Administration and Faculty

The University of Tennessee Board of Trustees

http://bot.tennessee.edu/members.html

The University of Tennessee Administration

http://president.tennessee.edu/

http://president.tennessee.edu/staff/index.html

For an updated list of Graduate Faculty please refer to the Graduate School Web site, www.utc.edu/graduateschool.

Membership in the Graduate Faculty

In support of continuing high quality graduate education at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and in recognition of accreditation standards, the following policy for a Graduate Faculty has been adopted.

In terms consistent with the mission of the University, this policy defines a Graduate Faculty, describes the criteria for membership in the Graduate Faculty, and articulates the process by which individual selection is made.

Definition

There are four general categories of membership in the Graduate Faculty at UTC: full doctoral, full master’s, associate, and special.

Graduate Faculty may teach graduate courses and undertake other responsibilities, as described below.

1. Full Membership - Doctoral
   Full members of the Graduate Faculty for doctoral programs may teach graduate courses; direct theses, dissertations, and doctoral projects; and serve on thesis, dissertation, and doctoral project committees. They are eligible for election to the Graduate Council. Membership in this category is provided for individuals who are full-time tenured, tenure-track, or research faculty.
    
2. Full Membership - Master’s
   Full members of the Graduate Faculty for master’s programs may teach graduate courses, direct theses, and serve on thesis, dissertation and doctoral project committees. They are eligible for election to the Graduate Council. Membership in this category is provided for individuals who are full-time tenured, tenure-track, or research faculty.
    
3. Associate Membership
   Associate members of the Graduate Faculty may teach graduate courses, serve on thesis and dissertation committees, and are eligible for election to the Graduate Council, but are not eligible to direct theses and dissertations. Membership in this category is provided for individuals who do not meet all the criteria for full membership but are full-time tenured, tenure-track or research faculty.
    
4. Special Membership
   Special members may teach specific graduate courses or serve on specific thesis and dissertation committees. Special membership status of the Graduate Faculty may be granted to visiting or adjunct faculty of the University who have special academic expertise or professional experience and who demonstrate competence in a particular course of instruction but who otherwise do not meet all the criteria for associate or full membership. Faculty who hold special membership are not eligible for election to Graduate Council.

Criteria for Full Membership

The criteria for full membership in the Graduate Faculty are designed to advance the specific programs of the University, and it is expected that participating graduate programs, the Graduate Council, and the Graduate School will periodically review the selection criteria.

1. Evidence of Appropriate Degree
   For full members of the Graduate Faculty in doctoral or master’s programs: an earned doctorate or appropriate terminal degree in the teaching discipline or a related discipline. The degree should have been awarded by a regionally accredited institution or its international equivalent.
    
2. Evidence of On-going Scholarly and Professional Work
   Graduate Faculty must have maintained active and recent scholarship in fields of expertise. While research and scholarly production may be defined differently in each discipline or academic competence, the following guidelines are relevant:
   
   1. The activity involves a studious inquiry or examination.
   2. The results of scholarship and other professional production are peer-reviewed, depending upon the mode of scholarly production. For example, in the performing arts, there may be a provision for formal, public, peer evaluation. In other disciplines there may be a provision for peer evaluation of products such as archival or published research, presentations before professional societies, licensure and certification, or significant consulting activity. Classified or “sensitive but unclassified” efforts will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

Note: Because institutions offering doctoral degrees must meet high standards of professional and scholarly expectations, graduate faculty in doctoral programs will be held to higher standards of scholarly activity than graduate faculty in master’s programs. While expectations for faculty may vary from discipline to discipline, doctoral faculty must have substantial, documented evidence of excellence in scholarly and creative activities on a current and sustained basis. These scholarly and creative efforts must be peer-reviewed in the disciplinary area of their assigned graduate responsibility.

3. Documented Commitment to Graduate Education         
   Evidence for commitment to graduate education may have been demonstrated at this University or at another institution by activities such as the following:
   
   • teaching graduate classes
   • conducting scholarly activity
   • directing internships, projects, theses, and dissertations
   • serving on committees for projects, theses, and dissertations
   • serving on Graduate Council, if elected
   • serving on Graduate Council committees, if designated
   • advising graduate students
   • serving as a graduate program coordinator
   • developing graduate programs and courses
   • participating in graduate recruitment activities
   • developing research facilities

Demonstration of a commitment to graduate education by new members of the faculty in the first year of hiring may be determined in the interview.

Processes of Designation, Continuation, and Appeal

1. Process of Designation
   1. The process of designation to the Graduate Faculty will
      1. originate with the individual and the graduate faculty of the instructional unit in a process that will
      2. include the recommendation of the Department Head;
      3. proceed through review and recommendation by the College Dean; and, in typical cases,
      4. be recommended by a “membership committee” of the Graduate Council, and will be recommended to
      5. Graduate Council which will in turn recommend to
      6. the Dean of the Graduate School who, upon his or her approval, will make the appointment by letter.
         
         NOTE: In some cases—typically in an instance of trans-disciplinary research and teaching and in inter-disciplinary research and teaching where there may be no single departmental discipline to advocate the appointment—the Dean of the College or the Dean of the Graduate School may initiate the process. He or she will submit the case for approval by the graduate faculties of the program(s) concerned with the projected research and teaching, after which the normal process will be followed.
   2. In the event that a new faculty member is hired with graduate teaching responsibilities, status in the Graduate Faculty may be awarded at the time of appointment, for a period of two years.
   3. In emergency circumstances, a temporary appointment may originate with the recommendation of the concerned unit of instruction, the Dean of the Graduate School. Upon this action, the graduate dean may recommend a one-semester exception to the the normal process, which will require a temporary appointment by the Provost.
   4. In none of the provisions for membership in the Graduate Faculty is there the presumption that membership is perpetual or that any faculty member has a contractual right or obligation to teach graduate courses without the normal provisions for review and renewal. Membership in the Graduate Faculty should be regarded as a privilege, not as an entitlement.
       
2. Process of Continuation
   The process of continuation varies somewhat according to the four categories of membership.
   
   1. For faculty holding Full Membership at the doctoral or master’s level, credentials are reviewed at the time of initial appointment and every five years thereafter.
   2. For faculty holding Associate Membership, status is reviewed every five years for continuation as an associate member or for acceptance as a full member. At the request of an associate member, his or her status may be reviewed for acceptance as a full member at any time when a change in circumstances warrants such change in designation.
   3. For faculty holding Special Membership, appointments will be reviewed after two years and may be renewable.
       
3. Process of Appeal
   If a faculty member’s application for membership in the Graduate Faculty is not approved in the normal process described above, or if it is approved for a category other than the one sought, a written appeal may be made to the Provost and to the Chancellor.