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Home » Policies & Procedures » Guides » Guide to Graduate Policy » A. Introduction: Full Version

A. Introduction: Full Version

This version of the Guide to Graduate: A. Introduction handbook has been made available for users who prefer to print or read it in its entirety.

A1. How to use this guide

The Graduate Division has prepared this compendium of policies that govern graduate study at Berkeley. We hope that graduate advisers, graduate student affairs officers, graduate assistants, and graduate students will find it useful.

Links to Guides for Appointments and Degrees that address procedural information can be found in the sidebar.

Consult the Graduate Division website (www.grad.berkeley.edu) for other graduate information, including deadlines and policies for admissions, fellowships, academic appointments, and degrees.

A1.1 Graduate Division Partners

The graduate experience at Berkeley and the work of the Graduate Division are dependent upon the efforts of the Graduate Council, Graduate Advisers, Faculty Advisers for GSI Affairs, Equity Advisers, and Graduate Student Affairs Officers.

Graduate Council. The Graduate Council is a committee of the Academic Senate and consists of 12 faculty, plus three graduate students nominated by the Graduate Assembly. As an agency of faculty governance, the Graduate Council is charged with safeguarding the excellence of graduate education at Berkeley. (The Dean of the Graduate Division is an ex officio voting member of the council and chairs its Administrative Committee.) The Graduate Division is the administrative arm of the Graduate Council and is empowered on its behalf to enforce its regulations and policies.

The Graduate Council sets the policies and standards for graduate admission, fellowships, and degrees. The Council reviews established degree programs and proposals for new fields of study or degrees; establishes qualifications and policies for Graduate Student Instructors and Graduate Student Researchers; responds to issues referred to it by the Dean, the Chancellor’s Office, and the Coordinating Committee on Graduate Affairs; and participates in reviews of existing graduate programs. For more information, please visit the Academic Senate website (http://academic-senate.berkeley.edu/committees/gc).

Head Graduate Advisers and Graduate Advisers. Head Graduate Advisers are faculty members who are tenured Academic Senate members, a requirement of the Graduate Council, and are responsible for the academic advising of graduate students.  It is preferred that tenured faculty also serve as Graduate Advisers but Assistant Professors may also be assigned this role. Head Graduate Advisers and Graduate Advisers are official deputies of the Dean of the Graduate Division in matters affecting graduate students in their departments. Because students depend on Graduate Advisers for advice and cannot act without the signature of the Head Graduate Adviser or Graduate Adviser on a number of forms, it is essential that Graduate Advisers be familiar with Graduate Division regulations and that they keep regular office hours, especially at the beginning and end of semesters.

Head Graduate Advisers and Graduate Advisers are expected to exercise their own judgment in advising students and in making recommendations to the Graduate Division. In no case should a Graduate Adviser simply act as a conduit to the graduate deans on behalf of either students or individual faculty members, including dissertation directors, in his or her department. When a graduate adviser endorses a form for a student, the graduate deans assume that the Graduate Adviser has reviewed it carefully and approves the student’s request or proposed action as being in the best interest of the student and the program and feasible under existing regulations.

Near the end of the Spring semester, the Graduate Division sends department chairs a call for the next academic year’s Graduate Adviser nominees. The nominees are reviewed and appointed by the Dean of the Graduate Division, on behalf of the Graduate Council. Additionally, a ”Delegation of Authority” form is provided so that Graduate Division staff can verify that student petitions and requests for exception have been appropriately approved. In order for student petitions to be processed in a timely manner, it is imperative that nomination and these forms be returned to the Graduate Division by the stated deadline. If, for some reason, a Graduate Adviser can no longer serve, the department chair should immediately notify the Graduate Division in writing; only the authorization of an officially appointed adviser can be honored by the Graduate Division and the Office of the Registrar, and the lists of advisers must be updated to reflect any changes.

Role of the Head Graduate Adviser. The Head Graduate Adviser has more comprehensive responsibilities than does a Graduate Adviser. Only the Head Graduate Adviser can sign documents or make requests to the Graduate Division on matters concerning graduate enrollment, degrees, progress, and financial aid, such as admission, readmission, change or addition of major, graduate standing, and appointment of qualifying examination and dissertation committees. All Graduate Advisers may sign petitions to add or drop courses.

Role of the Graduate Adviser. Graduate Advisers are responsible for assisting students in selecting programs of study, acting on petitions for changing study lists, and maintaining records of their advisees. In addition, Graduate Advisers and other faculty should review the records of all graduate students in the department once a year and inform the Graduate Division, in writing, if a student is not making adequate progress toward a degree.

Faculty Advisers for Graduate Student Instructor (GSI) Affairs. The Faculty Adviser for GSI Affairs, also nominated by the department chair and appointed by the Graduate Dean, is actively engaged in the pedagogical preparation and development of graduate students. The Faculty Adviser functions as a liaison among the Graduate Division, department faculty, and GSIs, provides information concerning policies relating to GSIs and raises issues to the administration on their behalf.  This appointee is expected to attend a meeting each semester with the Deans of the Graduate Division, the members of the Graduate Council’s Advisory Committee for GSI Affairs, and staff of the GSI Teaching Resources Center, and to actively promote the pedagogical mentorship of GSIs. Faculty Advisers for GSI Affairs should be thoroughly familiar with the Graduate Council’s policies on GSI mentoring (http://evcp.chance.berkeley.edu/GSIMentoringPolicy.pdf).

Equity Advisers. The Equity Adviser, or, in units with more than one Equity Adviser, the Head Equity Adviser, must be a tenured member of the Academic Senate. Appointment to this position is vetted by the Office of Equity and Inclusion. Those with this designation have functions that include consultation with the Head Graduate Adviser and the other Graduate Advisers in the department to ensure that diversity is taken into account in the recruitment, selection, and retention of graduate students. Equity Advisers’ responsibilities also include issues of support and review of academic progress.  For further details, see the Equity Advisors’ Workbook available through the web site of the Vice Chancellor for Equity and Inclusion (http://diversity.berkeley.edu/uc-berkeley-equity-advisors-workbook/).

Graduate Student Affairs Officers. Graduate Student Affairs Officers (GSAOs) are departmental staff members who are responsible for the administrative advising of graduate students. They remind students about registration and fellowship deadlines, stay abreast of admissions, degrees, fellowship, and appointments requirements, as well as manage requisite administrative paperwork on behalf of the department and its graduate students.

A1.2 Special Resources for Students with Difficulties

Health and Safety Emergencies — FERPA Exceptions.

Regarding how to deal with health and safety emergencies, the U.S. Department of Education website (www.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/brochures/postsec.html) states: “In an emergency, FERPA [Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act] permits school officials to disclose without student consent education records, including personally identifiable information from those records, to protect the health or safety of students or other individuals. At such times, records and information may be released to appropriate parties such as law enforcement officials, public health officials, and trained medical personnel….This exception to FERPA’s general [student] consent rule is limited to the period of the emergency and generally does not allow for a blanket release of personally identifiable information from a student’s education records. In addition, the Department interprets FERPA to permit institutions to disclose information from education records to parents if a health or safety emergency involves their son or daughter.”

In emergency situations, faculty or staff should contact Tang Center’s Counseling and Psychological Services (510) 642-9494 and/or UC Police’s Threat Management Unit at (510) 642-6760.

 

Links to other valuable resources for graduate students can be found on our website at http://www.grad.berkeley.edu/life/resources.shtml.