12. DEPARTMENTAL STANDING

12.1. Definition of Good Standing

Good Standing signifies that a student is not in violation of any Departmental or University regulation, is making satisfactory progress in his/her degree program, and has performed teaching and other responsibilities in a professional manner. Students who are not in good standing are responsible for taking timely corrective action.

The following are the requirements to maintain good standing.

1. All students must complete required University and Departmental safety, TA, or other training programs as scheduled. If a training session is missed for legitimate reasons (e.g. illness), it must be made up within a reasonable time (typically the next available offering), or good standing will be lost. Arranging the make-up training session is the student's responsibility.
2. A student may lose good standing for inappropriate actions which endanger the safety of the individual or others.
3. A student may lose good standing for violations of conduct codes described in Section 2.
4. A student may lose good standing for damaging departmental equipment by unauthorized actions or deliberate abuse.
5. All students must successfully complete the Departmental TA requirement. Students who receive grades of B- or below for two or more semesters of Teaching (CHE 610 or 611) are not in good standing. These students must propose and complete an acceptable plan to remedy the deficiency.
6. A student may lose good standing if they have not identified a Research Advisor by the end of the first year of the PhD program.
7. All students must successfully complete the first meeting with their ACC before the end of their third semester (not counting Summer) in the graduate program.
8. All students must qualify to a degree program within four semesters (not counting Summers) following entry into the graduate program. Qualification is normally done at the beginning of the semester.
9. Students qualified to the MS thesis track must complete their masters degrees within two semesters following the semester in which they qualify.
10. Ph.D. students must complete all requirements for Advancement to Candidacy within two semesters following the semester in which they qualify to the Ph.D. direct track.
11. Ph.D. students may lose good standing if they do not complete their Third Meeting by the end of their 4th year in the program.
12. Ph.D. students must complete all requirements for graduation within ten semesters following qualification to the Ph.D. direct track.
13. Students in the Ph.D. program, in either the direct or MS thesis track, must maintain satisfactory progress in research in order to remain in good standing.
14. No student can be in good standing more than fourteen semesters after entry into the graduate program (Graduate Bulletin: Time Limits)
15. A student who is placed on Unofficial Leave of Absence will risk losing good standing.

12.2. Departmental Probation

Students who do not maintain good standing in their degree program will be placed on Departmental Probation and this will be noted in their file. To end the probation, the student must correct the problem(s) which led to loss of good standing in consultation with their ACC. Failure to restore good standing before the end of the semester following that in which good standing was lost will result in a recommendation to the faculty for immediate dismissal from the graduate program.

In addition, students on probation have the lowest priority for financial support, and this may result in loss of tuition award, stipend, or both, in the event that Departmental funds are inadequate to support all students.

12.3. Dismissal

As described above, students may be dismissed for failure to maintain good standing. In addition, there are several academic "milestones" at which students are evaluated by the entire faculty. These milestones are listed in the **"Outline of Ph.D. and Masters degree programs in chemistry"** found at the beginning of this handbook, and include an evaluation of GPA and teaching performance at the end of two semesters, an evaluation of research and academic performance at the beginning of the 4th semester, and an evaluation of performance prior to advancement to candidacy. Unsatisfactory performance at any of these milestones will result in consideration by the faculty, which may result in immediate dismissal from the chemistry graduate program.