System Graduate Faculty - Guidelines

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  1. Purpose
    The Texas A&M University System Graduate Faculty has been developed for the following purposes:
    • to facilitate participation in graduate education for A&M System students
    • to provide graduate students access to the expertise of faculty members throughout the System
    •  to increase inter-institutional faculty collaboration throughout the A&M System
    •  to promote the development of multi-disciplinary educational and research programs and the capacity to study complex scientific and social issues.
  2. Membership Background
    • Membership on the A&M System Graduate Faculty provides the opportunity to participate in graduate education at A&M System universities through serving on graduate committees, advising graduate students, and teaching graduate courses.
    • Appointment to membership on the A&M System Graduate Faculty is designed to assure rigor in the directing, counseling, and teaching of graduate students.
    • All A&M System Graduate Faculty members can serve as members of any graduate committee.
    • The chair of a graduate committee must be from the institution that is conferring the graduate degree.
  3. Membership Qualifications
    Consideration for membership on the A&M System Graduate Faculty requires meeting the following qualifications.
    • The individual must hold the terminal degree, usually an earned doctorate. Exceptions will be considered only if justified in accordance with the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
    • The individual must be a tenured or a tenure-track faculty member of a Texas A&M University System university and hold a professorial rank.
    • A person holding the title of instructor or lecturer may not be considered for membership on the A&M System Graduate Faculty.
    • Individuals holding professorial rank at an A&M System agency are eligible for membership.
    • The individual must be a member of the graduate faculty at his/her home institution.
    • The individual must be an active participant in his/her graduate program through teaching, directing or administering graduate work.The individual must show evidence of active research and scholarly work within the past five years. This should include publication as primary author of scholarly works in peer-reviewed journals, publication of scholarly books, presentations at professional meetings, or creative works, such as performances, work in juried exhibitions, or other creative works appropriate to the individual’s discipline.
    • A graduate student at any Texas A&M University System institution may not be a member of the A&M System Graduate Faculty. Membership on the A&M System Graduate Faculty is forfeited upon a faculty or staff member's admission to a graduate program at any institution in The Texas A&M University System.
  4. Nomination, Appointment and Review Process
    • Nomination for membership to the A&M System Graduate Faculty is made by submission of an official application by a faculty member and an accompanying letter of endorsement from the individual’s department head or chair and college dean. The application and letter of endorsement are sent to the graduate dean, who certifies institutional graduate faculty appointment status, and forwards the nomination to the Texas A&M University System Council of Graduate Deans for consideration and action.
    • The application from the faculty member must identify the institutional graduate faculty of which he or she is a member, specify the graduate degree(s) that he or she is qualified to supervise under the conditions of the institutional appointment, and specify the graduate program(s) in which he or she wishes to participate as a System graduate faculty member. The application should be accompanied by a current curriculum vitae.
    • The Council of Graduate Deans will appoint faculty from member institutions as needed to a Graduate Faculty Review Advisory Committee to consider applications and reappointments and to make recommendations to the Council of Graduate Deans.
    • An A&M System Graduate Faculty member is appointed for a five-year term. At the end of the five-year term, the member will be re-evaluated for reappointment by the Council of Graduate Deans. Failure to maintain membership criteria will result in removal from the A&M System Graduate Faculty. The Council of Graduate Deans will notify by letter a faculty member who is non-voluntarily removed from membership on the A&M System Graduate Faculty. The faculty member’s department head, dean, provost and graduate dean will also receive notification.
  5. Graduate Faculty Membership List
    A list of the current membership of the A&M System Graduate Faculty will be maintained in the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs, the graduate office at each System university and on The Texas A&M University System Graduate Education web site at http://www.tamus.edu/pathways.