Policy Change Updates

Sunset over the campanile

Policy Change Updates

During AY 2023-2024, the Executive Council of Graduate Faculty proposed changes to multiple policies related to Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA), Graduate Research Assistant (GRA), and Graduate Assistant Appointments (GA), or “3G”, as well as to the Undergraduate & Graduate Co-Enrollment policy (formerly called “Seniors and Graduate Study”).    

Feedback was solicited from campus stakeholders, including but not limited to Deans, Chairs, Directors, School-level faculty and staff liaisons to the Office of Graduate Studies, and leadership therein. These individuals were encouraged to share the proposed changes with any other relevant stakeholders in their units. 

Provost Bichelmeyer approved these changes, and they were published to the Policy Library on August 1, 2024. These changes are effective Fall 2024. 

You can review the updated policies here: 

Rationale & Change Summary 

The review of the full suite of 3G policies was prompted by ongoing concerns from departments, schools, and students regarding disparities in benefits and eligibility requirements between the GTA, GRA, and GA appointment categories.  

Overview of updates by policy: 

  • Expanded tuition and/or fees benefits for qualifying Graduate Assistants (GAs) and Graduate Research Assistants (GRAs); 

  • Clarified of the nature of work that qualifies as a GA; 

  • New language to allow GAs, GRAs, and Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) to maintain tuition benefits when leaving a position due to academic leave of absence; 

  • New language to ensure compliance with Kansas Board of Regents requirements for English Competency for GTAs; and 

  • Clarified or defined processes for petitioning an exception to policy. 

Benefits Available to GRA/GTA/GAs 

  • Increases GA tuition sponsorship to nine (9) hours each fall/spring semester.   

  • For GA positions funded with state funds, the nine (9) hours will be sponsored centrally by KU with University funds. 

  • For GA positions funded through KUEA, project-based funds, or anything else, the 9 hours must be sponsored by the same funding source as the salary, or other non-restricted funds in the unit. 

  • Clarifies that the full cost of tuition must be paid for >.40 GRAs.  

  • Clarifies that differential course fees must be covered for GRAs. Differential course fees are covered for GTAs.  

  • Extended approved medical leave (Section 9) to require applying for medical leave without pay after two (2) weeks, rather than one (1) week, to be consistent with the two (2) weeks GTAs get for work assignment adjustment. 

GTA/GRA/GA Appointment Eligibility 

  • Clarifies expectations for combined appointments and total appointment limits. 

  • Establishes expectations for combined GTA + GA appointments exceeding .50 FTE. 

GA Appointment Eligibility 

  • Clarifies that the nature of work must require the training and expertise of a graduate student specifically in order to qualify that as a GA (as opposed to a student hourly or other position). 

  • Establishes (in Special Circumstances & Exclusions) a petition process for students to maintain their employment while on academic probation for reasons other than GPA less than 3.0 after the first semester of graduate study. 

GRA Appointment Eligibility 

  • Establishes (in Special Circumstances & Exclusions) a petition process for students to maintain their employment while on academic probation for reasons other than GPA less than 3.0 after the first semester of graduate study. 

GTA Appointment Eligibility 

  • Corrects language to confirm the interview for non-native speakers is required before an offer of employment is made (to be in compliance with KBOR’s policy). 

  • Establishes (in Special Circumstances & Exclusions) a petition process for students to maintain their employment while on academic probation for reasons other than GPA less than 3.0 after the first semester of graduate study. 

Undergraduate and Graduate Co-Enrollment 

  • Changes the title of the policy (previously “Seniors and Graduate Study”) 

  • Clarifies that co-enrolled graduate students are eligible for 3G appointments. 

 

 

During AY 2022-2023, the Executive Council of Graduate Faculty proposed changes to the English Proficiency Requirements for Admission to Graduate Study policy, focused exclusively on expectations for students in fully online programs.   

Feedback was solicited from campus stakeholders, including but not limited to Deans, Chairs, Directors, and School-level faculty and staff liaisons to the Office of Graduate Studies. These individuals were encouraged to share the proposed changes with any other relevant stakeholders in their units.

Provost Bichelmeyer approved these changes in February 2023 and after an implementation review these were published to the Policy Library on September 1, 2023. These changes are effective beginning with the summer/fall 2024 application cycle.

You can review the updated policies here:

Rationale & Change Summary

At the request of the Applied English Center, Graduate Studies worked with the Executive Council to consider the appropriate English Proficiency requirements for fully online students who are non-native speakers of English.  Concerns centered particularly on the ability of KU to provide sufficient language support to online students who had not already achieved a Full Proficiency level.   

Effective with summer/fall 2024 applications, any non-native speaker applying to an online degree or certificate program must achieve Full Proficiency to be eligible for graduate admission.  Applicants to online programs would still have the option to study in person at the AEC to achieve Full Proficiency prior to admission. 

During AY 2022-2023, the Executive Council of Graduate Faculty proposed changes to multiple policies relating to doctoral education, referred to collectively as the Doctoral Suite, as well as the Graduate Faculty Appointment policy. 

Feedback was solicited from campus stakeholders, including but not limited to Deans, Chairs, Directors, and School-level faculty and staff liaisons to the Office of Graduate Studies. These individuals were encouraged to share the proposed changes with any other relevant stakeholders in their units.

Provost Bichelmeyer approved these changes on June 13, 2023 and after an implementation review these were published to the Policy Library on August 10,2023.  These changes are effective beginning with the Fall 2023 term.

You can review the updated policies here:

The Doctoral Oral Comprehensive Exam Time Constraints policy was retired, with relevant content incorporated into Doctoral Degree Oral Comprehensive Exam policy. 

Rationale & Change Summary

A review of doctoral policies and the graduate faculty appointment policy was prompted in part by long-standing concerns among units about the requirements of doctoral committee composition.  Similarly, a review of the Graduate Faculty Appointment policy was prompted by concerns about the limitations on chairing privileges.  The Executive Council chose to conduct a more thorough review of key policies to ensure these were consistent and up to date.  A summary of substantive changes approved follows.

Doctoral Degrees

  • Replaced the name “Doctor of Philosophy” with the more inclusive “Doctoral Degrees”
  • Creates a distinction in policy between the research-oriented Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) and practice oriented professional doctorates
  • Describes the general characteristics of both types of doctoral degree

Doctoral Degree Oral Comprehensive Exam

  • Indicates that students must be given information about the format and general expectations of the exam
  • Clarifies that a student must receive a majority of assenting votes to pass
  • Ensures that all requirements that must be checked prior to approval of the exam are reflected in policy and clarifies the role of department versus school staff in these checks
  • Reorganizes content, eliminates redundant content, and relocates content from retired Doctoral Oral Comprehensive Exam Time Constraints policy

Doctoral Degree Final Oral Exam

  • Signals possibility of culminating effort other than the dissertation
  • Clarifies that a student must receive a majority of assenting votes to pass
  • Sets clear expectations for public announcement of dissertation defenses
  • Ensures that all requirements that must be checked prior to approval of the exam are reflected in policy and clarifies the role of department versus school staff in these checks
  • Requires the publication of dissertation defense information to the University calendar or medium of similar scope
  • Reorganizes content and eliminates redundant content

Doctoral Student Oral Exam Committee Composition

  • Reduces the number of required members for doctoral exam committees to four
  • Provides for the option of a three-member minimum for professional doctorate programs with an approved unit-level exception*
  • Clarifies that the unit, not the student, makes the final determination on questions of committee composition
  • Removes redundant content that appears in other policies

Graduate Studies Representative on Doctoral Exam Committees

  • Formally eliminates the in-person requirement for the Graduate Studies Representative (GSR) (unenforced since March 2020)
  • Clarifies that it is the responsibility of the Graduate Division of the College/School to provide a list of responsibilities to the GSR
  • Clarifies that faculty with a dual appointment may not serve as GSR in either unit 

Graduate Faculty Appointments

  • Establishes the authority of the Executive Council to grant appointments to the graduate faculty
  • More clearly distinguishes the expectations for service on an exam committee versus chairing privileges
  • Indicates that chairing privilege are generally reserved for tenured and tenure-track faculty but provides units with the option to request a unit-level exception* to allow non-tenure track faculty to chair master’s and/or professional doctoral chairing privilege.  (Once a unit level petition is approved, individual faculty within the unit who meet the terms of the exception may be nominated for chairing privileges and administratively approved).  
  • Affirms that the chairing of PhD committees is reserved exclusively for tenured and tenure-track faculty.
  • Clarifies the role of chair versus co-chair
  • Establishes that all privileges, except for doctoral chairing, will be automatically granted to tenured and tenure-track faculty upon hire
  • Removes redundant content that appears in other policies

*Both the Doctoral Student Oral Exam Committee Composition and the Graduate Faculty Appointment policies outline options for a “unit-level” exception or petition.  Templates and further instructions for requesting these exceptions will be provided to School and department-level graduate support staff.

During AY 2022-2023, the Executive Council of Graduate Faculty proposed changes to the Improving Doctoral Experiences on External Awards policy (IDEEA) in the following areas: baseline support levels, ineligible funding sources, and exceptions requests for select funding sources. 

Feedback was solicited from campus stakeholders, including but not limited to Deans, Chairs, Directors, and School-level faculty and staff liaisons to the Office of Graduate Studies. These individuals were encouraged to share the proposed changes with any other relevant stakeholders in their units.

Provost Bichelmeyer approved these changes in June 2023 and after an implementation review these were published to the Policy Library on August 10, 2023.  These changes are effective beginning with the Fall 2023 term.

You can review the updated policies here:

 

Rationale & Change Summary

During the first year of implementation, it became clear that modest changes to the policy were required in several areas to clarify expectations and align with the original intent of the policy. 

The changes made, effective beginning Fall 2023, include:

  1. Adding the possibility of support in excess of the stipulated limits to tuition and fees.  This would apply only for students in programs where the required hours are documented in the catalog and necessary to good academic progress.
  2. Clarification that the GRF, as a source of state funding, is not an eligible funding source. 
  3. Allowance for exceptions to certain provisions of the policy for funding sources that meets both of two criteria outlined in the Exceptions and Special Circumstances section:     
    • prestigious funding sources of a scope and/or duration that constitute a significant impact on the KU research and training mission (e.g., programmatic funding).
    • funding that prohibits an employee/employer relationship for graduate students. 

In Fall 2022, the Executive Council of Graduate Studies voted to approve the retirement of a five  policies as part of an effort to streamline Graduate Studies policy.  The names of these retired policies and the rationale for each retirement is as follows:

Progress to Degree Form – This document explained the scope and purpose of the Progress to Degree (PtD) system.  The PtD system is now standard operating procedure.

Application and Tuition Fees for Graduate Students – This document contained no substantive policy content.  It consisted of a list of application and tuition fees for graduate students.  These can be found on relevant KU websites. 

Departmental Use of Application Fees – This policy explained the procedures related to the departmental use of application fees, a practice that was terminated in October 2019. 

Application and Admission to Doctoral Programs – Reiterated content available elsewhere in policy or online.   

Doctoral Degree Requirements – This document contained no substantive policy content.  It consisted only of a list of other doctoral policies. 

The Office of Graduate Studies submitted to the Policy Office two required updates to policy. 

Graduate Certificate Programs

An edit was made to the Graduate Certificate Programs policy to include the following statement, required by our accreditors (HLC):  All graduate certificate programs must be comprised of at least 50% course work designed for graduate credit and offered at the 700-level or above.

A similar statement was previously added to master’s policy.  

 

Graduate Assistant Appointment Eligibility AND Benefits Available to Graduate Research Assistant, Graduate Teaching Assistant and Graduate Assistants 

An edit was made to the Graduate Assistant Appointment Eligibility and Benefits Available to Graduate Research Assistant, Graduate Teaching Assistant and Graduate Assistants policies to clarify that Residential Graduate Assistant appointments (GA positions with KU Housing that have a separate job code than standard GA appointments) are eligible for the same benefits as standard GAs, and as such, must also adhere to the same overall appointment eligibility criteria.

The decision to include RGAs was made by the Provost in consultation with Graduate Studies, Housing, and the Budget Office earlier this year and addresses inequities among students in the Higher Ed Administration program who are employed in both RGA and standard GA positions.

The Executive Council of Graduate Faculty proposed changes to multiple policies relating to master’s education, referred to collectively as the Master’s Suite.  This included: 1) changes to the Master’s Degree Requirements, Master’s Final Exam, and Master’s Exam Committee Composition policies, and 2) retirement of the Master’s Degree Enrollment Requirements and MA & MS Degrees policies. 

Feedback was solicited from campus stakeholders, including but not limited to Deans, Chairs, Directors, and School-level faculty and staff liaisons to the Office of Graduate Studies. These individuals were encouraged to share the proposed changes with any other relevant stakeholders in their units.

Provost Bichelmeyer approved these changes on May 20, 2022 and after an implementation review these were published to the Policy Library on July 21, 2022.  These changes take effect beginning with the Fall 2022 term.

You can review the updated policies here:

Rationale & Change Summary

The review of the full master’s suite of policies was prompted by ongoing concerns from various academic departments about both exam and committee requirements.  The Executive Committee reviewed all five policies noted above, consolidating still relevant content from the two retired policies into the three remaining policies.  The summary of substantive changes follows.

Master’s Degree Requirements

  • Integrates (without substantive changes) content from the retired MA & MS Degrees policy, including the 30-credit hour minimum and the option for a reduced hour degree.
  • Modifies content previously in the MA & MS Degrees policy describing the requirement for a coherent plan of study and concentration in a major area.  Adds language about interdisciplinary programs.
  • Describes the option of “culminating efforts” achieved outside of coursework requirements, including but not limited to the master’s thesis.  Clarifies that it is the inclusion of one of these culminating efforts that triggers the application of the Master’s Final Exam policy.
  • Explicitly allows for a coursework-only master’s degree. 
  • Integrates (without substantive changes) content from the retired Master’s Degree Enrollment Requirements policy relating to degree completion.

Master's Final Exams

  • Clarifies that a final general exam or defense is required for any degree program with a thesis, performance, or project as a “culminating effort.”
  • Clarifies that a final general exam may also be a stand-alone requirement.
  • Makes it explicit that an oral component is optional, but if included, the Master’s Final Exam Committee Composition policy applies.
  • Integrates (without substantive changes) content from the retired Master’s Degree Enrollment Requirement policy pertaining to enrollment requirements in the final 

Master’s Student Oral Exam Committee Composition

  • Provides an option for individual academic programs to request a blanket exception to the requirement that the majority of committee members must be tenured or tenure-track.  Previously, this was limited to allowing exception requests only from programs that sought to utilize professors of the practice, research faculty, or clinical faculty to fulfill the majority requirement.  It will now be possible for programs that seek to utilize any non-tenure-track faculty with continuing appointments.  
  • Edited policy language to provide additional clarification that the exceptions list only applies to this majority rule.
  • The Executive Committee discussed but made no changes relating to the privilege of chairing master’s committees.  This is to be considered in a pending review of the Graduate Faculty Appointment policy. 

 

The Executive Council of Graduate Faculty proposed changes to the Council's bylaws.  Feedback was solicited from campus stakeholders, including but not limited to Deans, Chairs, Directors, and School-level faculty and staff liaisons to the Office of Graduate Studies. These individuals were encouraged to share the proposed changes with any other relevant stakeholders in their units.

Provost Bichelmeyer approved these changes on May 20, 2022 and after an implementation review these were published to the Policy Library on July 21, 2022.  These changes take effect beginning with the Fall 2022 term.

You can review the updated policy here:

Rationale & Change Summary

The review of the bylaws sought to address several minor discrepancies between what was stated in the Bylaws and actual practice around policy development.  In particular, it clarified how the Office of Graduate Studies works with the Policy Office throughout the policy development process.  The revisions also include a change that will allow the Council the latitude to retire policies that are no longer applicable without seeking campus stakeholder input.  

The Executive Council of Graduate Faculty proposed retiring the Tuition Assistance Pool (TAP) program and policy and replacing it with the Improving Doctoral Experiences of External Awards (IDEEA) program and policy.  Feedback was solicited from campus stakeholders, including but not limited to Deans, Chairs, Directors, and School-level faculty and staff liaisons to the Office of Graduate Studies. These individuals were encouraged to share the proposed changes with any other relevant stakeholders in their units.

Provost Bichelmeyer approved these changes and the IDEEA policy was published in the Policy Library on 10 March 2022.  The TAP policy was retired on the same date. These changes take effect beginning with the Summer 2022 term.

You can review the new IDEEA policy below

 

Rationale & Change Summary

This policy replaces the Tuition Assistance Pool (TAP) policy.  The new policy defines baseline expectations for doctoral support packages, including salary or stipend and attendant benefits. It provides criteria and expectations to govern when IDEEA funds will supplement external awards, including eligibility criteria for students as well as the external funding sources which may be supplemented.  It also defines two priority categories into which requests will be classified and a new review procedure for applications. 

 

The intention is to more strategically employ existing funding to provide supplemental scholarships that balance out any potential financial penalties currently incurred by high-performing doctoral students with external awards. 

The Executive Council of Graduate Faculty proposed changes to the Graduate Certificate Programs policy.  Feedback was solicited from campus stakeholders, including but not limited to Deans, Chairs, Directors, and School-level faculty and staff liaisons to the Office of Graduate Studies. These individuals were encouraged to share the proposed changes with any other relevant stakeholders in their units.

 

Provost Bichelmeyer approved these changes and the Graduate Certificate Programs policy was published in the Policy Library on 20 January 2022.  These changes took effect immediately. 

You can review the new Graduate Certificate Program policy below:

            Graduate Certificate Programs

Rationale & Change Summary

The purpose behind these revisions was to align policy documentation with established program review procedures and accreditation expectations. The changes update the names of relevant offices and specify more accurate timelines for program renewal requests.  Two existing policy pages were consolidated into one: the policy statement and content previously housed under “Graduate Certificate Programs, Policies and Procedures For” was moved to and replaced the three links that comprised the full content housed under “Graduate Certificate Programs”. Those three links will remain in the policy, filed in the “Related Policies” section.  Graduate Certificate Programs, Policies and Procedures For was retired. 

The Executive Council of Graduate Faculty proposed revisions to the Graduate Research Assistant Appointment Eligibility policy. Provost Bichelmeyer approved the changes, which were published in the Policy Library on 11 October 2021. These changes will take effect for the Summer 2022 term so, until then, both the old and new versions of the policy will remain visible in the Policy Library, for reference.

You can review it at the link below.

Rationale

This policy change represents Graduate Studies' first step toward a broader goal of achieving parity between the 3G appointment types (GRA, GTA, and GA). It removes the summer enrollment requirement for GRA employment eligibility. Previously, GRAs were required to enroll for summer in order to be eligible for their GRA employment while GTAs and GAs were not.

Please Note: Some students may be subject to several reasons that they are required to enroll for summer. This proposal eliminates one such but does not override another. (For example, a requirement placed on international students would still apply.)

Review Procedure

This revision proposal was developed in collaboration between the Office of Graduate Studies and the Executive Council of Graduate Faculty. The Executive Council formally reviewed the revision language twice, circulating the proposal draft for campus-wide stakeholder review and comment between their discussions. The draft was sent to the following stakeholders directly, and they were also invited to share it with any contacts they thought might be interested, as well. We received only enthusiastically positive feedback to this proposal. Campus was very excited to see this happen.

  • Deans
  • Associate Deans
  • Department Chairs
  • Directors of Graduate Study
  • School-level Graduate Administrators
  • The Office of Research
  • Shared Service Center Leadership
  • Human Resources Management
  • International Support Services
  • International Affairs
  • Graduate Enrollment Management
  • Financial Aid and Scholarships
  • The Provost's Office
  • The Policy Office
  • The Office of the General Counsel

Change Summary

This revision removes the summer enrollment requirement specific to GRA employment eligibility and, instead, adopts language parallel to that currently in place in the comparable GTA eligibility policy. It further clarifies that GRAs should have independent discretion about whether to enroll for summer and, if they choose to do so, shall be covered by the provisions of the GTA/GRA/GA Benefits policy.

Please Note: Some students may be subject to several reasons that they are required to enroll for summer. This proposal eliminates one such but does not override another. (For example, a requirement placed on international students would still apply.)

The Executive Council of Graduate Faculty, as advised by Graduate Enrollment Management, the Applied English Center, International Affairs, and other stakeholders, proposed revisions to the policies governing Admission to Graduate Study and English Proficiency Requirements for Admission to Graduate Study. Provost Bichelmeyer approved the proposals on 3 June 2021. These changes were published and effective as of 2 August 2021, for the upcoming 2022 admission cycles.

You can review both policies at the links below.

Rationale

These changes remove barriers to recruitment, arrival, and enrollment of graduate students by removing an equity gap created by the interaction of university policy and federal immigration regulations. In addition, these policy revisions support KU’s efforts to advance holistic admissions practices university-wide and align our standards more fully with national best-practice recommendations.

Review Procedure

Specialist work groups representing Graduate Enrollment Management, International Affairs, the Applied English Center, and Graduate Studies developed both proposals over the summer and fall of 2020. The Executive Council of Graduate Faculty formally reviewed them twice. Between Council reviews, the proposals circulated campus-wide for stakeholder review and comment in February 2021, including to the following stakeholders.

  • Deans
  • Associate Deans
  • Department Chairs
  • Directors of Graduate Study
  • School-level Graduate Staff
  • International Support Services
  • Graduate Military Programs
  • The Lieutenant General William K. Jones Military-Affiliated Student Center
  • Financial Aid and Scholarships
  • The Provost’s Office
  • The Policy Office
  • The Office of the General Counsel

We received no feedback about major concerns or reservations.

Change Summary

In combination, the attached proposals eliminate the “Provisional Admission” category by combining it with “Regular Admission” in order to ensure the same standards apply to domestic and international applicants. In order to advance holistic admissions practices and smooth the path for applicants to study at KU, we also eliminate the university-wide GPA minimum and establish additional methods for applicants to demonstrate English proficiency.

Specific changes include the following.

  • Admissions
    • Removal of the Provisional Admission category
      • Instead: Admission proficiency standards set at levels that align with AEC coursework requirements for admission
    • Removal of the university-level minimum GPA requirement
      • Instead: Delegation of authority to set GPA requirements by program, department, or school
    • Removal of the restriction against bachelor’s degrees containing credit awarded for work not supervised by faculty (e.g., life experience)
    • Removal of the “Easy Admit” process
    • Addition of cross-reference to the Co-Enrollment policy
  • English Proficiency
    • Removal of the Provisional Proficiency category
      • Instead: Regular Proficiency standards set at the previous level of Provisional Admission
      • Please NOTE: Students previously categorized as provisional will now be fully admissible to graduate study and eligible for immigration documentation. However, they may also be required to complete additional English-language coursework through the AEC upon arrival.
    • Removal of the requirement that online-only program applicants needed Full Proficiency to be admitted
      • Instead: allow admission to online-only programs at Admission Proficiency level
    • Inclusion of speaking scores in evaluation of English proficiency for admission
      • Use total scores instead of only some reported part scores
    • Establishment of the level at which partial completion of AEC coursework demonstrates proficiency sufficient for graduate admission
    • Revision of the standardized test cut scores, in accordance with guidance from the AEC and testing agencies
    • Removal of the cut score table from the body of the policy onto a website
      • This facilitates more flexible response to global events and test changes

The Executive Council of Graduate Faculty proposed the following changes to the Seniors and Graduate Study (Co-Enrollment) policy, which Provost Bichelmeyer approved on 10 June 2021. These changes have been published and are effective immediately.

Rationale:

This revision makes one substantive change: it opens co-enrollment in a KU graduate program to well-prepared undergraduate seniors at other institutions as long as the home undergraduate institution has a documented partnership with the KU graduate department. This is intended to expand the recruitment pipeline from area colleges and to smooth the path for undergraduate students in the region to pursue graduate work at KU.

In addition, the Office of Graduate Studies performed routine cleanup, updating links and clarifying technical points about administration of co-enrollment.

Review Procedure:

This Executive Council of Graduate Faculty first took up consideration of this proposal in Fall 2018. During that semester, the proposal completed most of the standard policy review steps, including two formal readings by the Council and circulation for campus-wide stakeholder review and comment. Unfortunately, its further progress was delayed while the Office of Graduate Studies underwent restructure. The Council resumed its review and approval process for this policy in January 2021, conducting a third formal review and discussion to ensure that the proposed changes remained appropriate and desirable following the delay. They voted to endorse the proposal for the Provost's final review and approval in March 2021.

The Executive Council of Graduate Faculty has adopted new governing bylaws for itself.

Rationale

In approximately 2006, KU’s Graduate School was abolished. After a little more than a year with no comparable unit, KU reconstituted an Office of Graduate Studies with a dramatically narrowed scope of responsibility. The re-establishment of the office included establishment of an Executive Council of Graduate Faculty to exercise faculty oversight of graduate education policy and process. However, the Council never formally adopted bylaws by which to operate.

During the Office of Graduate Studies’ 2019-20 restructure, the Interim Dean recommended that the Council develop formal bylaws to govern its operations, ensuring transparency and consistency in its conduct of business on behalf of all Graduate Faculty at KU. The initiative began under her leadership and has continued as a cornerstone of the permanent Vice Provost's early agenda.

Review Procedure

The Council discussed the developing bylaws at nearly every meeting for a year and a half. They based their early efforts on best practices and models available from internal governance organizations and national peers. In accordance with established policy review procedures, a late-stage draft circulated for a two-week campus-wide review and comment period in Fall 2020. That review included the following campus stakeholders:

  • Deans
  • Associate Deans
  • Department Chairs
  • Directors of Graduate Study (DGSes)
  • The Office of the General Counsel
  • Assistant Vice Provost Redeker
  • The Policy Office

Policy Summary

In summary, the new bylaws outline the expectations for membership in the Council, meeting attendance and between-meeting conduct of business, designated activities of the Council, and procedures for voting, policy revision, committee delegation, and changes to the bylaws.

The Executive Council of Graduate Faculty proposed retiring the Doctoral Program Time Constraints policy and replacing it with a new policy, Engagement and Enrollment in Doctoral Programs, which Provost Bichelmeyer approved on 17 December 2020. These changes have been published and are effective immediately.

Rationale

This new policy responds to the needs of several professional schools to develop doctoral programs that intentionally serve part-time students and/or students for whom a physical, on-campus residence period impedes progress toward the degree. The intent behind the new policy is to be more inclusive and welcoming to students from non-traditional backgrounds and to smooth the path for them to pursue graduate work at KU while maintaining our high standards for academic rigor in doctoral programs.

Changes

In summary, the new policy eliminates the full-time, on-campus residency requirement and, instead, emphasizes a minimum period of pre-comprehensive enrollment and rigorous engagement in the degree program. It allows doctoral students to meet these engagement requirements by enrolling either part-time or full-time in any combination of on-ground, hybrid, and online courses at KU, as deemed appropriate by the degree-granting program or department. Students must abide by any additional or corollary requirements or limitations set by the degree program, department, or school. Specific elements of the new policy include:

  • New policy name: the old policy was fully retired and this new policy has been published as a replacement
  • Eliminate the requirement for two full-time semesters physically resident on campus and replace the residency requirement with a choice between:
    • Two fall and/or spring semesters of full-time enrollment in KU coursework as defined by university policy OR
    • At least 18 hours of enrollment in KU coursework spread out over several part-time semesters
    • Either of these options must be completed prior to the semester in which the student takes the comprehensive exam.
  • Shift emphasis from full-time enrollment and physical residency toward sustained intellectual engagement and academic rigor
  • Eliminate the option to count master's degrees earned at other institutions toward the KU residency requirement (Note: Master's degrees earned at KU still count.)
  • Explicitly permit counting online, remote, or distance courses (taken at KU) toward the engagement and enrollment requirement
  • Explicitly require that students meet all applicable program, department, or school requirements
  • Remove the discussion of academic Leave of Absence from this policy, since it is addressed in its own, standalone policy

Review Procedure

The new policy was developed through collaboration with the Executive Council of Graduate Faculty and with the Schools of Social Welfare, Pharmacy, and Education. The Executive Council conducted four formal reviews of proposed policy language and circulated two drafts for campus-wide stakeholder review and comment between their discussions. The following campus stakeholders received the drafts for comment.

  • Deans
  • Associate Deans
  • Department Chairs
  • Directors of Graduate Study
  • Graduate Coordinators
  • Graduate Liaisons in all professional schools and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
  • The Office of the University Registrar
  • Student Information Systems
  • Financial Aid and Scholarships
  • Graduate Enrollment Management
  • Graduate Military Programs
  • International Scholar Services
  • The Policy Office

Feedback Received

The Executive Council enjoyed substantial feedback and lengthy, sustained discussions with stakeholders throughout the several rounds of review. The Council deliberated over all of the feedback and used it to determine the best overall approach. In particular, they addressed the following considerations.

  • Many faculty stakeholders feel strongly that intense immersion in a discipline or field of study is a cornerstone of doctoral education, so to remove that requirement would compromise the value of a KU doctoral degree as well as our ranking among our national peers. The Council addressed this concern by retaining two full-time semesters as the preferred option for demonstrating engagement while also providing an alternative enrollment format for those programs who find it beneficial.
  • Some stakeholders argued that permitting part-time pursuit of Ph.D. degrees may have unintended consequences for the sustainability and marketability of professional doctorates historically marketed to full-time working professionals. Council recognized this concern but upheld the traditional KU policy expectation that departments and schools may always set more stringent requirements than those outlined in university policy. Since an existing remote Ph.D. program currently operating at KU provided data demonstrating that they would be better served by the option to allow part-time enrollments as well, the Council opted to set the minimum bar for all doctorates at the same level and grant maximum flexibility to programs, departments, and schools to set more appropriately stringent standards where necessary.
  • The Council concurred with feedback that the option to pursue a given doctoral program remotely or on a part-time basis should be determined at the program level by the faculty, not on an individual, case-by-case basis by the student.
  • A number of thorough discussions concerning the procedural mechanics of administering this policy also yielded significant improvements over the course of several drafts.

The Office of Graduate Studies is very grateful for the sustained and thoughtful participation of all stakeholders in developing and improving this new policy.

The Executive Council of Graduate Faculty proposed the following changes to the Graduate Credit policy, which Provost Bichelmeyer approved on 17 December 2020. These changes have been published and are effective immediately.

Rationale

This revision made two primary changes to the policy governing transfer credit into master's programs. Both changes aim to reduce or remove administrative barriers to recruitment of new students. One is prompted by a recognition that, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, future students may wish to transfer courses in which they did not earn a letter grade for reasons outside their control.

The other change creates an opportunity for KU programs to establish formalized partnerships with other institutions, through which students may be able to transfer more than nine credit hours earned elsewhere toward a master's degree granted by KU. The expectation remains that the additional hours will still meet all of KU's established standards for master's-level transfer credit.

The Council also took the opportunity to clarify that an existing restriction on earning graduate credit for courses graded C- and below applies to both degree- and certificate-seeking students.

Changes

Specific updates to the policy include:

  • Establishment of a Memorandum of Understanding with a partner institution may allow programs to accept more than nine hours of transfer credit toward a KU master's degree.
  • In cases of natural or other disaster, KU master's programs may accept courses for transfer credit which carry non-letter grades as long as a transcript note or other documentation demonstrates a wide-scale shift to a non-letter grading scale.
  • Technical edit: courses earning a C- and below do not count toward a graduate degree or certificate.

Review Procedure

This policy change was developed in collaboration with the Executive Council of Graduate Faculty and through circulation for campus-wide stakeholder review and comment, which included the following campus stakeholders:

  • Deans
  • Associate Deans
  • Graduate Military Programs
  • Lt. Gen. William K. Jones Military-Affiliated Student Center
  • The Office of the University Registrar
  • Graduate Enrollment Management
  • Department Chairs
  • Directors of Graduate Study
  • Graduate Coordinators
  • The Policy Office