Graduate School Constitution

• Preamble
• Article I
• Article II
• Article III
• Article IV
• Article V
• Article VI
• Article VII

• Download the Graduate School Constitution

Article III. The Graduate Faculty

1. Composition

The faculty of the Graduate School shall consist of the President of the University and the Dean of the Graduate School, ex officio, and the graduate faculty members of Graduate School programs as defined in Section 2 of this Article.

2. Faculty Membership

a. Privileges and Responsibilities of Members of the Graduate Faculty

Membership in the Graduate Faculty of a Graduate School program carries with it a set of privileges and responsibilities that shall be specified in a bylaw. Upon appointment to the Graduate Faculty, each faculty member will be accorded specific privileges and responsibilities depending on the category of membership to which the faculty member is appointed. Individual faculty members with graduate faculty appointments in multiple Graduate School programs carry all of the privileges and responsibilities associated with their appointment in each program. In such latter case, however, the faculty member is entitled to only one vote on Graduate School matters (such as a Constitutional referendum), not a vote for each program appointment.

b. Categories of membership in the faculty of a Graduate School program

The categories of membership in the faculty of a Graduate School program are Senior Member, Member, Affiliate Senior Member, and Affiliate Member. The privileges and responsibilities of each membership category shall be specified in a bylaw.

Bylaw 6: Graduate faculty membership in a specific graduate program should include the following specific privileges and responsibilities:

• to teach courses for graduate credit within the graduate program.
• to serve on student examination committees for Minor-Only and Post-Baccalaureate Certificate programs, both for students in these programs and as external examiners for students in other Graduate School programs.
• to serve on student examination committees for Master's-level degrees and as a thesis reviewer, both for students within the graduate program and as an external examiner for students enrolled in other Graduate School programs.
• to serve as an adviser for students pursuing Master's-level degrees.
• to serve as a Co-Adviser for Doctoral degrees in the graduate program.
• to serve on student examination committees for Doctoral degrees and as a thesis reviewer, both for students within the graduate program and as an external examiner for students enrolled in other Graduate School programs.
• to chair student examination committees for Doctoral degrees.
• to serve as an adviser for students pursuing Doctoral degrees in the graduate program.
• to participate in the governance of the graduate program and in the governance of the Graduate School.

Senior Membership includes all privileges and responsibilities enumerated in this bylaw (i-ix).

Affiliate Senior Membership may include all privileges and responsibilities as determined by the appointing graduate program and enumerated in this bylaw (i-viii) except governance (ix).

Membership includes the following privileges and responsibilities: teaching graduate-level courses (i); examining post-baccalaureate certificate and master's students, and serving as a thesis reviewer (ii - iii); and participating in governance (ix). Membership may include additionally as determined by the appointing graduate program and stipulated in the appointment document to the Graduate Faculty: advising master's students (iv), examining doctoral students (vi), and co-advising either or both master's and doctoral students.

Affiliate Membership may include all the privileges and responsibilities of Membership except governance (ix) as determined by the appointing graduate program and stipulated in the appointment document.

It is understood that if a faculty member has been accorded participation and voting privileges in the governance of the graduate program (accorded to Senior Members and Members), he or she is thereby entitled to vote in matters of Graduate School governance (ix). In cases of multiple graduate program appointments, the faculty member is entitled to participate in the governance of each, but may only vote once in Graduate School governance matters.

Upon the recommendation of any Policy and Review Council and after consultation with the Executive Committee, the Dean may authorize variants of graduate faculty membership to accommodate special circumstances or specialized classes of faculty.

Faculty members who may not be familiar with University of Minnesota practices and who will chair or serve on examining committees must be advised of program practices and procedures with regard to committee operations by either the DGS of the program or the adviser. In cases where Affiliate Senior or Affiliate Members serve as advisers, programs must establish co-advisers or other mechanisms to assure continued advising support for graduate students should the Affiliate Member leave the University. This mechanism must be in place before the advising appointment is made.

Except in cases of officially approved joint advisership, no faculty member shall advise students for degrees the appointing graduate program does not offer. (See Bylaw 18.)

Bylaw 7: Graduate programs may authorize individuals to teach graduate-level courses without holding membership in the graduate faculty, subject to the corresponding Policy and Review Council's guidelines.

Bylaw 8: Units that offer graduate-level courses but not graduate programs or degrees may authorize individuals to teach graduate-level courses, subject to the corresponding Policy and Review Council's guidelines. Consistent with the Council guidelines, such units may also appoint qualified individuals to Examining (E) status in the Graduate School. Individuals so appointed may serve on student examination committees, representing the disciplinary area of the appointing unit. Appointment to Examining status does not constitute membership in the graduate faculty and does not confer Graduate School governance privileges.

Bylaw 9: Tenure-track and tenured faculty participating in graduate education shall not be excluded from governance except by action of the Dean under Article II Section 4.b. and Article III Section 2.e. and must be appointed as voting members of at least one graduate program associated with their department, school, or unit.

Bylaw 10: In order to be appointed to any category of membership in the graduate faculty, an individual must hold a University (Human Resources) appointment whether with salary or without salary, thereby providing a legal basis for the graduate faculty member's association with the University and graduate program.

Bylaw 11: Faculty who retire from the University of Minnesota relinquish their Graduate Faculty status upon retirement; however, they may choose to complete outstanding examining committee and advising assignments on file with the Graduate School at the point of retirement. The voting faculty of a graduate program may appoint emeritus faculty to Affiliate Membership and Affiliate Senior Membership when such status serves the educational interests of the program and its graduate students.

Bylaw 12: Through their publications and services, the Graduate School and the graduate programs should identify the faculty of each graduate program and their membership category.

Bylaw 13: It is the responsibility of the Dean of the Graduate School to monitor the membership of graduate faculties to ensure that their composition can support the ongoing educational commitment to students in the program. Programs that have or expect to have a majority of faculty who are not University of Minnesota tenure-track or tenured faculty shall submit a plan to the Dean, for review by the appropriate Policy and Review Council, explaining their plans for continuous teaching and advising given their expected faculty composition. The Dean shall review the plan in accordance with the basis upon which the program was established. Upon the Dean's approval of the plan, the program's voting members or oversight committee shall use it in evaluating nominations to the voting membership of the graduate faculty of the program.

c. Qualifications

The Policy and Review Councils shall formulate and recommend to the Dean for approval specific qualifications, guidelines and procedures for approving appointments to each category of membership in the graduate faculty of its programs. In addition, the Policy and Review Councils shall formulate and recommend to the Dean for approval general guidelines for evaluating the contributions of a program's graduate faculty members with respect to their continued appointment. Final authority to judge the appropriateness of applications of these standards, procedural and substantive, shall rest with the Dean.

d. Nominations and Appointments

A Member or Senior Member of a Graduate School program may nominate individuals to any category of membership of that program's graduate faculty. Each such nomination shall indicate the specific privileges as listed in III.2.a. that the individual will hold. The nomination, which shall include appropriate information about the nominee's qualifications (documentation of teaching, advising, research, and service to the Graduate School), is then given to the Director of Graduate Studies, who will present it for review and vote to the voting members of the faculty of the graduate program. Upon approval, the Director of Graduate Studies shall forward notice of the appointment to the Dean of the Graduate School. The appointment shall become effective upon the Graduate School's receipt of this notification.

Bylaw 14: The Dean of the Graduate School is authorized to appoint tenured and tenure-track faculty members as Members or Affiliate Members or Senior Members or Affiliate Senior Members of the graduate faculty of a Graduate School Program that has two or fewer voting members. All direct appointments made by the Dean shall require prior consultation with the Graduate School Executive Committee.

e. Modification or Termination of Graduate Faculty Membership

The privileges and responsibilities of a member of the graduate faculty of a Graduate School program may be increased by nominating that faculty member to a higher level of membership (e.g., nominating a Member for Senior Membership, or for Membership with additional privileges, or nominating an Affiliate Member to a voting membership with the same or greater privileges). Such nominations shall be processed in the same manner as initial membership as specified in (d).

A member of the graduate faculty of a Graduate School program may voluntarily resign that membership, or may voluntarily reduce the membership category from Senior Member to Member or from Affiliate Senior Member to Affiliate Member, or a Member or Affiliate Member may voluntarily give up the ability (and associated privilege) to advise Master's students and/or to examine and/or co-advise Doctoral students.

Continuing active involvement and competency in the graduate program, and the quality of such involvement, of members of the graduate faculty shall be primary considerations in continued membership in graduate program faculties. When there is evidence that established criteria of expectations for graduate faculty performance as set by the Policy and Review Councils and established by each graduate program or in the bylaws are not being met, the Dean may initiate a review of a faculty member's status in a particular graduate program, or in the Graduate School faculty overall. Before terminating or modifying a membership status in the graduate faculty, however, the Dean shall notify the individual affected in writing, offering him or her the opportunity to withdraw voluntarily from the graduate faculty, or to contest the proposed termination or modification of membership status. In the latter instance, the individual shall be afforded the opportunity to be heard and to present witnesses and evidence in support of his or her view. The Dean shall consider any testimony and documentary evidence that may be presented and shall also solicit the views of the graduate faculty and graduate students in the program(s) for which membership is being reviewed.

Bylaw 15: Graduate School programs shall establish criteria for continued membership in their graduate faculty. The voting faculty, or a committee representative of that faculty, is responsible for periodic review of the compliance of graduate faculty with these criteria, and may present evidence to the Dean and recommend review if a faculty member fails to meet the criteria as specified and does not voluntarily resign that membership or reduce the membership category.

3. Faculty Governance and Administration of Graduate School Programs

The voting faculty of a Graduate School program have the responsibility to govern and administer that program in a manner consistent with the rules of the Graduate School, the rules of the appropriate Policy and Review Council, and the rules established by the program itself. To ensure effective administration of Graduate School programs, each program must select a Director of Graduate Studies as specified in Section 4 below. Program faculty may also choose to delegate specific responsibilities to committees of their faculty, to the Director of Graduate Studies, or, in the case of programs that are co-extensive with a department, school, or other budgetary unit, to the Chair or Head of that unit or to a committee of that unit. The supervisory and coordinating functions assigned to the Director of Graduate Studies may not be delegated, however. Any powers in this Section not specifically delegated to an individual or committee shall be exercised by the voting faculty of the program as a whole, with a majority vote deciding issues not resolved by consensus.

If graduate students are included in graduate program governance, their participation shall be confined to matters of general administrative and educational policy and shall not extend to consideration of applications, petitions, or evaluations which relate to the employment status or academic work of individual students, or to the setting of student examinations.

The voting faculty of a Graduate School program shall have the direct responsibility and authority to

• determine membership in the graduate faculty of the program, consistent with the corresponding Policy and Review Council's criteria.
• review the performance of faculty within the graduate program and, where appropriate, make recommendations to the Dean for the modification or removal of graduate faculty status within the program.
• make recommendations on questions of policy in the conduct and administration of graduate programs, on the initiative of the faculty or in response to requests from the Dean or a Policy and Review Council.
• establish and publish programmatic criteria for admission to the offered graduate degree programs, subject to the review and approval of the Dean.
• conduct annual reviews of graduate students in the program and communicate the results of the review to the student. Any unsatisfactory review should be communicated in writing.
  establish and publish eligibility criteria for program-administered awards, fellowships, scholarships, assistantships, and other forms of financial aid. Make such awards.
• nominate students for fellowships, scholarships, and awards administered by the Graduate School and other granting bodies when applicable.
• review and recommend for approval any proposed 8000-level courses and instructors, prior to submittal to the appropriate Policy and Review Council and, subsequently, the Dean for final approval.
• review nominations requesting authorization to teach graduate-level courses without holding membership in the graduate faculty, subject to the corresponding Policy and Review Council's guidelines.
• develop and maintain a graduate student handbook, which shall be made available to all graduate students in the program, outlining program requirements, standards, policies and procedures.

Bylaw 16: The graduate student handbook, which shall be made available in print to all graduate students in the program on an annual basis, should consist minimally of the following: program requirements, standards, policies and procedures; criteria and process for termination from the program; eligibility for and forms of financial assistance; and arbitration, appeal and grievance channels for both academic and employment concerns. In addition, each graduate student should be given, at the time of an offer of a Graduate Assistantship, a written job description and appointment form stating the duties and expectation of the assistantship, the terms (duration, pay, benefits), as well as the general expectations the program has of its Graduate Assistants.

The voting faculty of a Graduate School program shall have the responsibility and authority, subject to review and recommendation by the appropriate Policy and Review Council, to

• formulate, subject to review for consistency with Graduate School regulations and policies, the requirements for completion and timely progress of its graduate degree programs within the general Graduate School requirements.
• make proposals for the initiation, modification, or termination of graduate courses of instruction.
• propose new degrees or degree programs, and substantial alterations of existing degrees (ultimate approval of degrees and degree programs rests with the Board of Regents).

The voting faculty of a Graduate School program shall have the responsibility and authority, subject to review and approval by the Dean, to

• establish admissions criteria that reflect the minimum standards as established by the Graduate School. Review and make recommendations with respect to applications for admission as a graduate student to the program.
• review and make recommendations with respect to programs of study and research proposed by individual students, including thesis title proposals.
• review and evaluate student progress and make any recommendations necessary.
• review and make recommendations on student petitions with respect to their status, programs, or degree requirements.
• recommend the membership and chairs of examination committees, to which the responsibility is delegated to determine whether students shall be recommended for graduate degrees or certificates.

4. Directors of Graduate Studies

The role of Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) is crucial for the quality of graduate programs and multifaceted support of students enrolled in those programs.

The DGS is the Graduate School's most important link to programs and the program's administrative link to its students. For both the Graduate School and the program, these multiple obligations create legitimate, important stakes in the successful carrying out of the DGS role.

Each Graduate School program shall have a Director of Graduate Studies who shall supervise and coordinate the administration of the program, serve as a point of contact for graduate students enrolled in the program, provide administrative linkage between the graduate faculty and the department or departments contributing to its programs, and act as the liaison between the program and the administration of the Graduate School.

a. Qualifications and Appointment

Each Graduate School program shall designate a nominee as Director of Graduate Studies. The DGS shall be a tenure-track or tenured, voting member of the graduate faculty of the program. Any exceptions to this policy must be approved by the Dean, and documentation substantiating the request for exception must be filed with the Graduate School. Because the position of DGS requires close collaboration with, and the allocation of resources from, the chair(s) or head(s) of involved budgetary units, programs are encouraged to involve those persons in the nomination process.

The Dean of the Graduate School shall appoint the DGS. Program faculty shall submit to the Dean the name of a nominee as voted by the Members and Senior Members in the graduate program. The nomination form should also carry the signature of the chair or head of the nominee's budgetary unit. The graduate program's choice for DGS is presumptive, and the Dean must provide written explanation for rejection of the program's nomination.

In the absence of the DGS for less than one semester, program faculty shall designate an Acting DGS and so notify the Dean. For an absence longer than one semester, program faculty should follow the above procedures for nominating a DGS. In special cases where program faculty have no nominee names to submit, the Dean may appoint a DGS to serve until such time as a nomination is forthcoming.

The DGS is required to place on file with the Graduate School the program's procedure for choosing the name(s) in nomination for DGS and the length of term in office. Typically this information will be entered into the Program Profile on-line. The unit head(s) of the DGS's budgetary home(s) is required to endorse the final appointment by the Dean and to specify the support that the DGS will have during the term of the appointment.

b. Removal

The Director of Graduate Studies may be removed by a two-thirds majority vote of the voting faculty of the program or by the Dean of the Graduate School, after appropriate consultation.

c. Responsibilities

The Director of Graduate Studies shall supervise and coordinate the administration and governance of graduate studies within the graduate program or programs for which she or he is responsible. In addition to such duties in the administration of graduate studies as the faculty of the graduate program may assign, the DGS shall

• serve as the program's representative on the appropriate Policy and Review Council.
• serve as a liaison between the program faculty and the Graduate School administration, referring matters to the faculty or its committees as needed; informing the faculty of Graduate School policies, deadlines, and programs as appropriate; and forwarding recommendations, nominations, and other information from the faculty to the Dean.
• provide written criteria to each student, upon entry, of what constitutes acceptable progress through and termination of the student from the program.
• receive, arrange for the review of, and monitor the progress of student applications and petitions.
• orient and counsel graduate students with respect to program and degree requirements until a permanent adviser is selected and assist in that selection as necessary. Enforce regulations of the Graduate School and the degree program. Oversee the maintenance of graduate student records and the annual student evaluation process.
• provide periodic reports on the program and data to the appropriate Policy and Review Council and to the Dean as requested by the Council or Dean.
• carry out such other responsibilities as specified in the bylaws.
• facilitate a program of professional development activities for graduate students within the program.

5. Graduate Advisers

By admitting a student, the faculty of the graduate program is thereby obligated to provide an adviser for that student. The Director of Graduate Studies may serve as the initial adviser until such time as the student and/or the program identifies a permanent adviser. The individual advisee-adviser relationship is a voluntary process and must rest upon mutual agreement. Students may obtain help from the DGS in identifying appropriate advisers or assisting in a change of advisers. The graduate adviser must be a member of the graduate faculty of the program in which the student is pursuing studies except in special cases as approved by the Graduate School (see Bylaw 18). When appropriate, one adviser may counsel the student during the period of graduate course work, and another may supervise the student's thesis or dissertation research; the latter shall have special competency in the area of the student's concentration. In the discharge of these functions, the graduate adviser is responsible to the faculty of the program and to the Dean of the Graduate School.

The duties and obligations of the adviser are to

• assist the student in formulating a program of study and research that culminates in the timely filing of the program of study (which the adviser must sign) and completion of the degree.
• review and attach a recommendation to any petition the student may make with respect to graduate status or requesting a waiver of normal requirements affecting graduate studies, examinations, or research.
• direct the student's research for and writing or creative activity involved in the graduate thesis or dissertation.
• provide the student with (at minimum) an annual written evaluation of his or her academic progress, as measured against the published performance expectations of the graduate degree program and the Graduate School.

In the discharge of these functions the graduate adviser is responsible to the faculty of the program and to the Dean of the Graduate School.

Bylaw 17: The adviser shall be a member of the student's committees for approval of the dissertation and final oral examinations, and shall be responsible for having the reports signed by the members of the examination committee and returned to the Graduate School. The adviser may not chair the final doctoral thesis committee but may chair the master's thesis committee and the doctoral preliminary orals committee.

Bylaw 18: Upon consultation with program faculty, a student may choose to have two advisers who would be recognized as Co-Advisers by the Graduate School. The relationship of the Co-Advisers with regard to their roles in advising student coursework, developing research objectives, and supervising the thesis would be detailed in a letter that would accompany the filing of the program. At least one of the Co-Advisers must be from the program in which the student is enrolled. The Co-Advising relationship would be listed on the student's records, and both faculty members would be credited for their work. Final arbitration of any disputes arising between Co-Advisers would be settled by the DGS of the student's home program. Administratively, the Graduate School would require the signatures of both Co-Advisers on all forms requiring an adviser signature and would send all communications regarding the advisee to both Co-Advisers. In the case of Co-Advisers on a doctoral dissertation committee, a third Senior Member or Affiliate Senior Member would be needed to chair the defense.