Announcements+and+New+Information

The Graduate College requuires you to file your Plan of Study online. The online form is available at the Graduate College site. Please see your Adviser for suggestions and assistance in filing your online POS.
 * __New from the Graduate College - Plans of Study Now Completely Online__**

The rules for Admission to Candidacy and dissertation hours are a bit complicated due to recent policy changes in the Graduate College and "grandfathering" permitted for those currently in the pipeline. Please check in the Graduate College and/or with your Adviser for assistance.
 * __Admission to Candidacy and Dissertation Hours Regulations from Graduate College__**

__**Continuous Enrollment and Minimum Hours Enrollment**__ Remember you must now be enrolled for a minimum of 2 hours each semester. Failure to do this can result in having to be re-admitted to the program. However, there are __new Leave of Absence__ and __Request for Decreased Enrollment__ options and form available from the Graduate College if you need a "time out."

__**Orals Now OPTIONAL for Qual. Exams**__ Effectively beginning Spring 2009 semester, orals over Qualifying Exam became OPTIONAL rather than required. The choice is now up to each doctoral student's committee. Your Chair will submit your Quals responses to your committee members and poll the committee regarding the need for orals. At the discretion of the committee, orals may be either waivered or conducted. Each individual case will be decided by the committee involved.

__New University policy for grades of Incomplete:__ If you receive a grade of Incomplete (I) in any course, you will also receive an alternative grade that reflects what grade you will receive IF THE INCOMPLETE is not removed within one year. To remove the I, you must work with the instructor to determine what you have to do to get the I removed and changed to the grade of the instructor's choice. The I will stand for one year. After that time, the I must be changed by the instructor, which is a CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS POLICY. Instead of becoming a permanent I that means credit for the course is lost but the I is not counted in your GPA, the I now automatically becomes the alternative grade that was submitted with the I. This new grade IS averaged into you GPA. Bottom Line: BE CAREFUL with Incompletes and work your instructor to get them clear and your grade changed appropriately.