Prior to participating in graduate level instruction, ALL individuals must be appointed either to the UCF Graduate Faculty or as a UCF Graduate Faculty Scholar. The Graduate Council has defined the privileges of those appointed and the policy can be found at www.graduatecatalog.ucf.edu.

Graduate Faculty Appointments

UCF tenured or tenure track faculty, or ranked faculty on continuing appointments may participate as Associate or Full graduate faculty Graduate faculty appointments made be found at the Graduate Catalog website www.graduatecatalog.ucf.edu/GradFaculty. These faculty members usually hold a terminal degree in a discipline related to their area of participation and also possess research and/or creative experience in their area of expertise. Usually full members have more research experience and experience mentoring graduate students through service on thesis or doctoral committees than associate members. However, Associate Graduate Faculty members can be nominated for full-status after acquiring additional thesis/dissertation committee experience. Please note that the teaching credentials of Graduate Faculty must still be certified by the Office of Faculty Affairs if serving as an instructor of record in a course.

In brief their privileges are as follows:

• Associate Graduate Faculty: May teach graduate courses and serve as a member and co-chair of both thesis and dissertation advisory committees in conjunction with a chair. They may also serve as a chair of a thesis advisory committee.



• Full Graduate Faculty: Must possess experience mentoring graduate students usually through service on thesis/ dissertation committees. In addition to serving any of the roles of Associate Graduate Faculty, they may also serve as a chair of a dissertation advisory committee.

Graduate Faculty Scholars

Graduate Faculty Scholars are either UCF faculty on temporary appointments (e.g. adjuncts, post doctoral fellows, etc.) or individuals not employed by UCF but possessing considerable expertise in an area of participation. Graduate faculty scholars may serve as members or co-chairs of thesis or dissertation advisory committees, and may teach graduate courses as an Instructor of Record if so certified by the Office of Faculty Affairs.

Graduate Faculty Appointment Process

All participants in graduate-level instruction as either a Graduate Faculty or a Graduate Faculty Scholar must first be nominated by one of the UCF graduate programs. Thereafter, they will be evaluated for reappointment by the Graduate Council Program Review Committee whenever the nominating program is reviewed by the university as part of the seven-year program review cycle.

The vehicle for nominating the faculty is the Graduate Faculty and Graduate Faculty Scholar Nomination and Appointment form which is found at www.graduatecatalog.ucf.edu/GradFaculty. The nomination must subsequently be endorsed by the graduate program director, the chair of the unit overseeing the program (and the academic college, if required) and forwarded to the College of Graduate Studies.

The last unit responsible for endorsing the nominee (i.e. either the department or college if required) should submit the signed form (in PDF) and a recent curriculum vitae (in MS WORD or PDF) of the nominee as attachments to gradfac@mail.ucf.edu. NOTE: For newly hired individuals, the nomination form SHOULD NOT be included with the hiring package, but sent directly to the College of Graduate Studies after acquiring the required endorsements.

Nominations will be reviewed and appointments made by the Vice Provost and Dean of the College of Graduate Studies. Once appointed, any member of the Graduate Faculty or Graduate Faculty Scholar may be approved for participating in any thesis or dissertation advisory committee at the university if so approved by that graduate program committee without the need to submit any additional paperwork to the College of Graduate Studies.

Forms

The Dissertation Advisory Committee Form is the vehicle by which a graduate program informs the College of Graduate Studies about the formation or revision of a doctoral dissertation advisory committee. The form may be found at www.admin.graduate.ucf.edu/formsnfiles.

The Thesis Advisory Committee Form is the vehicle by which the program informs the College of Graduate Studies about the formation or revision of a thesis committee.

Details concerning Thesis Advisory Committees can be found in the Graduate Catalog at www.graduatecatalog.ucf.edu/content/policies.aspx?id=5708#ThesisRequirements.