Ideals

This document represents ideals toward which graduate faculty and students in our community of scholars should aspire. It does not constitute a contract with current or prospective students.

This document, adopted by the Graduate Council and Ph.D. Executive Committee of the University of Missouri-Kansas City on May 16, 1997, is modeled around the University of Oregon “Guidelines for Good Practice in Graduate Education,” which benefited from the work of the Graduate School at the University of California - Davis; the Graduate College and Graduate Council at the University of Arizona (Mentoring: The Faculty-Graduate Student Relationship, Cusanovich and Gilliland, 1991); the Office of Graduate Studies at the University of Southern California; and the Graduate School at North Carolina State University. Materials are used by permission.

The University of Missouri-Kansas City is an equal-opportunity, affirmative-action institution committed to cultural diversity and compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Good Practices in Graduate Education at UMKC

Graduate student progress toward educational goals at the University of Missouri-Kansas City is directed and evaluated by an advisor and a graduate committee. These individuals provide intellectual guidance in support of the scholarly and artistic activities of graduate students. The advisor and the graduate committee are also charged with the responsibility of evaluating a graduate student's performance in research and creative activities. The graduate student, the advisor, and the graduate committee, then, comprise a basic unit of graduate education. It is the quality, breadth, and depth of interaction in this unit that largely determines the outcome of the graduate experience.

High quality graduate education depends upon the professional and ethical conduct of the participants. Faculty and graduate students have complementary responsibilities in the maintenance of academic standards and the creation of high quality graduate programs. Excellence in graduate education is achieved when both faculty and students are highly motivated, possess the academic and professional backgrounds necessary to perform at the highest level, and are sincere in their desire to see each other succeed.

A major purpose of graduate education at the University of Missouri-Kansas City is to instill in each student an understanding of and capacity for scholarship, independent judgment, academic rigor, and intellectual honesty. The Graduate Council, as representatives of the Graduate Faculty, and the School of Graduate Studies believe it is the joint responsibility of faculty and graduate students, as responsible members of a community of scholars, to work together to foster these ends through relationships which encourage freedom of inquiry, demonstrate personal and professional integrity, and respect the dignity of all persons. Therefore, the Graduate Council and the School of Graduate Studies set forth the following standards and encourage both graduate students and graduate faculty to apply them in order to enhance the graduate experience.

As a community of scholars, we believe that GRADUATE STUDENTS should:

• Conduct themselves in a mature, professional, and civil manner in all interactions with faculty and staff

• Recognize that the faculty advisor provides the intellectual and instructional environment in which the student conducts research, and may, through access to teaching and research funds, also provide the student with financial support

• Recognize that faculty have broad discretion to allocate their own time and other resources in ways which are academically productive

• Recognize that the research advisor is responsible for monitoring the accuracy, validity, and integrity of the student's research because careful, well-conceived research reflects favorably on the student, the faculty advisor, and the University

• Exercise the highest integrity in taking examinations and in collecting, analyzing, and presenting research data.

• Acknowledge the contributions of members of the research team to the student's work in all publications and conference presentations.

• Maintain the confidentiality of the faculty advisor's professional activities and research prior to presentation or publication

• Take primary responsibility to inform themselves of regulations and policies governing their graduate studies

• Devote an appropriate amount of time and energy toward achieving academic excellence and earning the advanced degree

• Be aware of time constraints and other demands imposed on faculty members and program staff

• Take the initiative in asking questions that promote understanding of the academic subjects and advance the field

• Communicate regularly with faculty advisors, especially in matters related to research and progress within the graduate program

In like manner, we believe that FACULTY should:

• Create in the classroom, lab, or studio supervisory relations with students that stimulate and encourage students to learn creatively and independently

• Familiarize themselves with policies that affect their graduate students

• Provide clear maps of the requirements each student must meet, including course work, languages, research tools, examinations, and thesis or dissertation; and delineate the amount of time expected to complete each step

• Evaluate student progress and performance in regular and informative ways consistent with the practice of the field

• Help students develop artistic, interpretive, writing, verbal, and quantitative skills, when appropriate, in accordance with the expectations of the discipline

• Assist graduate students to develop grant writing skills, where appropriate

• Take reasonable measures to ensure that each graduate student initiates thesis or dissertation research in a timely fashion, when appropriate, encourage graduate students to participate in professional meetings or perform or display their work in public settings

• Create an ethos of collegiality so that learning takes place within a community of scholars

• Counsel students on employment opportunities.