July 2011 Archives

Check out the article the Minnesota Daily wrote on the leave of absence policy for graduate students that COGS helped spearhead:

http://www.mndaily.com/2011/07/20/grad-students%E2%80%99-leave-absence-policy-underway

This fall we will be screening the PhD Comics Movie at the U! We don't have a date/location yet, but information will be posted to the COGS Events page as it becomes available. Hope to see you there!

Many things are happening this summer at the U - new President and many policies that were formally part of the Graduate School Constitution are now becoming U-wide policies. In this policy themed COGS Extra:

1. Current policies up for 30-day comment period

3. Quarterly Policy Newsletter

1. Policies that are up for 30-day comment

Five policies specific to graduate education are in the 30-day comment period; this gives us 30 days to provide feedback before these go into effect. Please take a look at the proposed policy changes (summarized below). To submit comments or feedback: click on the link for each policy and scroll down to the end of the policy where a "Policy Feedback" box can be filled out and submitted.

Adding, Changing, or Discontinuing Academic Plans

- Shifts the review and initial approval of new and updated non-doctoral post-baccalaureate (e.g., Master's degrees) academic plans to collegiate units, from the Graduate School.
- Changes to all doctoral programs will still go through a centralized mechanism in the Graduate School such as the Graduate Education Council (GEC)

Application of Graduate Credits to Degree Requirements

- Graduate programs may allow up to a maximum of nine 4000-level course credits, unless the specific graduate program imposes a lower maximum.
- Allows for Plan A thesis credits to count toward the doctoral degree in the same field if the thesis credits were not applied to the master's degree.
- Continues to limit the number of credits for the master's and doctoral degrees that may be taken as a non-degree or non-admitted student.
- Stipulates a minimum number of course credits that doctoral students must take at the University.

Appointments as Director of Graduate Studies

- Requires every graduate program to have a director of graduate studies (DGS).
- Continues the requirement that only tenured or tenure-track faculty are eligible to serve as a DGS, unless an exception by the Provost or designate has been granted.

Credit Requirements for Master's and Doctoral Degrees

- Establishes the minimum and maximum credit requirements for Master's Plan A, B, and C degrees and for Doctoral degrees.
- Eliminates the requirement for outside coursework in view of the trend towards interdisciplinary curricula within many programs. Programs are given the option to require a minor or supporting program.

Leave of Absence and Reinstatement from a Leave: Graduate Students

- Establishes a formal leave of absence for graduate students who need to interrupt their enrollment for reasons they cannot control such as illness, family emergencies, etc.
- Allows students to return to the University under the rules and policies in effect when they left.

2. A new tool to find the policies that affect YOU

Unless administrative policy is a part of your everyday life, the volume of policies at the U can be overwhelming. So, the policy library is introducing the new "Customized Key Policy List!"

This new feature allows you to select your Group (faculty, staff, student), and/or the key activity(s) in which you are engaged. These two options will then return a list of the most commonly applicable policies that pertain to you and your activities.

If we've piqued your curiosity, why not take the customized search for a test drive at http://policy.umn.edu/categories/polaudienceform.cfm.

3. Quarterly Policy newsletter

For a surprisingly funny quarterly digest on policy changes at the U, sign up for the Policy Post Newsletter by emailing policy@umn.edu.