Types of Membership:

The LSU Board of Supervisors requires the university to maintain a graduate faculty comprised of members of the teaching, research, and extension faculties who have been so designated by the Chancellor, upon the recommendation of the Graduate Council acting upon appropriate nominations. LSU’s Graduate Faculty enables the university to maintain its accreditation through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) while furthering the university’s national flagship agenda to increase the number and quality of graduate students and programs.

As described below, faculty members can qualify, depending on their qualifications, for the following types of graduate faculty membership: associate, full, research affiliate or professional affiliate.

Graduate faculty status was designed to coincide with the ideal, or typical, path of promotion from assistant to full professor. A newly hired tenure-track assistant professor normally receives a six-year associate membership on the graduate faculty. Upon promotion to an associate professor or full professor with tenure or tenure track, faculty members normally receive full membership on the graduate faculty. 

Academic deans will evaluate graduate faculty status during the annual review process. Contact academic dean’s office for individual college policies.

Types of Membership

Associate Member

Privileges and Responsibilities

• Engage in all graduate education activities.
• Chair a thesis or dissertation committee.

Terms and Criteria

• Newly appointed tenure-track assistant professors in units offering work for graduate credit are normally appointed to a non-renewable, six-year associate member term.
• Faculty members with at least seven years in rank as associate professor or full professor who do not maintain full membership may be eligible for a renewable, three-year associate member term in units offering work for graduate credit.
• Associate members of the graduate faculty must possess the highest degree appropriate to the field or unquestionable evidence of comparable achievement in the field.
• To maintain graduate faculty status associate members must demonstrate a current and sustained record of scholarly or creative activities indicated by publications in recognized journals in the field, books, and exhibitions or performances. 

Full Member

Privileges and Responsibilities

• Determine policies of the Graduate School.
• Engage in all graduate education activities.
• Nominate faculty for membership on the graduate faculty.
• Chair a thesis or dissertation committee.

Terms and Criteria

• Newly appointed associate professors with tenure or tenure track in units offering work for graduate credit are normally appointed to full membership.
• Newly appointed full professors with tenure or tenure track in units offering work for graduate credit are normally appointed to full membership.
• Full members of the graduate faculty must possess the highest degree appropriate to the field or unquestionable evidence of comparable achievement in the field.
• To maintain graduate faculty status full members must demonstrate a current and sustained record of scholarly or creative activities indicated by publications in recognized journals in the field, books, and exhibitions or performances. 

Research Affiliate

Privileges and Responsibilities

• May serve as a member of thesis and dissertation committees but may not chair except by permission of the dean of the Graduate School.
• May engage in instructional activities at the masters and doctoral level.

Terms and Criteria

• Individuals nominated for research affiliate may be appointed to a renewable, three-year term.
• Research affiliate membership is available to individuals whose appointments reside in units not offering work for graduate credit or whose appointments are not tenure track.
• Research affiliate members must possess the highest degree appropriate to the field or unquestionable evidence of comparable achievement in the field.
• To maintain graduate faculty status research affiliate members must demonstrate a current and sustained record of scholarly or creative activities indicated by publications in recognized journals in the field, books, and exhibitions or performances. 

Professional Affiliate

Privileges and Responsibilities

• May engage in instructional activities at the masters level.
• May not engage in instructional activities at the doctoral level except by permission of the dean of the Graduate School.
• May serve as a member of thesis committees but may not normally chair except by permission of the dean of the Graduate School.

Terms and Criteria

• Individuals nominated for professional affiliate by units offering work for graduate credit may be appointed to a renewable, three-year term based on evidence of expertise or knowledge that is directly relevant and applicable to the professional program in which the individuals will be teaching.
• Expertise is defined in terms of recent activities recognized by the focal area as indicative of excellence.  Appropriate indicators may include but are not limited to: terminal degrees in focal or relevant areas; professional certification; licensure, diplomas, or record of professional practice; and demonstrated professional excellence through performances, exhibitions, presentations, professional publications, or national awards.
• Normally, a person who is eligible for full or associate graduate faculty status is ineligible for professional affiliate status.
• Individuals whose professional activities are a function of their LSU employment are normally ineligible for professional affiliate status.

Emeritus

A faculty member who holds full membership on the graduate faculty may be named as graduate faculty emeritus upon retirement provided that the faculty member has been approved for emeritus status through the LSU System per PM69.  Emeritus graduate faculty status allows these faculty to continue to work with graduate students on master’s and doctoral committees as chairs and members.

Review of Nominations

For individuals who are not appointed to tenure-track or tenured positions, units may nominate them for the appropriate level of membership. When it is time for a faculty member to be reviewed for graduate faculty status, the Graduate School will notify the unit. Graduate Faculty Nomination forms may be found on our Web site.

The Dean of the Graduate School, or his/her representative, will review the Graduate Faculty Nomination and current vita to see that the nominee meets the requirements for appointment to the graduate faculty. The dean will appoint a committee comprised of three members of the graduate council to review the nomination. This group will independently review the nomination and arrive at their determinations as to the level of membership the faculty member should be accorded. Their votes will be recorded and tallied. If the majority of the votes agree with the nomination made by the unit, the nomination then goes to the entire graduate council for final review and vote.

If less than a majority agree with the unit’s nomination, the dean will call the committee together to review the nomination. Each member of the committee then has an opportunity to discuss the nomination and change his/her vote. If the majority then agrees with the unit’s nomination, the nomination goes to the entire graduate council for review and vote.

If there is not a majority of votes that support the unit’s nomination, the dean will contact the chair to apprise him/her of the situation and determine if there is any additional information that can be supplied to support the nomination. The chair may agree with the committee’s decision, in which case the nomination goes to the entire graduate council for review and vote. If the chair wishes to appeal the preliminary decision of the committee, additional materials may be submitted. If additional information is to be submitted, the chair should normally submit it to the Graduate School within two weeks. The materials are placed with the original nomination form and vita and each committee member independently reviews them once again as if it was a new nomination. The results of this second review are then submitted to the entire graduate council for review and vote.

At any time units may submit a new nomination for a faculty member. Moreover, an individual faculty member may submit an appropriately prepared nomination at any time.

Evaluation of Administrators

The following is copied from a memo by Dean Hargrave to all departments on November 7, 1978 and is the procedure which is still followed by the Graduate Council today.

With respect to the extent to which persons with administrative responsibilities must satisfy requirement for "current and sustained creative activities related to programs of graduate education as evidenced, by publications in recognized journals in the field, ...." The Graduate Council, in 1978, passed a resolution on this question:

"For department chairmen, deans, associate deans, and other persons holding administrative positions, the publication productivity may be less than that expected of other members of the department. At the same time, however, some "current and sustained activity" should be in evidence. Graduate Faculty membership should reflect a working relationship to the graduate program as well as the proper qualifications for that relationship."

Administrative Approval to Teach Graduate Courses

The following is copied from a memo by Dean Hargrave to all departments on November 7, 1978 and is the procedure which is still followed by the Graduate Council today.

The Graduate Council has recommended that the Dean of the Graduate School grant administrative approval to teach 4000-level courses for graduate credit to faculty who do not meet the scholarship requirement for Associate Member or Member of the Graduate Faculty but who have the highest degree appropriate to the field and hold the rank of Assistant Professor or higher. It is best to submit that member for Administrative Approval rather than as Associate Member or Member.

Administrative Approval requests may be made for a period of up to three (3) years. A Graduate Faculty Administrative Approval Request Form  and current LSU format vita should be submitted with the request.