Rules and Regulations for Doctoral Programs
Note: regulations are presented in general terms in this document. Links are offered in this text to more detailed iterations of departmental, Graduate School and University regulations.
Core and Program Requirements
The Department of Psychology offers the Master of Science and the Doctor of Philosophy degrees through its graduate programs. The department does not accept students for a terminal Master's degree; students are accepted only for graduate study leading to the doctoral degree. The Master of Science can be earned only under the thesis option.
The Curriculum Sheet you received at orientation summarizes the program requirements as well as the departmental core requirements. Although these requirements are subject to change, you will retain the option of graduating under these requirements or meeting the changed requirements. This sheet will help you plan and track your progress through the program and will be most useful when developing your Plan of Study forms.
Each graduate program in the department may supplement the departmental core requirements with program requirements as long as program requirements do not conflict with departmental or university requirements. See your "Curriculum Sheet" for complete information concerning the requirements for the Ph.D. in your program.
In completing a Master's degree, students in the doctoral programs must (a) successfully complete all Graduate School requirements for the Master's thesis and (b) complete 30 credit hours, including 4 hours of PSYC 7990 (Research and Thesis) and all of the courses listed under Group A of the Departmental Core Curriculum: PSYC 7100 History, PSYC 7120 Teaching of Psychology (2-semester sequence), PSYC 7130 Research Seminar, STAT 7000 Experimental Statistics I, PSYC 7270 Experimental Design in Psychology (or an approved substitute).
Students must complete written Preliminary Exams or a Major Area Paper (MAP) , the defense of which constitutes the General Doctoral Exam. The complete policy is presented here. Students may initiate Prelims or the MAP only after they have passed the defense of their Master's thesis, submitted the final draft of the thesis to the Graduate School, and filed an approved doctoral plan of study.
Exemption from courses:
Students may request exemption from specific core or program requirements based upon the completion of similar work in another program or another graduate level course. Approval of substitutions/exemptions is secured via an "Exemption from Departmental or Program Requirement" form signed by your major professor, program director, the teacher who most recently taught the course from which you seek exemption, and the department Chair. Students seeking this exemption must provide an official transcript showing completion of the course(s) upon which they are basing their exemption request.
Exemption from MS Thesis:
Students who enter the program with a Master's Degree and Thesis from another program may request exemption from the thesis requirement. Students seeking such exemption should discuss it with the program director during their first semester in the program and should secure approval as soon as possible (but no later than the end of their second semester) via an "Exemption from Departmental or Program Requirement" form signed by your major professor, program director, and the Department Chair. Students seeking this exemption must provide an official transcript confirming that they earned the Master's degree upon which they are basing their exemption request. Students exempted from the thesis should have their doctoral committee formed and a doctoral plan of study approved by the end of their second semester in the program.
Department Regulations
Grades: Students must achieve a grade of B or better in all didactic courses required by their doctoral program. If a student receives a grade of C or below in any of these courses, he/she must either re-take the course and earn a B or better or, with the approval of his/her committee and program chair, complete an appropriate advanced course in the same area with a grade of B or better. Approval of the latter option must be documented via an "Exemption from Departmental or Program Requirement" form signed by all relevant parties. Receipt of a grade of C in two or more required courses will result in actions consistent with the department's Remedial and/or Dismissal procedures.
Enrollment: Students whose enrollment drops below full-time (9 credit hours) for two consecutive years must reapply to the Department of Psychology and be readmitted before they will be permitted to take additional formal course work in the Department (excluding PSYC 7990 and PSYC 8990) or to take the general doctoral examination.
Students should register for PSYC 7120 Teaching Psychology for each semester during which they hold a Graduate Teaching Assistantship.
Proposal Meeting: Students who matriculate without a Master's degree must have a Master's proposal meeting within four semesters of full time enrollment to remain in good standing. This proposal meeting must be documented via a departmental "Proposal Defense Form," signed by all members of the committee. (See MS Guidelines)
Students must also hold a doctoral dissertation proposal meeting at the onset of their dissertation work. This proposal meeting must be documented via a departmental "Proposal Defense Form," signed by all members of the committee. (See Dissertation Guidelines)
Evaluation: The Department of Psychology follows an apprenticeship model of graduate training. This means that course work constitutes only a portion of the curriculum and training experiences a student must master. Training received working under the direction of faculty in laboratory, field, and service delivery settings is a significant part of a student's educational experience. Accordingly, evaluation of a student's progress must take account of not only their performance in the classroom but their achievements in the full range of training experiences. Furthermore, as noted in the Bulletin, this evaluation may take issues of professional and personal development into consideration. Although scheduled evaluations are conducted by the student's program faculty annually, student evaluation is an ongoing process. Whenever a student's advisory committee or program faculty determines that satisfactory progress is not being achieved, they may request the departmental faculty as a whole to assess whether the student should continue to be enrolled in the department. This process may be initiated at any point in a student's studies.
Grievance Procedures: click here to link to Grievance Procedures
Dismissal Procedures: Making errors is part of the learning
process. All graduate students will make at least one mistake during the
graduate training process. Errors should generate feedback which should
lead to corrective actions. The nature of the feedback and corrective actions
will be determined by the type of error, the student's training needs, and
the context of these issues. Therefore, the remedial and dismissal procedures
operate on a case-by-case basis, within the boundaries established herein.
If there are any intermediate, but
serious problems in the student's graduate training process, a meeting will
occur with the student, the student's major advisor, and the program director
in an attempt to find a mutually agreeable corrective action that would
resolve the deficiency. The major advisor will generate a written report
based on the interaction of these three individuals that will document the
problem, the proposed corrective action, and a timeline for the completion
of the corrective action. Examples of incidents that might lead to such
a meeting are: (1) inadequate academic performance.
(e.g., obtaining a grade of "C" or
less in a graduate course) (2) failure to move through the program
at an appropriate rate. (e.g., failure to propose a Master's
thesis project by the end of the second year in the program) (3) unprofessional behavior. (e.g., repeated tardiness in completing
written reports as a part of the student's clinical duties) [For each program, the determination
of unethical/unprofessional behavior will be considered within the context
of accepted standards for those professions.] When the corrective action is successfully
completed, the student, the student's major advisor, and the program director
will meet again to review the remedial action and discuss the student's
future training needs. The major advisor will generate and distribute a
memo to this effect to all three individuals involved. Dismissal from a graduate program
is serious event. A due process procedure is required to ensure that any
action will be necessary and will protect the interests of the students
as well as the integrity of the graduate programs. There are three broad
reasons for possible dismissal: (1) sustained inadequate academic
performance. (e.g., grades of "C" or less in two
or more graduate courses) (2) sustained failure to move through
the program at an appropriate rate. (e.g., failure to complete a Master's
degree after four years in the program) (3) unethical or unprofessional behavior.
(e.g., dating an undergraduate student
for whom the graduate student is a GTA. Reference the APA code of ethics
or Auburn 's Tiger Cub for further examples.) [For each program, the determination
of unethical/unprofessional behavior will be considered within the context
of accepted standards for those professions.] • If any of these reasons
lead a faculty member within a program to propose that a graduate student
should be dismissed from the program, that faculty member can propose to
the program faculty that the student should be dismissed from the program.
At that point, the program director will interact (preferably by a face-to-face
meeting, but by telephone or email if the student does not reside nearby)
with the student and with the student's major advisor to determine the accuracy
of the concerns. The student, the student's major advisor, and the program
director will attempt to find a mutually agreeable corrective action that
would resolve the deficiency. Consistent with the remedial procedures outlined
above, the student's major advisor and program director will generate a
written report based on the interaction of these three individuals that
will document the problem, the proposed corrective action, and a timeline
for the completion of the corrective action. If either the major advisor
or program director is substantively involved in the complaint, the chair
will appoint a faculty member to draft the letter. When the corrective action
is completed, the major advisor will generate and distribute a memo to this
effect to all three individuals involved. • If Step #1 fails to
resolve the issue to the satisfaction of the faculty member bringing the
complaint or to the satisfaction of the program director, the proposal to
dismiss the student from the graduate program will be presented to the program
faculty. At least two meetings of the program faculty will occur
and will be documented in the student's permanent record. The graduate student
in question should be invited to attend both meetings, although portions
of the two meetings may exclude the student if an executive session is called
to order. The first meeting will be held to discuss the student's progress
in the program. The second meeting will be held to vote on the proposal
to dismiss the student from the program (a supernumerary quorum of program
faculty is required to commence the vote). If 2/3rds of the program faculty
vote affirmatively on the proposal to dismiss the student, then the procedure
will proceed to Step #3. The votes of faculty members who are not present
at the second meeting will result in votes of abstention. Finally, any program
faculty member who feels unable to objectively evaluate the student's situation
is required to recuse her or himself. • The Chair of the Department
shall meet with the student, the student's major advisor, and the program
director to discuss the issues leading to the proposed dismissal of the
student. If a student refuses to attend such a meeting, a documented attempt
to accomplish this meeting shall constitute the meeting. Again, an attempt
will be made to determine the accuracy of the concerns and to search for
a corrective action that would resolve the deficiency. If there is no agreed
upon resolution, the Chair will present the proposal to dismiss the student
to the department faculty . If 2/3rds of the department faculty
vote affirmatively on the proposal to dismiss the student, then the Chair
will recommend to the Dean of the Graduate School that the student be dismissed
from the graduate program. At any time during the dismissal procedure, the
Chair may send the proposal back to the program faculty for further discussion.
• The Dean of the Graduate
School has a due process procedure by which the proposal to dismiss a graduate
student is considered. As part of this procedure, the Graduate School requires
that there must be a unanimous vote of the student's advisory committee
to dismiss the student. Within the Department of Psychology, satisfying
Steps #1 through #3 shall be considered equivalent to a unanimous vote of
the student's advisory committee. University's policies supercede the policies
outlined here. Policy regarding
Dismissal from a Psychology Doctoral Graduate Program
Remedial Procedures:
Dismissal Procedures:
Advisory Committee: The student's advisory committee (a.k.a. "the committee") has a major responsibility in determining the specific requirements each student must satisfy (within the parameters of departmental and program requirements) to obtain an advanced degree. This role is documented via the "Plan of Study" approval process. The committee is also responsible for conducting examinations and supervising thesis and dissertation research.
The chair of the advisory committee is referred to as the "major professor" or "major advisor." The student need not retain the same major professor or committee for the MS and Ph.D. degrees. All advisory committee appointments are subject to approval of the Department Chair and the Dean of the Graduate School through Plan of Study approval. Changes in committee membership and committee chairs must be approved via a "Revision of Existing Plan of Study" form.
The MS advisory committee must consist of at least three faculty members. The committee chair must be a member of the Graduate Faculty and a member (not adjunct) of the department of psychology faculty. The PSYC 7130 Research Seminar course will help you in the committee selection process by familiarizing you with faculty members and their interests.
The Ph.D. advisory committee must have four regular members plus the outside reader (i.e., "Graduate School Representative"). The chair must be a member (not adjunct) of the department of psychology faculty, and at least two members, including the chair, must be members of the Graduate Faculty authorized to direct doctoral students. Two of the regular members must be faculty members within the student's program area. One member must be a faculty member who is not a member of the student's program area. The committee chair need not be a faculty member within the student's program area.
Employment Outside of the Department Students may be approached to conduct contractual work by outside agencies and practices that have no direct, formal arrangement for such work with the program. Before the student agrees to work in an external position, the Director of the student's program must approve such employment, so that the program can evaluate the appropriateness of the position in light of the student's training needs. The active involvement of faculty insures that students' needs and training priorities remain of paramount importance. Extra-university employment should be considered carefully in the context of insuring the timely completion of graduate program requirements.
Graduate School Regulations:
In addition to Departmental and Program requirements, students must comply with all Graduate School regulations and University regulations, which are articulated in the Auburn University Bulletin (see especially the chapter entitled "Graduate School"). You should familiarize yourself with these rules and regulations early in your graduate studies.
Especially noteworthy among Graduate School rules:
No grade below C is acceptable for credit toward a graduate degree, and each course on which a grade below C is received must be repeated whether or not it is listed on the student's plan of study.
Incompletes: A grade of incomplete must be removed within the following six months or it will be recorded permanently as an F and the course will have to be repeated. This applies regardless of the student's enrollment status. A student not enrolled during the following six months is not exempt from this rule. . . . No student may graduate until "incomplete" and "NR" grades are removed, and the removal must be completed at least three weeks before the date of graduation, regardless of whether the course is included on the Plan of Study.
MS Time Limit: All graduate work toward a master's degree must be completed within a period of five calendar years.
PhD Time Limit: The student becomes a candidate for the doctoral degree on successful completion of the General Doctoral Examination and has four calendar years thereafter to complete all additional requirements. If unable because of reasons beyond the candidate's control to complete the requirements on time, the student may petition the Dean of the Graduate School for an extension. Otherwise, the student will revert to the status of an applicant and must petition the Dean of the Graduate School to retake the general oral examination.
University Rules and Regulations:
In addition to the Auburn University Bulletin, an Auburn University Publication entitled the Tiger Cub publishes rules, regulations, grievance policies, etc. that relate to student life at the University. All graduate students should read and understand these rules since they influence both the relationships between graduate students and the University and relationships between graduate students and undergraduate students. Particularly important are those rules covering sexual harassment and student grievances.