Academic Evaluation
While graduate students are expected and encouraged to work in a progressively independent manner, they are entitled to periodic assessment of their progress in a manner that contributes to their academic and professional growth. The Graduate Program Director is responsible to ensure this evaluation takes place. The evaluation is particularly necessary for students whose continued financial support depends on maintaining satisfactory academic progress under conditions where formal courses are no longer required. To facilitate this process, each department or program is to establish, with graduate student participation, clear criteria in writing for evaluating graduate student progress.
The Graduate School mandates that the appropriate college dean is to ensure that the criteria are established and put into effect. Because the criteria will vary among programs and will change as students’ advance toward their degrees, the relationship of these criteria to academic and professional achievement at each stage of development should be clear. With criteria in place, the academic progress of all students, beyond formal course work, is to be evaluated at least once during each academic year. This applies to all students, including those who have advanced to candidacy.
To optimize the benefits of the process, a written report is to be prepared. The report is to be signed by both the evaluator(s) and the student to acknowledge that both have reviewed the report. A student who has failed to achieve reasonable progress is to be notified in writing in a timely manner of specific deficiencies, acceptable remedies, and the consequences of not remedying the deficiencies. The student may submit a formal response that will be attached to the evaluation. A copy of the signed report is to be given to the student and the original placed in the student’s departmental file.
On an annual basis, the Graduate School Dean may request student evaluation files from programs for review.
Evaluation of Assistantship Performance
The appropriate academic and assistantship obligations of teaching and graduate assistants as they relate to levels of support are defined by the departments and, in the case of graduate research assistants, faculty advisors.
For reasons analogous to those given for the need for academic evaluations, graduate students are entitled to periodic assessment of their performance in their assistantship roles. Departments are to make the criteria for assessing assigned responsibilities available in writing to students in these positions (teaching assistants, graduate assistants, and graduate research assistants). To optimize the benefits of the process a written report is to be prepared for each student. The report is to be signed by both the evaluator(s) and the student to acknowledge that both have reviewed the report. A student who has inadequately fulfilled assistantship responsibilities is to be notified in writing in a timely manner of specific deficiencies, acceptable remedies, and the consequence of not remedying the deficiencies. The student may submit a formal response that will be attached to the evaluation. A copy of the signed report is to be given to the student and the original placed in the student’s departmental file. The absence of a report will be construed as a positive evaluation.
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