Graduate Instruction Certification

All faculty (full- and part-time instructional faculty and faculty administrators) assigned to teach graduate courses or supervise graduate student research must be certified according to the provisions of the following policy:
 

1. Faculty are to be certified for graduate instruction in their field of specialization based on the appropriate college's published criteria of required scholarly and/or professional accomplishments, satisfactory teaching performance at the advanced level in appropriate disciplines, and necessary terminal graduate degrees. All faculty may be approved for periods of up to five years. At the end of the approval period, a review is made by the appropriate department/school and college graduate committee for renewal of the certification for graduate instruction.
    
2. CERTIFICATION PROCESS: After reviewing the candidate's qualifications, the appropriate department/school chair submits the Certification of Faculty for Graduate Instruction form, and the necessary documents (C.V., transcripts, licensures/certifications) to its academic college graduate committee. Following its review the college graduate committee submits to the dean of the academic college the form and required documentation of its decision. The dean either approves or disapproves the recommendation and informs the college committee and the department of the decision. If there are questions, the academic dean forwards a copy of the approved questions concerning the qualifications of faculty for certification, to the prior level of recommendation or approval. Attempts should be made to resolve them among the recommending and approving authorities. An appeal may be made to the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs if these efforts fail to resolve the problem. An original copy of the signed form and appropriate documentation is to be maintained in the Dean's Office. A copy of the signed form is to be sent to the Office of Graduate Studies.
    
3. EXCEPTIONS AND TERMINATION: Exceptions to this policy, e.g., duration of certification, qualifications, require approval of the appropriate department chair, the college graduate committee, the dean of the academic college. Exceptions will be granted only in clearly extraordinary circumstances. Failure to maintain the required level of productive, creative scholarly or professional activity and satisfactory teaching performance will result in termination of the faculty's certification for graduate instruction.
    
4. ASSIGNMENT OF GRADUATE FACULTY: The deans of the academic colleges are responsible for insuring that all faculty are certified prior to assuming their graduate assignments.