III. Instruction

Administrative Guidelines

Appeal Procedure

The dean of the Graduate School shall be the final appeal authority of any decision of an evaluation committee and may establish such ad hoc procedures in each case as deemed appropriate. 

Adjunct, Affiliate, Part-time, and Fixed-term Faculty

Graduate Faculty appointments for these persons are made for the period of their affiliation with the University. They are expected to participate actively in the graduate program, and to interact with students and faculty in a context of research or other creative activity that extends beyond the scope of an instructional assignment. 

Temporary Appointments of Visiting Faculty

Based on the previous criteria, these temporary appointments may be made for the period of affiliation by the dean of the Graduate School on the recommendation of the program chairperson. 

Tenure in the Graduate Faculty

A member may be dropped from the rolls of the Graduate Faculty by the Dean of the Graduate School upon the recommendation or concurrence of the program chairperson and with the concurrence of the college evaluation committee if he or she fails to participate significantly in the graduate affairs of the University or has no record of continuing scholarly or creative activity. A member may be dismissed from the Graduate Faculty by the dean for failure to maintain appropriate standards of professional ethics as described in University Policy AD-47. The action is contingent on the recommendation of the ad hoc investigatory committee, consistent with University Policy RA-10. Criteria for such dismissal include: ethical misconduct, including fraud, fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, and other serious deviation from accepted practices within the roles of teacher, researcher/scholar, colleague, and member of the University; failure to adhere to the principles of co-authorship in scholarly reports, papers, and publications (ref. RA-13); or failure to exercise utmost good faith in all transactions touching upon their duties with and on behalf of the University so as to avoid conflict between the interest of the University and member of the Graduate Faculty (ref. HR-91). 

Composition of Doctoral Committees

Doctoral Committee -- General guidance of a doctoral candidate is the responsibility of a doctoral committee consisting of four or more active members of the Graduate Faculty, which includes at least two faculty members in the major field, and one outside member, as described below. The dissertation adviser must be a member of the doctoral committee and usually (but is not required to) serves as chair. If the candidate has a minor, that field must be represented on the committee. (See also Major Program and Minor Field under D.Ed.-Additional Specific Requirements in the online Graduate Bulletin.) This committee is appointed by the graduate dean through the Office of Graduate Enrollment Services, upon recommendation of the head of the major program, soon after the student is admitted to candidacy. A person not affiliated with Penn State who has particular expertise in the candidate's research area may be added as a special member, upon recommendation by the head of the program and approval of the graduate dean (via the Office of Graduate Enrollment Services). A special member is expected to participate fully in the functions of the doctoral committee. If the special member is asked only to read and approve the doctoral dissertation, that person is designated a special signatory of the thesis. Occasionally, special signatories may be drawn from within the Penn State faculty in particular situations.

Chair -- The chair or at least one co-chair must be a member of the specific graduate faculty of the doctoral program in which the candidate is enrolled. A retired or emeritus faculty member may chair a doctoral committee if he/she began chairing the committee prior to retirement and has the continuing approval of the department head or program chair. The primary duties of the chair are: (1) to maintain the academic standards of the doctoral program and the Graduate School, (2) to ensure that the comprehensive and final examinations are conducted in a timely fashion, (3) to arrange and conduct all meetings, and (4) to ensure that requirements set forth by the committee are implemented in the final version of the thesis.

Outside Member -- While one or more members of the doctoral committee may be from outside the department in which the graduate program resides, an official "outside member" must be appointed, who serves a specific role as described below. The primary responsibilities of this outside member are (1) to maintain the academic standards of the Graduate School and (2) to assure that all procedures are carried out fairly. The outside member represents the Graduate School ; and, as such, the outside member shall be a member of the Graduate Faculty but need not have direct expertise in the research area of the candidate. The outside member may contribute technical expertise, but this role is subordinate to the aforementioned primary responsibilities. In this context, the head of the doctoral program will recommend to the dean (via the Office of Graduate Enrollment Services) a sufficient number of members, exclusive of the outside member, so that sufficient technical expertise is represented on the committee. Thus, the outside member may be in addition to a full complement of committee members with technical expertise in the area. Heads of doctoral programs will seek an outside member who has no conflicts of interest with members of the committee, in such a way as to preclude their fulfilling the primary duties as the outside member. The outside member shall not hold a budgetary or adjunct appointment in the department or academic unit to which the student's doctoral program belongs. The outside member shall also not have a budgetary or adjunct appointment in or other conflict of interest with the unit(s) to which either the chair or the dissertation adviser belongs. The outside member cannot chair or co-chair the committee. This does not preclude other members of the Graduate Faculty regardless of budgetary appointment from serving on the committee, and potentially in dual roles, for example, as co-chair. The committee member representing the minor may serve as the outside member if his or her budgetary appointment satisfies the conditions noted above.

The membership of doctoral committees should be periodically reviewed by the program chair to ensure that its members continue to qualify for service on the committee in their designated roles. For example, if budgetary appointments, employment at the University, etc., have changed since initial appointment to the committee, changes to the committee membership may be necessary. If changes are warranted, they should be made as soon as possible to prevent future problems that may delay academic progress for the student (e.g., ability to conduct the comprehensive or final examinations).

Teaching by Non-members of the Graduate Faculty

Under special circumstances, on recommendation of the program chairperson and on approval of the dean of the Graduate School, non-Graduate Faculty members may be approved to teach specific 500- or 800-level courses. 

The Graduate Council

The Graduate Council is the representative body of the Graduate School, with approximately forty-five Graduate Faculty members elected from established voting units and five graduate students elected through the Graduate Student Association. The dean of the Graduate School is a voting ex-officio member and serves as the chair of the council. Executive and administrative matters are the responsibility of the dean of the Graduate School.

The principal functions of the Graduate Council are to represent the University as a whole in controlling, through its curricular approval powers, the quality of graduate studies offered by the graduate units, to stimulate and encourage the offering of graduate work and the pursuit of research and creative activity, to help formulate the objectives of graduate programs, to inform and advise the President of the University and the executive vice president and provost of the University regarding all aspects of the University's graduate programs, and to facilitate the offering of interdepartmental and intercollegiate programs of graduate study and research, or other equivalent creative activity.

Detailed information about graduate programs can be found in the Graduate Degree Programs Bulletin. For further information, contact the senior associate dean or the associate dean of the Graduate School (phone: 814-865-2516; e-mail: rxv@psu.edu or mlw9@psu.edu, respectively).