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.