Annual Spring Evaluations

Graduate Council policy requires that all doctoral students be evaluated every Spring. A satisfactory evaluation on file with GEPA is necessary for future support to be approved. The following are exempt from Spring evaluations:

  1. A student advancing to Doctoral candidacy during Winter or Spring of that academic year.
  2. A student on an approved leave of absence during Spring of that academic year. In this instance an evaluation must be submitted by the end of the first quarter of return to continue support.

Students are advised to work with their advisor and graduate coordinator for the timely submission of their evaluation so that future student support is not jeopardized.

The student signature is required on every evaluation. Student signature does not indicate agreement with the evaluation and student comments are encouraged. Each student should receive a copy of his/her evaluation.

Each student in doctoral candidacy is to receive an annual substantive progress review. At least three members of the student's doctoral committee are to participate in the review. The review should cover the student's progress to date, recommend the modifications to the dissertation's scope or methodology, timetable for completion, and recommendation for support in the following year.

The doctoral committee chair shall write up the results of the review and discuss them with the student. All members of the doctoral committee participating in the review, the student, and department chair are to sign the progress review. It is expected that an evaluation will include a face-to-face meeting between the faculty member(s) and the student, and also that the student will feel free to make comments on the evaluation.

It is important to note that Spring/Annual evaluations affect not only future support but are required before any exception can be requested of the Graduate Council, and, if there are academic difficulties, will be relied upon heavily in the Dean's action. In many instances, they are the only narrative documentation of a student's progress, other than the transcript.