Graduate Council

1. Allowing Two PhD degrees from OSU and Amount of Overlap to be Allowed, if any (cont’d.)

A new policy on two PhDs. The Issue: Current policy does not allow any student to enroll for a second PhD if they already have one from any university. A new proposed policy follows:

Students may enroll for a second PhD degree if they have previously obtained a PhD from OSU or elsewhere. However, OSU discourages the concurrent pursuit of two PhDs; a special exemption is required for concurrent pursuit of dual PhD degrees and should include consultation with the Graduate School Dean, written approval by each graduate program, and a clear individual development plan for completion of all aspects of both programs with timelines. In the case of a student pursuing a concurrent or consecutive second PhD degree, all requirements for each PhD must be met, including but not limited to: successful completion of separate prelim exams, separate theses with no overlap, separate final defense exams, separate thesis committees (although some overlap between committee members would be acceptable), separate major advisors, and all other requirements for each degree program. Courses from one PhD degree relevant to the second degree may be allowed to transfer between the two degrees. However, the student’s program of study committee must approve all course transfers and should pay particular attention to the relevancy, overlap, and currency of any courses to be transferred from one PhD degree to another.

2. Transfer Courses with a Grade of Less Than B (cont’d.)

A new policy on transfer courses. The Issue: Current policy does not allow transfer of any courses with a grade of less than B from OSU or elsewhere on a graduate student program of study. Students are in the position of taking a course as a non-degree student, getting a B minus, and not being able to use the course on their program of study. However, if they take the course in another term in which they are a student in a graduate degree program, that same course and grade would be acceptable on the program of study. A new proposed policy follows:

Courses to be transferred onto a graduate program of study must have achieved a grade of C or better if the course to be transferred is an OSU course. Courses to be transferred onto a graduate program of study must have achieved a grade of B minus or better if the course was not an OSU course (i.e., taken at any other university). Inclusion of transfer courses on a program of study always requires final approval of the student’s program of study committee. Committees are free to deny inclusion of any transfer course if they feel that the course is not appropriate, sufficiently current, sufficiently rigorous based on syllabus content or for any other reason.

• Document indicating how other institutions handle transfer credit.

3. Proposed Policy on Advisors and Committees for Graduate Students (cont’d.)

Further discussion of the “orphan graduate student” policy. Theresa has not received any feedback from Graduate School Dean Brown regarding responses from the General Counsel yet. However, she believes that some faculty have feedback from their Colleges. Some important issues continue, such as:

• How do we know if a student is without an advisor?
• How do we determine if a student is in good standing? This is a catch-22 if good standing requires identification of a major advisor.
• Do we need to first enforce the policy that all units must have annual student evaluations on file for every graduate student?

4. Policy Regarding Students to Achieve a 3.0 GPA to Schedule an Oral Exam

Discussion of the issue raised previously regarding the requirement that a student must have a 3.0 GPA to schedule an oral exam.

• Does this continue to be a good policy?
• When should exceptions be made?