The Graduate Academic Affairs Council members are elected from among the tenured members of the graduate faculty. The Council shall consist of one member from each of the colleges that house a graduate program who is elected by members of the faculty of the college being represented, plus one at-large member who is elected by the faculty as a whole. Additionally, a graduate student shall be selected by the Director of Graduate Studies to serve as a nonvoting member of the Council for a one-year term.
- Upon the request of the appropriate Dean(s), the Graduate Academic Affairs Council shall approve or disapprove all new programs or modifications to existing programs, and all new credit courses or modifications to existing credit courses at the graduate level.
- The Graduate Academic Affairs Council shall have the responsibility and authority for review and approval of all credit courses and all academic programs at the graduate level. Its official decision shall be forwarded to the Faculty Senate through the University Committee. All curricular decisions made by the Graduate Academic Affairs Council will be published in the agenda of the Faculty Senate and forwarded along with copies of all official Graduate Academic Affairs Council correspondence to the Director of Graduate Studies and the Provost/Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs.
- In a case where the Graduate Academic Affairs Council does not approve a new course or program, the initiator of that new course or program may ask the Graduate Academic Affairs Council for reconsideration of the decision, providing new arguments or supplementary evidence in support of the proposal to address the Graduate Academic Affairs Council's objections. If this appeal fails to produce a satisfactory conclusion, in the view of the initiator, an appeal to the University Committee can be made. In such cases the University Committee may investigate the appeal themselves or establish an ad hoc committee to do so. If the University Committee chooses to overturn the decision of the Council, the results of that deliberation will be reported to the Senate, published in the Senate minutes, and forwarded to the Director of Graduate Studies and the Provost/Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs.
- The Graduate Academic Affairs Council shall have the responsibility for examining the interrelationships among graduate program areas in the University and for overseeing for the faculty the total graduate academic plan and its various programs and components. This examining and overseeing function shall include, but not be limited to, the reviewing of course titles and content for duplication, and the monitoring of records pertaining to enrollments in graduate programs. The final decision of the Council shall be forwarded to the Faculty Senate through the University Committee. All curricular decisions made by the Graduate Academic Affairs Council will be published in the agenda of the Faculty Senate and forwarded along with copies of all official Graduate Academic Affairs Council correspondence to the Director of Graduate Studies and the Provost/Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs.
- On its own initiative, or upon request of the University Committee, the Graduate Academic Affairs Council may advise the Faculty Senate about issues of graduate level education policy and implementation that fall within the jurisdiction of the Faculty.
- The Graduate Academic Affairs Council shall annually provide the Secretary of the Faculty and Staff, for inclusion in the Faculty Governance Handbook, a current list of graduate programs and graduate-level certificate programs.
