Review of Student Progress

Each student's progress will be reviewed annually, in the spring term, by the faculty of the student's subdiscipline. (Linguistic anthropology students will be reviewed together with cultural anthropology students by cultural anthropology faculty.) This review will be based on a brief statement of progress and accomplishments prepared by the student, reports from the advisor and other faculty (including, for example, instructors and committee members), grades, TA/TF performance, and other relevant information. Recommendations regarding continuation in the program and financial support are made at the annual review meeting. A recommendation to continue in the graduate program depends on the student's satisfactory progress toward fulfillment of requirements for the PhD. Students will be informed of the results of the annual review in a letter jointly from the member of the Graduate Studies Committee from the student's subdiscipline and the Chair of the Graduate Studies Committee. The letter may also include additional advice and recommendations from the faculty.

If a student has not made satisfactory progress in the program, the annual review letter will include a warning that specifies the problems, and how and by when they must be corrected. The warning may specify that failure to correct the problems could result in probation.

If a student who has been warned of the possibility of probation has not complied with the warning, he/she will be placed on probation for a maximum of two terms, not counting the summer term. The Chair of the Graduate Studies Committee will bring a recommendation for probation to full faculty for ratification. The student will be advised in writing jointly by the member of the Graduate Studies Committee from his/her subdiscipline and the Chair of the Graduate Studies Committee, with a copy to the office of the Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Research. The student and his/her advisor will agree to and sign a statement of the remediation plan specifying what must be accomplished by when in order for the student to be removed from probationary status. By Dietrich School rules, students on probation are not eligible for financial support.

A student on probation will be subject to dismissal from the program at the end of the period of probation, unless he/she has successfully completed the remediation plan. A student may complete the remediation plan ahead of the deadline to end probation and regain eligibility for financial support the following term. The student's advisor will certify in writing to the Chair of the Graduate Studies Committee that the remediation plan has been successfully completed, or on the contrary, that it has not been. The Chair of the Graduate Studies Committee will advise the full faculty of this for ratification of either the student's removal from probation or of the student's dismissal from the program.

Written warnings of unsatisfactory progress may also be issued to students at other times than the annual review. Such warnings can be initiated by action from the student's advisor and sub-disciplinary faculty. They will come jointly from the member of the Graduate Studies Committee in the student's subdiscipline and the Chair of the Graduate Studies Committee. Like annual review warnings, these may specify that a student could be placed on probation, and they will be placed in the student's file. A student whose GPA falls below 3.0 is automatically placed on probation by the office of the Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Research.