Graduate Faculty Membership and Review

Graduate Faculty

Graduate faculty are those faculty approved by the Dean of the Graduate School to teach graduate courses and/or to offer direct assistance to graduate students in their graduate programs. Teaching graduate courses does not automatically confer graduate faculty status.

Two categories of graduate faculty are recognized: Research Graduate Faculty and Teaching Graduate Faculty. Faculty who are approved as Research Graduate Faculty are permitted to teach graduate courses, serve on graduate student exam/thesis/dissertation committees, serve as Graduate Program Directors, and participate on the Graduate Council. Approved Teaching Graduate Faculty are permitted to teach specified clinical/professional graduate courses. They can only serve on student exam/thesis/dissertation committees as an additional member beyond the minimum required membership established by the graduate program.

Eligibility

The Graduate School determines qualifications for both Research Graduate Faculty and Teaching Graduate Faculty based on eligibility criteria detailed below and monitors each category's appointments.

Research Graduate Faculty

All tenured or tenure-earning faculty who possess the earned doctorate/terminal degree in the teaching discipline or a related discipline are eligible to become members of the Research Graduate Faculty. Academic departments are required to provide evidence of a Research Graduate Faculty candidate's significant and continuing scholarship and/or creative activity.

Teaching Graduate Faculty

Faculty on continuing lines (e.g., instructors, lecturers, clinical faculty) who possess the earned doctorate/terminal degree in the teaching discipline, or equivalent education and/or experience, are eligible to become members of the Teaching Graduate Faculty. Academic departments are required to provide evidence of a Teaching Graduate Faculty candidate's continuing scholarship, creative activity, and/or clinical practice, as appropriate to the discipline and teaching assignments.

Adjuncts and visiting faculty are ineligible for graduate faculty status. A Request for Non-Graduate Faculty to Teach Graduate Courses is required for requests to assign adjuncts or visiting faculty to a graduate course.

Appointment

The initial appointment of faculty to either graduate faculty category, whether for current faculty new to graduate programs or faculty new to UNF, may be recommended to the Dean of the Graduate School at any time. Academic departments with graduate programs will recommend qualified faculty who are, or will be, actively involved with teaching graduate courses and/or offering direct assistance to graduate students for appointment to either the Research or Teaching Graduate Faculty. The Dean of the College will review each such nomination and add a recommendation. (The College Dean has the right not to forward names she/he does not judge to be appropriate.) The nomination will then be forwarded to the Dean of the Graduate School, with accompanying documentation of eligibility (e.g., curriculum vitae, faculty credentialing matrix), for final review and approval.

Renewal of Graduate Faculty Membership Status

A member of the Research Graduate Faculty who is a full professor is reviewed every ten years, beginning from the time she/he was promoted to professor. All other members of the Research Graduate Faculty are reviewed every five years. A member of the Teaching Graduate Faculty is reviewed every three years.

If the case as provided by the candidate demonstrates that the relevant criteria are met, as judged and endorsed by the College Dean, the Dean of the Graduate School will consider the graduate faculty member to have achieved renewal.

View the University's official policy on Graduate Faculty Membership and Review.