Academic Policy Committee Mission Statement

The committee is authorized to consider, investigate, review policies, and forward recommendations to the Graduate Council for changes in the policies contained in the Graduate Catalog related to the general requirements for admission to graduate programs, enrollment of students, offering of graduate credit, and awarding of graduate degrees at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Organizational Structure

The committee is a standing committee of the Graduate Council.

Membership and Officers

Membership

To ensure a balance of representatives across colleges, the Graduate Council Chair names voting members from the Council to serve on the committee for at least one term at the beginning of each academic year.

One of the graduate student representatives serving on Graduate Council as a voting member will serve as a member of the committee. A liaison from the Graduate School is a non-voting member of the committee.

The Chair and the Vice Chair of Graduate Council are ex officio, non-voting members.

Proxies

Proxies serve when regular Council members cannot participate in committee functions due to a leave of absence, travel, or other scheduling conflicts. The proxy will have all the privileges and powers of the absentee member.

Academic Policy Committee Chair

In conjunction with the Dean of the Graduate School, the Graduate Council Chair appoints the chair of the committee from the Council membership at the beginning of each academic year. The committee chair also serves as an ex officio member of the Graduate Deans Group.

Meetings, Decision-Making and Reporting

Meetings

All meetings of the committee will be governed by the most recent edition of Robert’s Rules of Order. A majority of committee voting members constitutes a quorum. Majority voting will guide all decision-making. Secret ballots will be used for decision-making when requested by a majority of committee members.

Regular meetings

The calendar for regular meetings of Graduate Council and its committees will be set by the Executive Committee of Graduate Council in consultation with the Dean of the Graduate School. This calendar will be published on the Council web site and distributed to the membership at the beginning of the Fall semester. Committee meetings will typically take place on Thursday afternoons.

Special meeting

Special meetings of the committee may be called by the committee chair as needed. Except in the case of emergency, one week’s notice will be provided for any called meeting.

Agenda

The committee chair, in cooperation with the liaison from the Graduate School, prepares the agenda. Input for the agenda may be provided by members of the committee, the Dean of the Graduate School, the Graduate Deans Group, and the members of Graduate Council. Faculty and students are encouraged to present items for the agenda through direct contact with their Graduate Council representatives or to the committee chair. All proposed agenda items related to curricula must be presented to the committee chair no later than two weeks prior to the meeting.

Minutes

The committee chair will provide reports after each committee meeting, and these reports will be distributed electronically and posted on the Graduate Council web site. These reports are presented to the Graduate Council with action items as seconded motions to be considered for approval. These reports may also contain information items that are intended to keep Graduate Council informed about ongoing discussions in the committee.

Amendment of Bylaws

Committee bylaws may be amended by a two-thirds vote of committee members and subsequent approval by Council.