The primary policy for School of Nursing PhD student progression is the Graduate School Handbook. Policies in it supersede any School of Nursing policies.
Progression
The student’s advisor is responsible for monitoring academic progression while the student is academically eligible. If either the student’s advisor or the doctoral program director has concerns about student progression due to grades, excessive number of incompletes, or failure to complete comps or the dissertation proposal in a timely manner, the doctoral program director will convene a committee made up of the student’s three-person advisory committee and the program director. In collaboration with the student, the committee will develop a plan to support the student’s success that may include student activities and program supports.
Students automatically become academically ineligible if they receive a grade of F, 9 credits of L work or fail the comprehensive examination twice.
Readmission
Students who withdraw in good academic standing will automatically be readmitted within 5 years of their last registration. They must follow the Graduate School Handbook procedures to petition the Graduate School for readmission and obtain endorsement from the doctoral program director. If they have not completed coursework and are more than 1 year since their last registration, they will be subject to the current curricular requirements, rather than the requirements when they enrolled.
Students whose last registration was more than 5 years ago must follow Graduate School policies and reapply for admission. This will involve completing a new application, including GREs, and review by the Doctoral Admissions Committee. The application package should include a letter from the student’s past or proposed advisor (or doctoral program director if the student was too briefly in program to have an ongoing relationship with an advisor) outlining plans for progression in the program, including courses to be counted from the previous enrollment, any courses that should be repeated, and proposed placement in program. DAC will review the entire application package and, if the student is accepted, make recommendations about courses to be counted from the previous enrollment, any courses that should be repeated, and proposed placement in program.
Students whose last registration was more than 10 years ago require special permission from the Graduate School to be readmitted.
Reinstatement
Students declared academically ineligible due to grades may petition the Graduate School after endorsement from the director of the doctoral program. In order to determine whether a student is eligible for endorsement, the doctoral program director will convene a committee made up of the student’s three-person advisory committee, the program director, and an uninvolved nursing faculty member. In collaboration with the student, the committee will develop a plan to support the student’s success that may include student activities and program supports. If the committee’s judgment (supported by a 2/3 vote) is that no plan is likely to succeed, reinstatement will be denied. However, such a decision will not be made without offering the student the chance to personally meet with the committee.
Students who fail comprehensive examinations twice are not eligible for reinstatement but may appeal directly to the Administrative Board of the Graduate School.
Students who are reinstated are on academic probation and are automatically declared academically ineligible if they receive a grade below P. The Graduate School grants second reinstatements only in exceptional situations and with strong endorsements from the program director. Therefore, the review committee for a student requesting a second reinstatement will be made up of the three-person advisory committee, the program director, and two uninvolved nursing faculty members suggested by the Chair of the Doctoral Executive Committee. The review committee must support reinstatement with a majority vote.
Appeals
Students have the right to request the waiver of any courses required by the DAC or a reinstatement committee from DEC.
Students may appeal the denial of reinstatement to the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Dean of the School of Nursing, and the Graduate School (in that order). The only grounds for appeal are procedural: denial of due process, arbitrariness, or discrimination.
Policy on Prohibited Harassment and Discrimination
The University’s Policy on Prohibited Harassment and Discrimination (www.unc.edu/campus/policies/harassanddiscrim.pdf) prohibits discrimination or harassment on the basis of an individual’s race, color, gender, national origin, age, religion, creed, disability, veteran’s status, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. Appendix B of this Policy provides specific information for students who believe that they have been discriminated against or harassed on the basis of one or more of these protected classifications.
Students who want additional information regarding the University’s process for investigating allegations of discrimination or harassment should contact the Equal Opportunity/ADA Office for assistance:
Equal Opportunity/ADA Office
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
100 E. Franklin Street, Unit 110
Campus Box 9160
Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599
Telephone: (919) 966-3576
Fax: (919) 962-2562
Email: equalopportunity@unc.edu
Any administrator or supervisor, including a department chair, associate dean or other administrator, who receives a student’s complaint about prohibited harassment or discrimination must notify the Equal Opportunity/ADA Office within five (5) calendar days of receiving the complaint. If a student raises a claim of prohibited harassment or discrimination during an academic appeal, an investigation of the student’s claim must be performed under the direction of the Equal Opportunity/ADA Office. The school or department must await the results of the harassment or discrimination investigation before deciding the student’s academic appeal.