4.3 Graduate Faculty Status

4.3.1 Qualifications of Graduate Faculty

Members of the Graduate Faculty at Mines are those qualified to be primary advisor for students conducting research toward a graduate degree. Academic units may choose to further specify the privileges and responsibilities granted to Graduate Faculty in the areas of student supervision, teaching assignments, voting rights, etc. Such unit-level policies should be expressed in writing.

4.3.2 Criteria for Selection to the Graduate Faculty

It is assumed that all Colorado School of Mines faculty in full-time, tenured or tenure-track positions who serve in academic departments or programs offering graduate degrees are fully qualified to be part of the Graduate Faculty. Hence, they will be selected to the graduate faculty upon joining Mines. Teaching Faculty, Research Faculty, Professors of Practice, Emeritus Faculty, Joint Positions, and tenure/tenure-track faculty in departments that do not offer graduate degree are eligible to become members of the Graduate Faculty subject to the following minimum requirements:

  1. Graduate Faculty position holders must have the terminal degree appropriate to their academic field or discipline or must show a comparable level of expertise.
  2. Selection to the Graduate Faculty must be requested by the candidate and supported by a two-thirds majority of the Tenure/Tenure-Track Faculty, Professors of Practice, and Teaching Faculty with Graduate Faculty status in the academic department or program.
  3. The proposed Graduate Faculty candidate must meet any other criteria established by their department or program, and must be endorsed by the Department Head or Program Director and the Dean.

Reflecting the University’s interest in encouraging interdisciplinary research and scholarship, academic faculty of the whole who have requested and received Graduate Faculty status in one department may request permission to serve as primary advisor to graduate students in another department or interdisciplinary program. The Department Head or interdisciplinary Program Director may simply approve such requests and forward them to the appropriate Dean for approval. These faculty should be added to the list of faculty who have Graduate Faculty status that Department Heads maintain and submit annually.

4.3.3 Procedure for Selection to the Graduate Faculty

Selections to the Graduate Faculty are made and approved by the academic department and Dean. Full-time faculty in tenured or tenure-track positions will be selected to the Graduate Faculty upon joining Mines. All other selections to the Graduate Faculty must be initiated by an eligible faculty member or external Joint Faculty member requesting such status. Faculty eligible to request Graduate Faculty status include Teaching Faculty, Research Faculty, Professors of Practice, and external Joint Faculty members. No faculty, other than tenure/tenure-track faculty, may be assigned as a primary advisor to a graduate student unless Graduate Faculty status has been approved. Those without Graduate Faculty status can, however, serve as co-advisors or as members of a student’s thesis committee.

To request Graduate Faculty status, the eligible faculty member should complete the Graduate Faculty request form and submit it with appropriate documentation to the chair of their department’s Promotion and Tenure committee. The department’s Promotion and Tenure Committee Chair should then bring the case to the Graduate Faculty for a vote. A positive vote of at least two-thirds of the tenure/tenure-track Faculty, Professors of Practice, and Teaching Faculty with Graduate Faculty status is required. The Chair should then submit the results of the vote to the Department Head who should provide a letter of support that includes the results of the vote to the Dean. The Dean will then give final approval to the Registrar’s Office.  Once a non-tenure/tenure track faculty member has been approved as Graduate Faculty, that member will retain graduate faculty status until such time as the Department Head, with the input and advice of the Graduate Faculty in the department, decides to terminate the status.