Advising
Each student will be assigned an academic advisor upon acceptance into a graduate program. Only members of the graduate faculty are authorized to serve as program advisors for graduate students. The program advisor is responsible for helping students be aware of and understand the expectations and requirements of their academic programs (e.g., degree requirements, deadlines, program and University policy). Program advisors are responsible for assisting students with questions regarding their academic programs and professional guidance. These responsibilities include explaining Graduate School policies and procedures, expectations for comprehensive examinations, theses, doctoral scholarly project, or dissertation, and internships, as guided by program, department, school, university and Graduate School as well as professional conferences and publications. Any deviations from published program requirements or plans of study are communicated to the Graduate School, in writing, by the program advisor to assist the graduation check process. It is the responsibility of the school/department to notify the Graduate School of the advisor assignment and any change in advisor assignment.
The importance of the program advisor cannot be overstated. Program advisement includes all aspects of students' present and future academic and professional planning. It is often the program advisor who is able to help students conceptualize their academic program within the context of their own professional goals and aspirations. This responsibility is likely to involve extensive discussions of academic or professional goals well beyond the current program.
Change of Catalog Term
A student may change at any time to any subsequent catalog year as long as they attended UNC during that academic year. This change requires academic advisor approval. If a student's major or minor has changed names in the subsequent catalog, the student must complete a Change of Program form.
Comprehensive Examinations
Also see specific degree requirements. Records of written comprehensive examinations are maintained in the program area for a period of 12 calendar months. These examinations are confidential and available only to the student who completed an exam and program or school faculty to address potential appeals and/or questions of administration and grading procedures. Students may request to review their comprehensive examination but may not be allowed access to written responses of other students. Program faculty may use past comprehensive examination responses as models for instructional purposes as long as all student identifications are removed by faculty.
Graduation
Degrees and majors are approved through the Colorado Department of Higher Education. Students may not pursue both an undergraduate and a graduate degree program simultaneously without prior approval from both the Office of the Registrar and the Graduate School.
Application for Graduation
Students who intend to graduate must apply for graduation through the Graduate School. A $50.00 non-refundable graduation application fee will only be charged one time per degree and is applied to a student’s account.
To apply:
Retroactive Degree Conferral
Students should apply for graduation in the term in which they expect to complete their degree requirements. Students who do not apply for graduation will not have their degree conferred.
Students who did not apply for graduation in the term in which they completed their requirements must submit a Retroactive Degree Request form to the Office of the Registrar to request that their degree be conferred. The Office of the Registrar, in consultation with the Provost's Office, will verify whether all degree requirements were met.
If the request is approved, the degree will be conferred retroactively using the conferral date from the term when the last degree requirement was completed. An annotation will be included on the student's transcript to reflect when the retroactive degree conferral date was recorded.
The current graduation application fee will be assessed to the student's account.
Graduation Requirements
Graduation requirements are checked in accordance with the UNC Graduate Catalog and Degree Works. The student must specify the Catalog under which they wish to have their degree requirements be evaluated and must meet all published degree requirements in that Catalog. The Catalog used to meet degree graduation requirements is normally the one published for the academic year during which the student first enrolls after admission to the university.
The student may select any subsequent Catalog up to and including the current one, provided the student was in attendance at the university during that academic year. However, a student may not choose to meet partial requirements in one version of the Catalog and other requirements in another version of Catalog. See University Catalog Policy.
To graduate in any given semester:
- The student must submit a complete application for graduation to the Graduate School by the published deadline, and
- All graduation requirements must be completed (with relevant documentation submitted to the Office of the Registrar and Graduate School, as necessary) by the Wednesday prior to the date that diplomas are released for the semester.
Degrees are not awarded during the Interim Winter Session; students who complete their graduation requirements in an Interim Winter Session are considered graduates of the subsequent Spring semester.
Participating in the Commencement Ceremony
In order to participate in a Fall or Spring commencement ceremony, doctoral students must have successfully defended their dissertation prior to the date of the commencement ceremony. In the case of summer graduates participating in spring commencement ceremonies, the student must be admitted to doctoral candidacy and, in the judgment of the student's research advisor, prepared and intending to defend in the summer term.
If students have not applied for graduation they will not appear on any graduation list. Students will not receive their degree diploma until they submit an application for graduation.
There is no Summer commencement ceremony; all Summer graduates are invited to participate in the Spring or Fall ceremony.
Degree Conferral Policy
UNC confers degrees after the conclusion of the Fall, Spring, and Summer terms. The official date of conferral will be listed on official transcripts and diplomas. The conferral date is either the date of commencement (for Fall and Spring semesters) or the last day of the Summer semester. Transcripts and diplomas listing the final degree are typically available 4 to 5 weeks after the end of the term to allow time for the Office of the Registrar to verify that all degree requirements have been completed (See Semester Academic Calendar). Prior to the date final transcripts and degrees are available, a student who completes all requirements may request an official “Pending Conferral Letter” from the Office of the Registrar.
Academic records will be locked upon degree conferral. Under no circumstances will changes be made to the academic record after a degree has been conferred.
Diploma Release
Concentration and minors are not printed on the diploma. Only the degree and major(s) are printed on the diploma.
Diplomas will be released two weeks after the release of official transcripts.
Diploma mailing addresses must be updated/provided at least three weeks before the release of diplomas. If the student does not provide a diploma mailing address by that time, the student's diploma will be mailed to their permanent address. In the event there is no permanent address on file, the parent address will be used instead. If the student does not have an active mailing address on file, their diploma will be held for one year. After one year, a fee will be required to re-issue the student's diploma.
The student may change their Diploma Mailing address through the Update Addresses and Phones link up to three weeks before the diploma release date.
The student's diploma will not be released if the student has a hold on their account. If the student's hold is released after the release date of diplomas, please contact the Graduate School at grad.school@unco.edu or 970-351-2831
For exact deadlines, please visit the Graduate School website: unco.edu/graduate-school/student-resources/preparing-for-graduation/graduation-deadlines.aspx
Letter of Completion
Usually, an official transcript is proof of completion of a degree. If a student needs proof of the degree prior to the availability of official transcripts with degree indicated, the student may contact the Graduate School in writing, for a letter of completion. A letter of completion can be issued only after all the degree requirements have been officially verified as complete, including posting of grades for the current semester by the Registrar.
Petition for Exception
Graduate students may petition to be excepted from certain procedures, rules, policies, and requirements within the purview of the Graduate School. Students discuss the need for the Petition with their academic advisor prior to submitting the request to the Graduate School. Students may not file a petition for exception when they are actively engaged in the academic appeals process. The petition must include the specific policy or guideline from which the student desires to be excepted, a clear rationale for the exception, and a description of how the exception, if granted, would enhance the academic program, allow the continuation of a productive academic program, allow recovery from lost opportunity due to health or traumatic events or allow the student to profit from unique educational opportunities impeded by Graduate School regulations. Requests for an extension of program time limit, must document the specific academic and degree requirements to be completed and provide a detailed timeline for each task to be completed. Students are permitted to modify their petition timeline one time by communicating the rationale for the modification to the Graduate School. The Graduate Dean or Associate Dean must approve the modification. If a student misses a deadline for a requirement listed on the timeline, the Graduate School will close the student's program. Similarly, students submitting an application to be readmitted to their degree program following program deactivation (e.g. failure to continuously enroll for 3 consecutive semesters) must indicate the degree requirements to be completed and a specific timeline for completion. If the student misses a deadline for a requirement, the Graduate School will close the student's program. One timeline modification is allowed and must be communicated to and approved by the Graduate School. Signatures of the program advisor and school director or department chair are required on this form prior to submitting the request to the Graduate School. Faculty signatures indicate approval of and support for the request. Petitions submitted without the required signatures will be returned to the student. The Graduate Student Petition for Exception form is available on the Graduate School website.
Program Termination
A student's degree or certificate program may be terminated for one or more of the following reasons:
- The major school/department recommends that the student's program be terminated based on an overall evaluation of the student
- The graduate student has not maintained a cumulative grade point average of 3.00 in graduate level courses. A graduate student may not graduate with a cumulative grade point average below 3.00. If student's cumulative grade point average drops below 3.00 after taking at least 9 graduate level credit hours, a warning letter will be sent to the student. The degree program of a student who has been sent a warning letter will be terminated if the student's grade point average is below 3.00 after completing an additional 9 or more graduate level credit hours in which grades of “A,” “B,” “C,” “D,” or “F” are earned. All grades earned during the semester which the 9th hour is earned are used in the calculation of the grade average;
- The student fails the retake of the written comprehensive examination or its approved equivalent as reported to the Graduate School by the student's program;
- The student fails the retake of the oral comprehensive examination as reported to the Graduate School by the student's program;
- The student fails to meet the "may pass" conditions stipulated after the dissertation defense or oral comprehensive exam; or
- The student submits an unsatisfactory thesis, dissertation or doctoral scholarly project as determined by the student's program and the Graduate School.
The following procedures must be followed prior to submitting a recommendation to discontinue a graduate student’s program for causes other than poor academic performance:
- The student must be informed of the pattern of behavior or incident(s) that has given rise to concern among the school/department faculty members and that led to the recommendation for program discontinuation. These concerns should be documented or, in the case of doctoral students, noted in the student's annual progress review.
- A masters student must be given an opportunity to meet with and address the observed behavior or incident with the student’s advisor or program coordinator. A doctoral student must be given an opportunity to meet with the school/departments Graduate Program Committee (GPC), Review and Retention Committee (or similar committee with program oversight), or with the student’s doctoral committee for school/departments with no graduate program committee. Following the meeting, the GPC or doctoral committee must either reassert the concerns or withdraw the concerns in writing to the department chair or school director.
If the complaint arises from an unprofessional behavior or other behavioral concerns, the student will be given a clearly defined probationary period during which clear behavioral objectives are provided to either rectify the concerns or change the behavior. Clear means of assessing improvement will be provided.
Program faculty may recommend immediate program termination if the complaint results from an egregious violation of laws or published university or school/department policy, egregious violation of rules or professional ethics, or violation of research integrity. In such cases, the program must meet with the student and allow the student to rebut the concerns. If the program faculty believe that remediation is not appropriate, then they may recommend program termination. The program must provide clear documented evidence of violations to the Graduate School with the recommendation for program termination.
Readmission Subsequent to Program Termination
A student whose degree program has been terminated may be considered for admission to a different degree program. Students may not reapply or be readmitted to the terminated program. The following policies apply:
- The student must apply for admission to a different degree program.
- If admitted, the student must complete all standard requirements of the program to which they have been admitted.
- A maximum of 9 semester hours from the terminated program may be counted in the new program if approved by the new program advisor and the Graduate School.
If the student's former program was terminated due to failure of the retake of the comprehensive examination or its equivalent, the student will be allowed only one opportunity to pass the comprehensive examination or approved equivalent in the new program.
Research Involving Human Subjects
Institutional Review Board (IRB)
Before any research involving human subjects can be conducted under the auspices of the university, an Intuitional Review Board (IRB) review is required. Data from human subjects are not to be collected until written approval is received by the student from the University's Institutional Review Board. The main considerations and responsibilities of the IRB are to assure that ethical standards and the protection of human rights are maintained in any research conducted while at the student is enrolled at UNC.
Researchers are advised to obtain and submit an IRB application early in their research process to allow time for a thorough review. Information about UNC's IRB's process and the link to Streamlyne (the web-based IRB application portal can be found on the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs website: https://www.unco.edu/research/research-integrity-and-compliance/institutional-review-board/streamlyne-for-unc-users.aspx
Student Liability
To protect against liability claims, all research involving subject consent requires a statement informing potential subjects that their participation is not covered by university liability insurance. The subject consent form must include the following statement:
If injuries occur during the course of research, subjects are advised that the University of Northern Colorado is a publicly-funded institution of higher education and as such, liability may be limited under and governed by the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act.
The State of Colorado's Risk Management Division (the unit responsible for UNC's liability insurance) has concluded that student researchers are not protected by the state against claims unless they are student employees, interns, or authorized volunteers assigned to a research project (most student researchers would not be). This means that most graduate students working on their master's theses or doctoral dissertations are not protected by the state of Colorado against claims resulting from their research.
This decision has serious implications for student researchers who are working with human subjects. Any student researcher who is placing subjects at some level of risk should be concerned. For example, student researchers are engaged in a variety of activities that could potentially harm their subjects (e.g., they draw blood, conduct therapy sessions, and evaluate physical conditioning). Regardless of how responsible researchers may be, accidents can happen. Though the researcher is ultimately responsible for the health and safety of research subjects, low risk research, as defined by Health and Human Services (HHS) Guidelines and described in the Procedures for Research Involving Human Participant, may not be recommended for special liability insurance coverage.
For moderate to high risk procedures, the IRB committee will strongly recommend that student’s purchase liability insurance either through a professional association or an alternative source.