Policies and Procedures for Graduate Faculty Membership
Section II. Item 1.
Appointment to Membership on the Graduate Faculty Form (Appendix A)
Request for Permission to Teach a Course for Graduate Credit Form (Appendix B)
- Function and Responsibilities.
The graduate faculty of Northern Illinois University are vested with the responsibility for advancing the university's mission at the graduate level: establishing appropriate standards for admission to, and retention in, graduate studies, and recommending students to receive graduate degrees; initiating and maintaining high-quality graduate curricula; promoting scholarship among faculty and graduate students; fostering an institutional environment conducive to the pursuit of research and artistry; encouraging excellence in teaching among graduate faculty and graduate students; and promoting the integration of teaching, scholarship, and professional practice.
The graduate faculty are entitled to vote for faculty membership on the Graduate Council and in graduate faculty referenda; to teach courses for graduate credit; to serve on graduate students' thesis, dissertation, and other guidance and evaluation committees; and, with appropriate approval, to serve, as mentors and models, as academic advisers/directors for theses, dissertations, and other scholarly projects. The graduate faculty, except for provisional members, are entitled to serve as members of the Graduate Council. Exceptions to the provisions of this paragraph apply to graduate faculty who are not regular members of the university faculty, as indicated in the following paragraph.
Graduate faculty membership is open to persons who meet the membership qualifications specified by the department of intended association, regardless of whether they are regular members of the university faculty. Graduate faculty who are not regular faculty members may possess adjunct appointments with rank, or they may be without faculty rank and be designated as "affiliated graduate faculty." Graduate faculty members who are not regular members of the university faculty shall be appointed and reviewed as other graduate faculty members, but they may have their graduate-faculty membership terminated at any time upon request of the departmental committee and department chair. Only regular faculty members have access to the graduate-faculty membership appeal process; and only graduate faculty on regular faculty appointment are included in determining the apportionment of Graduate Council seats, are eligible to be elected to the Graduate Council, and are eligible to vote for members of the Graduate Council or in graduate-faculty referenda.
These policies and procedures have been established to encourage academic units to develop, maintain, and adhere to appropriate professional standards for graduate faculty membership, and to provide for routine monitoring of these standards by the Graduate School.
- Qualifications for Graduate Faculty Membership.
The Graduate Council will set minimum qualifications for graduate faculty membership. Beyond those, appropriate discipline-specific qualifications, in terms of scholarship, graduate-level teaching, and other pertinent factors, shall be defined for each of the three categories of graduate faculty membership. Statements of these discipline-specific criteria shall be developed by each respective departmental faculty (or each recognized faculty unit therein). The criteria shall be formulated by an appropriate faculty committee within the department (or departmental subunit), as described in Section 4, and, upon receiving the endorsement of the department chair and college dean, shall be forwarded to the Graduate School.
A Graduate Faculty Membership Committee, reporting to the Graduate Council, will formulate procedures for academic units to propose criteria to be used in appointing persons to the graduate faculty, will participate in the process to approve such criteria, and will serve as a faculty appeal body as indicated in Section 6, below. The Committee shall be composed of senior graduate faculty members, representing all graduate degree-granting colleges, appointed by and from the Graduate Council; the dean of the Graduate School will chair the Committee, in an ex-officio, non-voting capacity.
Criteria for graduate faculty membership will generally be established by, and be applicable to, individual academic departments; and graduate faculty membership will generally be by department. However, intra-departmental units may be recognized by the Graduate Council if the units have distinguishable characteristics such as separate faculties, separate academic administrators, separate catalog course listings, and separate degree programs. Recognition will be considered by the Graduate Council upon petition of a majority of the graduate faculty in the proposed unit and consultation with the department chair and college dean.
The approval of departmental criteria will be by the following procedure: The criteria will be considered by the Graduate Faculty Membership Committee and then will be considered for approval by the Graduate Council. Minimum membership criteria are indicated in Section 3, below, for the three membership categories.
- Categories of Graduate Faculty Membership.
There are three categories of graduate faculty: (1) provisional member, (2) full member, and (3) senior member.
Provisional Member of the Graduate Faculty. A provisional member has all the privileges of a full member, except for the right of membership on the Graduate Council. Provisional membership is for a three-year, non-renewable term.
A provisional member must have an appropriate terminal degree, or the equivalent, and, in accordance with approved departmental criteria, must have initiated a program of personal research or artistry. A provisional member may be proposed for full membership or senior membership at any time.
Full Member of the Graduate Faculty. A full member may, with no further Graduate School approval, serve as a member of the Graduate Council, vote for faculty membership on the Graduate Council, vote in graduate faculty referenda, teach courses for graduate credit, serve as a graduate student's academic adviser, and serve as a member of a graduate student's committee. With case-by-case approval of the department chair, college dean, and dean of the Graduate School, a full member may serve as director of a master's or sixth-year thesis (or thesis analogue--such as one-person show, recital, or final project) or as co-director (along with a senior member of the graduate faculty) of a doctoral dissertation.
A full member must have an appropriate terminal degree, or the equivalent, and, in accordance with approved departmental criteria, must show evidence of advancing a program of personal research or artistry, the products of which have received positive assessment by independent external experts in the field according to the national standards in the discipline. A full member may be proposed for senior membership at any time.
Senior Member of the Graduate Faculty. A senior member may, with no further Graduate School approval, serve as a member of the Graduate Council, vote for faculty membership on the Graduate Council, vote in graduate faculty referenda, teach courses for graduate credit, serve as a graduate student's academic adviser, serve as a member of a graduate student's committee, and serve as director of a master's or sixth-year thesis (or thesis analogue). With case-by-case approval of the department chair, college dean, and dean of the Graduate School, a senior member may serve as director or co-director of a doctoral dissertation.
A senior member must have an appropriate terminal degree, or the equivalent, and, in accordance with approved departmental criteria, must show evidence of having established and maintained a program of personal research or artistry, the products of which have received positive assessment by independent external experts in the field according to the national standards in the discipline. A senior member will normally also have a record of active involvement in graduate teaching and in the guidance of scholarly activities of graduate students.
- Appointment to the Graduate Faculty.
Each department (or recognized intra-departmental unit) is to have a committee of non-provi- sional graduate faculty members to examine the credentials of persons to be proposed for new membership, or for a change in membership category, in that unit; a majority of this committee must be senior members of the graduate faculty (unless the unit has fewer than three senior members). The department chair shall not be a voting member of this committee.
For each case, the recommendation of this departmental committee, of the department chair, and of the college dean, shall be forwarded to the Graduate School and to the faculty member. Any persons desiring to be considered for new membership or for a change in membership category shall be permitted to have their cases forwarded to the Graduate School. The dean of the Graduate School will compare the recommended faculty member's record with the approved criteria for the three membership categories for that person's academic unit. Those individuals judged by the dean to conform to those criteria will be approved. Actions possible if there is a negative recommendation or a disapproval at any step are described in Section 6, below.
- Review of Graduate Faculty Membership.
All full and senior graduate faculty memberships shall be reviewed by the department, the dean of the college, the dean of the Graduate School, and the Graduate Council as part of the University's eight-year academic program review. *
* Note: If an academic program review occurs before an affected person has been in his or her graduate faculty category for fewer than six years, then that person will not have the graduate faculty review result in a reduction in category. Instead, another review will take place after the six-year period has expired, and thereafter as part of the regular program reviews (the first of which may occur in fewer than six years).
If a regular program review will not take place for a program within a seven-year period, the Graduate Council shall determine when the graduate faculty in that program will be reviewed. Department offices will be responsible for compiling and submitting the information to be used for this review, which will take place using the criteria previously approved for their discipline. An individual whose record is found out of conformance with those criteria will, upon concurrence of the dean of the Graduate School, be moved to the next lower category of graduate faculty membership (i.e., senior to full, or full to provisional for three years). Such a change in category may be appealed by the process described in Section 6, below.
A faculty member who has been approved to direct a thesis or dissertation retains the approval for that thesis or dissertation, on recommendation of the department, if that faculty member's graduate faculty status is moved to a lower category of membership.
This periodic review shall also review the discipline's previously-approved criteria for graduate faculty membership. The discipline's criteria to be used until the next program review shall be approved, through the Graduate Council, by the procedure described in Section 2, above.
- Appeal of a Decision on Graduate Faculty Membership.
Any recommendation or decision regarding graduate faculty membership may be appealed by the affected faculty member.
In the case of a negative recommendation from the departmental committee or the department chair, an explanation of the decision will be provided to the affected person. The faculty member may ask for a reconsideration of this negative recommendation in accordance with departmental procedures. The faculty member shall be informed of a negative recommendation by the college dean, and the reasons for it, at the time that recommendation is forwarded to the Graduate School.
If a negative recommendation reaches the Graduate School, the affected faculty member may submit a written appeal, to be considered by the dean of the Graduate School before his or her decision is reached. If the decision of the dean of the Graduate School is negative, the reasons shall be given to the faculty member, who then may submit a written appeal to the Graduate Council. That appeal statement will be included with the faculty member's credentials package that will then be examined by the Graduate Faculty Membership Committee and the Graduate Council. The appellant may appear personally at any of these steps in the appeal process. On considering the appeal, the Graduate Council and the dean of the Graduate School will decide to approve or disapprove, and their decision will be final. If the final decision is negative, the faculty member may be recommended again in a subsequent academic term.
- Non-Members of the Graduate Faculty Performing Duties of the Graduate Faculty.
Teaching Graduate-Level Courses. Persons who are not members of the graduate faculty may be granted permission to teach a course that carries graduate credit. This provision is primarily to make available to the graduate student body persons from outside the regular university faculty who have important expertise to offer.
Academic units may request approval from the dean of the Graduate School for such teaching, and approval may be given for a period of up to three years; approval is renewable. To be approved, a person must have professional qualifications equivalent to those expected of a member of the graduate faculty or have special expertise in the area of the course to be taught.
Serving on Graduate Student Committees. Persons who are not members of the graduate faculty may be granted permission to be a voting member of a student's committee. This provision is primarily to make available to the graduate student body persons from outside the regular university faculty who have important expertise to offer. Case-by-case approval must be obtained from the dean of the Graduate School, and to be approved, a person must have professional qualifications equivalent to those expected of a member of the graduate faculty or have special expertise in the area of the student's study. The Graduate Council shall establish limits for the use of such persons on committees.
Approved by the Graduate Council, April 17, 1989
and by Graduate Faculty Referendum, May 8, 1989
Procedures modified by the Graduate Council, February 3, 1997
Addition to section 1 approved by Graduate Council, April 6, 1998
and by Graduate Faculty Referendum, November 16, 1998
Modified by Graduate Council, March 1, 1999
Last Updated: 3/1/99
