The Graduate Faculty has recently approved revisions to the By-laws of The Graduate School. The newly revised by-laws can be viewed at: https://policy.uconn.edu/2018/11/21/by-laws-rules-of-the-graduate-school/. Major changes include:
- Updates to reflect changes in the administrative structure and role of The Graduate School
- Specification of criteria for appointments to the Graduate Faculty
- Changes in representation on the Graduate Faculty Council
- Changes in how Graduate Faculty Council members are selected and their terms of service
For a more detailed summary and any questions regarding the new by-laws, contact Professor Kathleen Segerson, Associate Dean of The Graduate School, at kathleen.segerson@uconn.edu
- Updating: The by-laws need to be updated to reflect changes that have occurred since the original by-laws were passed 30 years ago. These include changes in the administrative structure of the University (including the structure of The Graduate School and the Research Foundation), the jurisdiction of The Graduate School, the state-level process regarding approval of new graduate programs, and the duties/functions of the Graduate Faculty Council and the Executive Committee.
- Appointments to the Graduate Faculty: The current by-laws do not state specific criteria for appointment to the Graduate Faculty, saying simply that they must meet criteria “set by the Graduate Faculty Council.” At this point no explicit criteria have been approved and documented. The proposed by-laws specify criteria for appointment to the Graduate Faculty, effectively codifying current practice regarding such appointments. These criteria include the “additional criteria of scholarship and productivity” that has been required to serve as doctoral major advisors. In particular, the additional criteria for serving as a doctoral major advisor would require maintained “scholarly or creative accomplishment or successful doctoral student mentoring and training.” In addition, the statement that appointments are for a “fixed period of time” and “renewable” has been eliminated (except in cases where an existing member of the Graduate Faculty is recommended for appointment to an additional degree or Field of Study). There is no current process for reviewing primary appointments.
- Representation on the Graduate Faculty Council: Under the current system representatives are appointed by “content area”, which is a vague, undefined concept, and representation is “proportional”, i.e., based on size (without clear guidance on which departments should have two members). Under the proposed change, representation would now be by department or “unit” (mainly for interdepartmental/interdisciplinary programs), with one representative per department/unit.
- (S)election to the Graduate Faculty Council: The current by-laws have a process, run by The Graduate School, for electing members of the Graduate Faculty Council. This is very cumbersome and in practice departments have effectively been determining who they want as their representative anyway. The proposed by-laws would replace elections run by The Graduate School with a system under which departments/units would be allowed to choose their representative in any way that they want.
For more information, contact: The Graduate School at gradschool@uconn.edu