Graduate Faculty Categories

Faculty. Current tenure-track faculty and research track faculty at the university are eligible for appointment as Category M or P Graduate Faculty. Clinical track faculty are eligible for appointment as Category M Graduate Faculty. Graduate Faculty accept the responsibilities of that role as detailed in Section 12.4.

Primary Advisor. This graduate faculty member will serve as the advisor of record for the graduate student and the point of contact with the Graduate School and is listed on GRADFORMS. He/she will be responsible for the coordination of the graduate program of the student.

Co-Advisor. This graduate faculty member assists the primary advisor in coordination of the graduate program of the student and is listed on GRADFORMS. In circumstances where the primary advisor is no longer at the university, the co-advisor will become the point of contact with the Graduate School.

Emeritus Faculty. The designation “emeritus” may be conferred at retirement upon recommendation by the regular faculty member’s chair, dean, and the executive vice president and provost. See 3335-5-19. Emeritus Faculty who remain active in research and scholarship must request the Graduate School to retain their graduate faculty status. The request must be based on the same criteria used by the Graduate Studies Committee to appoint regular Graduate Faculty and must be approved by the Graduate Studies Committee, the department chair, and the dean of the college. The request must specify a fixed term, not to exceed five years, after which it may be extended by another request following the same process. Emeritus faculty who retain graduate faculty status accept all responsibilities of that role as detailed in Section 12.4. Emeritus faculty who do not request to retain graduate faculty status are subject to the rules pertaining to faculty who retire or leave the university under the Continuing Graduate Committee Service policy. 

Continuing Graduate Committee Service. Graduate programs must approve a request to continue graduate committee service prior to a graduate faculty member’s retirement or resignation. With the approval of the graduate program and the Graduate School, faculty who have retired or leave the university may:

• continue to serve as the primary advisor for their students who are in candidacy or who are master’s students at the time of the faculty member’s retirement or resignation. A current Category P faculty committee member in the student’s home program with contractual obligation to the university must be named to serve as the student’s co-advisor. 
• remain as a regular member of a dissertation committee of a student in candidacy at the time of the faculty member’s retirement or resignation for a period up to the expiration of the student’s initial five-year candidacy status. Only one such member of any dissertation committee can be identified as counting toward the required number of valid committee members. 
• serve as an extra member on new dissertation committees for students who are pre-candidacy or for students not in progress toward a master’s at the time of resignation or retirement. 
• not serve as the advisor for a new student. 

Associated or Auxiliary Faculty. Associated faculty are “persons with adjunct titles, clinical practice titles, visiting titles, and lecturer titles; also professors, associate professors, assistant professors, and instructors who serve on appointments totaling less than 50 percent to the university” (University Rule 3335-5-19). Associated faculty are not eligible for appointment to the graduate faculty. Associated faculty may serve on master’s and doctoral examination committees upon petition by the Graduate Studies Committee of the student’s program and approval by the Graduate School. Associated faculty may, under extraordinary circumstances, serve as an external co-advisor upon petition by the Graduate Studies Committee and approval by the Graduate School.

Ex Officio Members. The Executive Vice President and Provost, the Vice President for Research, the Vice Provost for Graduate Studies and Dean of the Graduate School, the College Deans, and the Director of Libraries are granted a courtesy appointment as Graduate Faculty and are ex officio members of the graduate faculty. Ex officio members can maintain their already existing M or P status if applicable. Ex Officio members who do not have an existing M or P status may need to apply for such a status to a graduate program if needed.