51ĀŅĀ×

Administrative Structure: Overview

• TBS will be administratively housed in the Graduate College, under the authority of the Dean of the Graduate College.
• The Faculty Director will be appointed by the Dean of the Graduate College for a fixed term, and will be responsible for central administrative issues of TBS.
  • To ensure rigor, the Faculty Director will conduct ongoing evaluation of the TBS program, following established assessment criteria, and present an annual report to the Graduate College.
  • The individual will be a voting member of the Steering Committee.
• The Dean and Faculty Director are advised on issues of policy and administration by the TBS Steering Committee, consisting of at least five (5) but not more than ten (10) members.
  • Steering committee members will serve a three (3) year term.
  • There will be no limit to the number of times an individual may be elected to the Steering Committee.

Steering Committee

The Steering Committee will be responsible for the academic and programmatic operations of the TBS. It shall:

• Establish program bylaws.
  • Such bylaws will be reviewed by the Steering Committee annually.
• Nominate new members to serve on the Steering Committee to ensure continuity.
• Develop and implement appropriate policies and procedures regarding admissions, curriculum, student supervision, and completion of degree program requirements and establish such standing committees as are needed for program operation.
  • In particular, the Steering Committee will be responsible for approving the composition of each studentā€™s dissertation committee.
• Provide broad policy and associated management for the program, including budgets, funding, and polices for the appointment of new graduate faculty members to the program.
• Plan for future developments in the subject area.
• Ensure that Academic Program Reviews, consistent with Ohio Board of Regents requirements, are done promptly.
• Provide appropriate opportunities through seminars and forums to facilitate interactions between faculty and graduate students.
• Approve graduate faculty status for new applicants and review faculty membership annually to ensure active faculty participation in the TBS.

TBS Steering Committee Chair

The chair will act on behalf of the Steering Committee to:

• Convene and chair meetings of the Steering Committee.
• Serve as lead representative of the TBS to the university administration, granting agencies, prospective students, etc.
• Manage administrative matters according to university regulations.
• Review and approve annual reports of program activities and accomplishments prepared by the Faculty Director for the Dean of the Graduate College.

The chair may be called upon to document TBS contributions of participating faculty for P&T purposes.

Faculty Membership

TBS faculty members are proposed for appointment to the TBS program by the Steering Committee, based on established criteria (see Appendix B). A faculty member can hold graduate faculty status in this program as well as in one or more existing graduate programs.

Academic Program Oversight

• This graduate program will follow all the regulations of the Graduate College with respect to academic policy.
• All TBS course recommendations, modifications, and deletions shall be approved by the Faculty Director and the Dean of the Graduate College after review by the Steering Committee.
• Admissions, Academic Progress, and Annual Evaluation of Graduate Students reports will be conducted by the Steering Committee, according to the university policies and procedures.

Composition and Responsibilities of Student Dissertation Advisory Committee

Each student will have at least two mentors from different disciplines or fields, working with a Dissertation Advisory Committee to guide PhD study and research. The guidelines for student Dissertation Advisory Committees described below are more prescriptive than is usual for a disciplinary doctoral program. This recognizes the challenges of co-mentorship from the student perspective and provides a formal organizational structure that can support and advocate for the student if significant differences in proposed direction or focus of project were to arise between co-members, which would be detrimental to the studentā€™s program.

Each student should form and meet with their Dissertation Advisory Committee as soon as possible after the qualifying exam is completed, with up to three months after admitted candidacy in the program is granted. The purpose of the committee is to follow the progress of the student, provide advice on the conduct of the dissertation research, and, ultimately, decide when the student is ready to complete the research and write a dissertation. The Dissertation Advisory Committee should convene every six (6) months.

Composition

The composition and duties of the Dissertation Advisory Committee follow a model used by the Harvard Medical School. In addition to the co-mentors, the Dissertation Advisory Committee includes three (3) additional members of the programā€™s graduate faculty whose areas of concentration relate closely to the direction of the dissertation project. These three members will be selected in a joint decision of the student, the co-mentors, and the chair of the program Steering Committee.

• There should be a broad representation of relevant disciplines involved in the studentā€™s dissertation topic in the composition of the Dissertation Advisory Committee.
  • Additional members can be added to or replace existing members of the Dissertation Advisory Committee if there is a major shift in direction or new methodologies are to be employed.
    • This will need approval from the TBS Steering Committee.
• The chair of the Dissertation Advisory Committee must be a full member of the TBS graduate faculty and cannot be one of the studentā€™s co-mentors.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Each studentā€™s Dissertation Advisory Committee should meet at least every six (6) months; additional meetings should be called as needed.
  • In cases in which a studentā€™s studies have not been completed by the end of year four (4), the Dissertation Advisory Committee will meet at least every four (4) months until the dissertation is completed.
  • The student, committee chair, or a co-mentor can call meetings.
• The student should provide a report to their Dissertation Advisory Committee members at least one week before each meeting.
  • This report should include a progress report and a proposed plan for future studies.
  • The meeting should conclude with a clear consensus regarding future priorities and research direction.
• Immediately after each meeting, the chair of the Dissertation Advisory Committee will write a report summarizing progress and assessing the effectiveness of the approach chosen by the student.
  • The report should include overall evaluation and specific comments of the studentā€™s progress, and whether the research direction and/or progress can plausibly lead to a dissertation.
  • Each of the members of the Dissertation Advisory Committee will review the report and sign it, indicating their approval.
  • The signed report will be sent to the Faculty Director who will then send a copy to the student and to the chair of the program Steering Committee for review.
• One of the dissertation committee's major contributions will be to help the dissertation co-mentors and the student decide when to end the experimentation and data-gathering stage and begin the dissertation writing stage.
• The Dissertation Advisory Committee will determine when the studentā€™s thesis is ready for defense and the chair of the committee will schedule the time and place for this event in accordance with the rules of the Graduate College.
• The Dissertation Advisory Committee will also be responsible for providing career advice to the student in the later stages of the dissertation research period.

Review of TBS

TBS may be temporarily placed in a state of dormancy or permanently closed.

• TBS may be temporarily closed by the Dean of the Graduate College while assessing the viability of the program.
• TBS can be permanently closed, via normal university procedures for closing programs, when:
  • There are no students enrolled in the program or when the student census is too low to justify its existence.
  • Program activities decrease below an acceptable level.
  • The Steering Committee, with the consensus of the committee members, wishes to close the program or radically change its direction.