Department of Philosophy
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Annual Review
Every year, the Graduate Committee will evaluate the progress of all graduate students; this evaluation will be done independently of considerations of financial aid, although financial aid will be allocated at a later meeting on the basis of the committee's evaluations.
At least two weeks before the scheduled meeting of the Graduate Committee, the graduate students shall be informed of the date of the meeting. At the same time, the Graduate Committee will choose a faculty member on the committee, normally the Chair of the committee, whose responsibility it will be to meet individually with the graduate students. Each graduate student shall make an appointment with this person in order to discuss his or her record and the courses being taken during that semester, and generally to ensure that the Graduate Committee has full, accurate, and up-to-date information about his or her progress.
The evaluation by the Graduate Committee will normally be based on the following factors: (1) rate of progress in the program; (2) grades; and (3) comments from the student's Advisory Committee and other faculty members familiar with the student's work. (The order in which these factors are listed need not reflect relative importance).
On the basis of these three factors, and other considerations that may be relevant in special cases, the Graduate Committee shall decide (a) whether the student's overall performance is satisfactory or unsatisfactory; (b) whether the student's record suggests any areas of weakness that the student might take steps to correct. If the Graduate Committee thinks there is some doubt that the student should be allowed to continue, then the student's case will be decided in a meeting of the faculty, which will include one graduate representative with full voting power selected by the graduate students of the department. The student's work will be reviewed, and the student shall, if he or she wishes, appear before this meeting to discuss his or her work and present additional evidence. A decision will then be made either to allow the student to continue in the program, to ask him or her to leave the program, or to allow him or her to take a special examination, or do some other work before making a final decision. The faculty member who met with the students before the meeting of the Graduate Committee shall convey these judgements to each student within a week of the meeting at which the evaluations were completed.
At least two weeks before the scheduled meeting of the Graduate Committee, the graduate students shall be informed of the date of the meeting. At the same time, the Graduate Committee will choose a faculty member on the committee, normally the Chair of the committee, whose responsibility it will be to meet individually with the graduate students. Each graduate student shall make an appointment with this person in order to discuss his or her record and the courses being taken during that semester, and generally to ensure that the Graduate Committee has full, accurate, and up-to-date information about his or her progress.
The evaluation by the Graduate Committee will normally be based on the following factors: (1) rate of progress in the program; (2) grades; and (3) comments from the student's Advisory Committee and other faculty members familiar with the student's work. (The order in which these factors are listed need not reflect relative importance). On the basis of these three factors, and other considerations that may be relevant in special cases, the Graduate Committee shall decide (a) whether the student's overall performance is satisfactory or unsatisfactory; (b) whether the student's record suggests any areas of weakness that the student might take steps to correct. If the Graduate Committee thinks there is some doubt that the student should be allowed to continue, then the student's case will be decided in a meeting of the faculty, which will include one graduate representative with full voting power selected by the graduate students of the department. The student's work will be reviewed, and the student shall, if he or she wishes, appear before this meeting to discuss his or her work and present additional evidence. A decision will then be made either to allow the student to continue in the program, to ask him or her to leave the program, or to allow him or her to take a special examination, or do some other work before making a final decision. The faculty member who met with the students before the meeting of the Graduate Committee shall convey these judgements to each student within a week of the meeting at which the evaluations were completed.