment by notifying the dean of the college or
professional school, as appropriate, the dean of the Graduate School, and the
individual involved. If the code unit wishes to remove the person from
responsibilities for graduate teaching, it notifies the person, the dean of the
college or professional school if appropriate, and the dean of the Graduate
School.
Other appointments to the graduate teaching faculty are made
by the appropriate code unit administrator, the graduate faculty of the code
unit, and the dean of the Graduate School, in accordance with procedures
approved by the graduate faculty of the code unit. These appointments are valid
for the terms of the individuals' contracts.
Adjunct Members. Persons not currently faculty members at East Carolina
University may be named to the graduate faculty as adjunct members. Adjunct
appointments may be made to any of the types of positions outlined above.
Adjunct members of the graduate faculty must meet the same qualifications as
required for the category to which they are named and are appointed and
reappointed using the same procedures as graduate faculty members of the same
category. Second and subsequent appointments as adjunct members must be
predicated upon successful teaching experience and continuation of a level of
professional activity appropriate to the category of membership.
Ex-officio Members. Administrators with responsibilities for graduate programs
who do not hold other appointments to the graduate faculty will be appointed to
an ex-officio membership commensurate with background and experience and will
hold that appointment for the duration of their administrative appointment.
C. Meetings
The graduate faculty may meet in plenary session. Meetings
may be called by the chairperson, the Graduate Assembly, the Graduate School
Administrative Board, or upon petition of the graduate faculty as indicated
below (II,A.1.). Notice of a plenary session with time, place, and agenda will
be distributed to members of the graduate faculty at least a full week prior to
the meeting.
One-half or more of the graduate faculty will constitute a
quorum for purposes of transacting such business as appears on the printed
agenda. A simple majority of those graduate faculty members in attendance shall
govern unless decision to the contrary is made prior to a ballot. When a quorum
is not present at a called meeting, agenda items will be referred to the
Graduate School Administrative Board for action.
A plenary session shall be conducted according to the most
recent edition of Robert's Rules of Order. Minutes shall be kept and
distributed to all members of the university faculty not later than ten days
following the session.
D. Canvass
Business and opinion polls may be conducted through canvass
of the graduate faculty by the chairperson when approved by the Graduate School
Administrative Board. Ballots or other materials will be addressed to each
graduate faculty member and sent through campus mail or delivered by
messengers. To transact business through a canvass, at least one-half of the
total graduate faculty must return ballots. A simple majority shall govern
unless the Graduate School Administrative Board establishes a different criterion
when it approved a canvass.
When the graduate faculty is canvassed in this manner, each
ballot will provide space in which each member can indicate his or her
preference for a plenary session dealing with the issue to be decided. If 15
percent or more of the graduate faculty indicates preference for a session, the
canvass will be nullified; and a plenary session will be called.
E. Voting Privileges
Only graduate faculty members vote on university-wide issues
and serve on the Graduate Administrative Board of the Graduate School except as
indicated below (II, B.1.). It is assumed that each unit will encourage
participation of individuals holding
other appointments in decision making and planning related to the graduate
programs in which they are involved.
F. Implementation
Each code unit with a graduate program will develop a
procedure for obtaining faculty input to the process of
nominating graduate faculty and report this procedure to the
Graduate School Administrative Board. In addition,
each code unit with a graduate program will examine the
educational objectives of their graduate degrees which were
prepared for the SACS accreditation and articulate the types
of research, creative activity, or other activities which are
appropriate for graduate faculty in their discipline. Each
code unit will then submit its articulation to the Administrative
Board of the Graduate School for approval. Once the
articulation is approved, it will be used to evaluate nominations
for the graduate and associate graduate faculty from the
submitting code unit.
Except as noted above for administrators and ex-officio
members, the status of all existing members of the graduate
and associate graduate faculty will be confirmed within five
years of the approval of the procedures and criteria
according to a process to be developed by the Graduate
School Administrative Board. These members may
choose the year in which the confirmation occurs within a
five year period.