Graduate School Bulletin

The Department/Program

Each department exercises a large measure of responsibility for its graduate programs. Under the general responsibility of the departmental chairperson, each department has a graduate program director who administers graduate activities. Each program also has an appeals and grievances committee comprised of equal numbers of faculty and graduate student members. Individual programs select graduate applicants and recommend them for admission to the dean of the Graduate School. The programs are responsible for the nomination of students and applicants for fellowships, traineeships, assistantships, and tuition scholarships, as well as for the administration of graduate programs, including coursework, supervised research, teaching assistantships, and graduate examinations. It is the program that certifies to the Graduate School that the student has completed all degree requirements. Graduate programs not housed in specific departments are governed by interdepartmental faculty committees chaired by a graduate program director. For purposes of graduate education, they function as do departments in other disciplines.