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Annual Academic Review Policy

The Ph.D. program conducts an Annual Academic Review (AAR) for each student to help them progress successfully through the graduate program by allowing timely diagnosis of deficiencies, clarification of expectations for academic performance, and identification of opportunities for improvement. The department follows established rules to assess student progress toward the Ph.D. degree completion. Permission to register each term is contingent, in part, upon judgment that progress in the degree program is satisfactory.

This review will address progress in the following categories:

  1. Academic performance
  2. Residency participation
  3. Scholarly development
  4. Global mindset development
  5. Global leadership development

Near the beginning of each calendar year students will receive a letter from the Ph.D. program notifying them of their current academic standing. The AAR evaluates students by the following academic standards:

Academic Performance

  • Credits Completed
  • Cumulative GPA (Ph.D. students must maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.25 or higher.)
    • Excellent
      • 3.5 to 4.0
    • Acceptable
      • 3.25 to 3.49
    • At-Risk
      • 3.24 or below

Residency Participation

Students must acquire Residency Attendance Units at a reasonable pace with the intended goal of 15 total RAUs prior to enrollment into RES8001. “Reasonable pace” is illustrated by the following:

  • 18 credit hours completed = 5 RAUs
  • 36 credit hours completed = 10 RAUs
  • 54 credit hours completed = 15 RAUs

Students who are not on target with reasonable pace will be evaluated accordingly and encouraged to earn additional units. Students will not be permitted to graduate until they have earned the minimum requirement of 15 RAUs.

Residency Attendance Units Earned

  • On Target with Reasonable Pace
    • 100% or above
  • Below Target
    • 75-99.9%
  • Very Below Target (At-Risk)
    • 74.9% or below

Unsuccessfully Attempted Courses

Students will be provided with a list of attempted courses that were not successfully completed and must be repeated. Courses in the Ph.D. program can only be repeated once.

  • Grades of “C+” or lower.
    • Students must achieve a grade of “B-” or higher in all classes for the degree. Grades of “C+” or lower must be repeated.
  • Grades of “I” (for incomplete).
  • Grades of “W” (for withdrawal).

Annual Ph.D. Student Update

The Annual Ph.D. Student Update is a strongly recommended component of the AAR that addresses the following:

  • Current employment information
  • Scholarly development
  • Global mindset development
  • Global leadership development

Students will be prompted to update and submit this report near the end of each calendar year. This report will be added to the student’s permanent record with the University and utilized by department leadership to assess overall advancement in the program as part of the AAR. The Ph.D. program highly encourages students to make this a part of their permanent academic record.

Academic Probation

Students determined to be “at-risk” in any category will be personally contacted by the Program Director for the development of an academic action plan. The student will be advised of corrective steps and may be given a probationary period to improve academic performance.

A student who fails to achieve satisfactory progress after such a probationary period is at risk of being dismissed from the degree program.

Rev. 11/8/2019

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