Department of Public Health Graduate Program Policies and Procedures
Students are admitted to each of the academic programs independently. Academic policies and procedures that are relevant to all the programs are described below. These will be in place with students entering in the Spring 2013 semester.
Academic Monitoring of Graduate Students
Minimum grade point average. All graduate students are required to maintain a 3.0 GPA each semester. If a student falls below this, they and their academic advisor will be notified by the Graduate Program Director. If the student has a GPA of 2.8 or lower for two consecutive semesters, the student will be classified as a provisional student. If the next semester’s GPA is not raised to 3.0, the student may be subject to academic dismissal, according to guidelines established by the Graduate School. All courses that are counted towards the graduate degree program must be at the graduate level (i.e., 500 level or above). No course that counts toward the degree can be taken on a P/F basis.
Minimum grades in core courses. Part of the mission of the School of Public Health and Health Sciences is to ensure mastery of the five core areas of public health knowledge. This mastery is demonstrated by students earning a grade of B- or better in each of the core courses (5 courses for MPH students, 3 courses for MS students.) Each MPH or MS student who makes below a B- in a core course will be notified by the Graduate Program Director and must re-take this course. If the student does not make a B- or better after the second time, they may petition the Associate Dean to take the course a third time. If this is rejected or if the student makes lower than a B- the third time, they will be administratively withdrawn from the program.
Degree eligibility process. The University degree eligibility forms are reviewed internally by the Graduate Program Director’s Office before being sent to the Graduate School. In order to graduate, a student must submit the following two forms to the Graduate Program Director’s Office:
(1) the relevant academic tracking form, signed by the faculty advisor. Each program has its own individual academic tracking form, which is used by the student and the academic advisor to guide the academic program and to monitor the progress of the student.
(2) The University’s Degree Eligibility form. These two forms are reviewed by the GPD office for accuracy of reported grades and to ensure that all program requirements have been met. Both forms must be received by the Graduate Program Director’s Office at least 10 days before the Graduate School official deadline.
Full-time student status
Students enrolled in 9 or more credits in a semester are considered full time students. Students may be considered to have full-time student status when enrolled in less than 9 credits in their last academic semester, or if they are preparing for doctoral-level comprehensive exams. In such situations, the student’s Academic Faculty advisor needs to certify in writing each semester to the Graduate Program Director that the work is equivalent to the effort of a full time student.
All international students must be full-time, i.e. enrolled in 9 credits, or certified as being equivalent to full time by their Academic Faculty advisor. Upon receipt of notification from the Academic Faculty Advisor, the Graduate Program Director will then notify the International Program Office and the Graduate School.
Doctoral Students
In general, doctoral students should enroll in dissertation credits only after they have passed their comprehensive exams. If doctoral students have completed their course work but are working on their comprehensive exams, they should enroll under continuous enrollment. Once a student has passed their comprehensive exams, they may enroll in dissertation credits.
Students must be actively enrolled in some credits or continuous enrollment every semester in order to graduate. If for some reason the student does not stay enrolled, they must be re-admitted and must pay all cumulative fees before they can graduate.