(A) Name. This organization shall be known as the graduate faculty of the university of Akron.
(B) Purpose. The purpose of the graduate faculty shall be to encourage and contribute to the advancement of knowledge through instruction and research of highest quality, and to foster a spirit of inquiry and a high value on scholarship throughout the university.
(C) Duties. The duties of the graduate faculty shall be:
(1) To develop curricula leading to appropriate graduate degrees;
(2) To participate in research, publication, and professional societies;
(3) To recruit, encourage, and supervise superior students in their graduate studies;
(4) To conduct graduate classes and seminars that stimulate creativity, independent thought, and scholarly attitudes and performance;
(5) To serve on supporting committees, as needed; to supervise student research; and to direct theses and dissertations;
(6) To provide advice to the dean of libraries regarding graduate program needs ;
(7) To appoint the members of the graduate council, and if appointed to the council, to serve in the best interests of the graduate faculty and the graduate school; and
(8) To participate in the selection of a dean of the graduate school.
(D) Membership.
(1) The following shall be members of the graduate faculty.
(a) President of the university.
(b) Senior vice president and provost.
(c) Dean of the graduate school.
(d) Associate/assistant dean(s) of the graduate school.
(e) Deans of colleges offering graduate programs.
(f) Distinguished professors.
(g) Chairs of departments/schools offering graduate programs.
(h) Appointees as indicated in paragraph (D)(2) of this rule.
(2) There is only one graduate faculty of the university of Akron. Within that graduate faculty, members have different responsibilities. All members of the graduate faculty are defined as being "Category I" members. Those members of the graduate faculty, who request and are granted the prerogative to oversee master's theses or master's theses and doctoral dissertations (described herein), as primary advisor are defined as being "Category II" and "Category III" members, respectively.
(a) Application for graduate faculty membership is made upon the recommendation of the graduate faculty of the department/school or a duly constituted committee of that faculty. Applications are reviewed in turn by the department chair/school director, the college dean, and the graduate council. Appointments to the graduate faculty are made by the dean of the graduate school on the basis of the recommendations of the graduate council. Any member of the university faculty, who holds a full-time appointment at the rank of assistant professor, associate professor or professor, including those ex-officio members designated in paragraphs (D)(1)(a) to (D)(1)(g) of this rule, may be nominated.
(b) Nominations and recommendations for appointments of members shall be made in the following categories:
(i) "Category I": teaching of master's and doctoral courses and serving as a member of thesis and dissertation committees.
(ii) "Category II": "Category I" responsibilities plus serving as primary advisor overseeing master's degree theses.
(iii) "Category III": "Category II" responsibilities plus serving as primary advisor overseeing doctoral dissertations.
(c) Ex-officio appointments shall be in "Category I." A majority of members serving on doctoral dissertation committees must be in "Category III." Candidates, who started their first academic faculty appointment within one year of applying for graduate faculty membership, will be granted the category that they request for a five-year period.
Reappointments in "Category II" and Category III" will then be contingent upon requirements for these categories. "Category I" appointments will be for the duration of the faculty member's appointment to the university and does not require renewal.
(d) Quality is the primary factor in awarding membership on the graduate faculty. Those closest to the discipline are in the best position to provide a qualitative assessment of a candidate's research, scholarly and/or creative accomplishments. The role of the department/school's graduate faculty, the department chair/school director, and the collegiate dean in evaluating the candidate's credentials for graduate faculty membership is to provide the crucial quality assessment. All applications forwarded for graduate faculty membership must contain written qualitative assessments of the candidate's research, scholarly and/or creative activities.
(e) In addition, in order to ensure minimum quantitative standards on a university-wide basis, the following shall be the minimum criteria for appointment to "Category I."
(i) Candidates must possess a terminal degree appropriate to their fields.
(ii) Candidates may present other evidence of scholarly or creative activity such as panel membership, discussant, patents or performance activity.
(f) The following shall be the minimum criteria for appointment and reappointment to "Category II."
(i) Candidates must possess a terminal degree appropriate to their field.
(ii) Candidates must be actively engaged in scholarly or creative activities demonstrative of current knowledge of and involvement with their fields. Examples of this requirement include:
(a) Paper presentations at regional, national or international meetings of the professional discipline; and
(b) Reviewed performances or exhibits or published creative work; a minimum of one refereed publication is required. For non-publication-oriented disciplines, reviewed creative work or activity in recognized forums is required.
(iii) Candidates may present other evidence of scholarly or creative activity such as panel membership, discussant, patents or performance activity.
(g) The following shall be the minimum criteria for appointment or reappointment to "Category III."
(i) Candidates must possess a terminal degree appropriate to their field of expertise and employment.
(ii) Current scholarly competence as demonstrated by at least four refereed scholarly publications or the equivalent. Examples may include refereed journal articles, chapters in scholarly books, conference proceedings, and successful external research grants. Two of these refereed publications must be journal articles or chapters in scholarly books.
(iii) In appropriate disciplines, scholarly books containing substantial original material by the author may be substituted for the refereed publications described in paragraph (D)(2)(g)(ii) of this rule.
(h) It shall be the responsibility of each department/school to develop its own guidelines specifying criteria for members of that department to be nominated for graduate faculty status, based on standards in their own disciplines. The guidelines will be developed by the full-time graduate faculty of the department/school and the academic dean. Guidelines must be approved by the graduate council and the dean of the graduate school. These guidelines shall meet or exceed the general criteria described above and shall be approved and on file in the graduate school office prior to the submission of any appointment application.
(i) Persons, who do not meet all of the preceding criteria but are recognized by their departmental/school colleagues as being highly qualified in their special fields of study, may apply in a specific category by the graduate faculty of a department/school for membership in the graduate faculty.
(j) All applications shall be accompanied by an abbreviated vita (form provided as part of the application). Such curriculum vita must provide complete information concerning possession of the appropriate terminal degree for the discipline, concerning research and scholarship with bibliographic citations (complete, ordered list of authors' names, volumes, years, pages), and other scholarly or professional activities indicated by year. The curriculum vita must differentiate refereed publications from non-refereed.
(i) The applicant, departmental graduate faculty committee, department chair/school director, and the college dean are to provide or attest to both qualitative and quantitative information substantiating the nominee's qualifications.
(ii) The candidate must specify which category of membership is desired. Candidates, who are clearly qualified for "Category III," should request consideration for this category of membership, even if they are not affiliated with doctoral programs.
(3) A faculty member holding joint appointments in more than one university department/school must seek graduate faculty status in each department/school in which graduate faculty membership is desired.
(4) Any person desiring to appeal graduate council's actions taken under the provision of paragraph (D)(2) of this rule may appeal to the graduate school dean, who will form a committee composed of: two members of the graduate council who are not on the graduate faculty membership committee, and three members of the graduate faculty who are not in the candidate's department/school to rule on the appeal .
(5) Appointments to the graduate faculty shall be for initial and subsequent terms of five years for "Category II" and "Category III" status. Terms shall begin on the first day of the fall semester and end on the day preceding the first day of the fall semester five years later. Appointments made during the fall semester shall be considered as having been made on the first day of that semester. For appointments made during the spring semester, the term shall be considered as having begun on the first day of the following fall semester. Applications for reappointments shall be made not later than March first for a term to begin in the following fall semester.
(6) Adjunct, part-time, visiting, non-tenure track, and other faculty members and qualified professionals from the community with substantial expertise in a student's focus of research, as determined by the graduate program shall be eligible for ad hoc temporary "Category I" appointment to the graduate faculty. Such an appointment shall be given for the performance of specified graduate faculty functions (e.g., for teaching specific master's or doctoral level courses and serving on specific master's or doctoral committees).
(a) Ad hoc temporary functions shall exclude serving as primary advisor overseeing doctoral dissertations or master's theses.
(b) The dean of the graduate school shall make such an appointment for a specified period of time to fulfill specified function(s), normally for a period of up to five academic years. Faculty shall be nominated for such an appointment by the full-time graduate faculty in the department/school, the department chair/school director, and the collegiate dean, and must possess the appropriate terminal degree, documented experience, and other credentials relevant to performance of the specified graduate faculty function(s), as defined by departmental/school guidelines.
(c) An ad hoc appointment may be renewed, but only on a case-by-case basis.
(7) Only members of the graduate faculty shall be permitted to teach courses at the graduate level. This does not preclude expert guest lecturers provided the graduate faculty member maintains oversight and teaches the majority of the course. Only those members who hold a full-time, regular (non-ad hoc temporary) appointment to the graduate faculty at the university of Akron shall be eligible to vote as graduate faculty members.
(8) For some disciplines, "Category III" graduate faculty status is essential for a faculty member's career path. Therefore, a new hire started their first academic faculty appointment more than one year ago may be granted "Category III" for a five-year period according to the following scale:
| Time since start of their first academic faculty appointment | Publications* required |
| 0-1 year | 0 refereed publications |
| 1-2 years | 1 refereed publication |
| 2-3 years | 2 refereed publications |
| 3-4 years | 3 refereed publications |
*Or creative activity according to department/school criteria.
The scale is equivalent to one refereed publication per year following the start of their first academic faculty appointment or four refereed publications in the last five years.
(E) Officers. Officers of the graduate faculty shall be the president of the university, the senior vice president and provost, the academic deans of colleges offering graduate programs, the dean of the graduate school, and a vice chair elected by the graduate council. Their duties shall be as follows:
(1) The president, as executive head of the university in all its departments/schools, shall receive the reports of subordinate officers, shall advise and counsel them, and shall have the powers and responsibilities stated in the bylaws of the board of trustees of the university.
(2) The senior vice president and provost shall advise and counsel the dean of the graduate school and the graduate faculty as the chief academic officer of the university responsible to the president for the supervision of the academic functions of the university.
(3) The academic deans of those colleges offering graduate programs shall be responsible for direct supervision of graduate faculty and programs within their respective colleges.
(4) The dean of the graduate school shall be responsible for the administration of the graduate school, and shall supervise its programs and its student body. The dean (or delegate) shall serve as chair and preside at graduate school sponsored meetings of the graduate faculty. The graduate school shall be responsible for recording and maintaining of minutes of all graduate school sponsored meetings of the graduate faculty.
(5) The vice chair shall be elected by the graduate council and shall preside over graduate faculty and graduate council meetings in the absence of the chair or the chair's designee.
(F) Committees. The graduate council shall be the executive committee of the graduate faculty and shall represent the graduate faculty in proposing matters of academic policy and procedure of the graduate school, and in counseling and advising with the dean of the graduate school in matters of administering the graduate school.
(1) The graduate council shall consist of full-time graduate faculty appointed by each of the graduate degree-granting colleges and two elected faculty senate representatives. Degree-granting colleges will appoint representatives apportioned on the basis of graduate program demographics. College representatives and senate representatives shall be voting members . In addition membership shall include the following non-voting members: one elected graduate student; the dean of the graduate school; and the (senior) associate dean of the graduate school.
(a) The student member shall be elected yearly by the graduate student government.
(b) The dean shall not have voting rights, except in the case of tie votes.
(c) The number and apportionment of graduate council members shall be determined and reviewed every three years . A similar review shall be conducted whenever a college not now offering a graduate degree shall institute one or a college sunsets all of its graduate programs.
(2) The term of office of a faculty member on the graduate council shall be three years and the terms arranged so that no fewer than four members shall be replaced each year. Members may serve no more than two consecutive terms. No more than one member of the faculty of any department/school may serve on council during any given year. Faculty membership on the graduate council is limited to those members of the graduate faculty who qualify under paragraph (D)(2) of this rule or department chairs/school directors who qualify under paragraph (D)(1) of this rule.
(3) The process for appointment of new faculty representatives to the graduate council each year is as follows .
(a) The colleges with representatives rotating off the graduate counsel shall submit the names of their new representatives to the dean of the graduate school no later than May first.
(b) If a vacancy should occur on the graduate council before the end of the representative's term, the college should submit the name(s) of the new member that shall serve for that portion of the term for which the originally appointed member shall be absent.
(4) The duties of the graduate council shall include:
(a) To evaluate the qualifications of nominees and recommend membership on the graduate faculty.
(b) To counsel and advise the dean of the graduate school on any matter that the graduate council brings to the dean. If such matters impact academic policies or administration of academic policies, graduate council will include a vote along with its counsel and advice .
(c) To approve graduate curricula and formation of new graduate degree programs.
(5) The dean of the graduate school or a designee shall serve as chair of the graduate council. At its first meeting each fall, council shall elect from among its members a vice chair and a secretary. The vice chair shall work with the chair on the agenda for each meeting and preside in the absence of the chair.
(6) Standing committees of the graduate council shall be as follows:
(a) A graduate faculty membership committee, comprised of a chair and one other faculty member of the graduate council who will serve as vice chair, plus representation from the membership of the graduate faculty, shall be composed . All colleges with graduate programs shall be represented in the membership of this committee. A majority of the total members must hold category III faculty status. The size of the committee will be at the discretion of the graduate council. This committee shall review all nominations for membership on the graduate faculty, using the guidelines in paragraph (D)(2) of this rule, and make recommendations to the graduate council. Those persons approved by the graduate council shall be recommended to the dean of the graduate school for appointment to the graduate faculty. Any nominated person who is rejected by the council or the dean may seek further consideration through the procedure described in paragraph (D)(4) of this rule.
(b) A graduate faculty curriculum committee, comprised of a chair and one other faculty member of the graduate council who will serve as vice chair, plus representation from the membership of the graduate faculty, shall be composed All colleges with graduate programs shall be represented in the membership of this committee. The size of the committee will be at the discretion of the graduate council. This committee shall review all curriculum proposals and related curricular issues referred to either the graduate council or the dean of the graduate school under the operative university curriculum review policies and procedures.
(c) The dean of the graduate school shall be an ex-officio, non-voting member of all standing committees of the graduate council. No other member of the graduate faculty may serve on more than one standing committee at a time.
(d) Ad hoc committees of graduate council (e.g., student policies) may be appointed by the dean of the graduate school as needed. The chair shall be a member of graduate council and shall report to the council.
(7) Minutes of the graduate council meetings shall be available electronically to all members of the graduate council before the next council meeting. Action taken by the graduate council that requires faculty senate approval (i.e. graduate curricula and new graduate degree programs and university-level academic policies) will be forwarded to the faculty senate.
(8) The graduate council shall meet regularly during the academic year and a majority of the membership shall constitute a quorum.
The agenda for meetings of the graduate council shall be prepared by the graduate school prior to each meeting and shall include a report from each standing committee. Any member of the graduate faculty may submit items for the agenda to any member of the graduate council.
Last updated September 25, 2023 at 8:21 AM