Ph.D. Program Leave or Termination

Students may withdraw from the Ph.D. program at any time. It is a courtesy for students to inform the adviser/chair of the supervisory committee of such intent.

Students who fail to register for credits for two consecutive academic terms (Fall, Spring) will be considered inactive; these students must reactivate their status with the Office of Graduate Studies in order to resume academic work and register for credits. Students may not receive graduate fellowships or assistantships when inactive.

Ph.D. students in SECD are held to the same standards of academic integrity and behavior as all other students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Information about student conduct is available in the UNL Student Code of Conduct.

Students enrolled in the Ph.D. program in SECD are expected to maintain a minimum 3.0 GPA, annually. Letter grades below B will not be accepted for the degree; students are permitted to retake such courses once to raise the grade/GPA. Failure to meet these standards may be cause for termination, as determined by the student's Supervisory Committee and the SECD ExecutiveGraduate Governance Committee.

Furthermore, Ph.D. students who receive two grades of XPs for Incompletes with Inadequate Progress for dissertation credits (SLPA/SPED 999) may be terminated, as determined by the Supervisory Committee and the SECD Executive Graduate Governance Committee.

Students terminated from the program may not reapply to a Ph.D. program in SECD at a later date. The credits earned to-date remain on the transcript, and the students can apply to another program in or out of the University of Nebraska.

Student Appeals and Grievance Process

Students who want to appeal decisions about grades, academic matters or termination decisions should follow the procedures described in the Graduate Catalog.

These appeals always begin with the course instructor for course grades, or adviser for academic matters or termination decisions. If denied, the Ph.D. student can appeal to the Supervisory Committee. If denied again, the Ph.D. student can appeal to the Executive Graduate Governance Committee in SECD. Final appeal would be to the UNL Graduate Council. All appeals are to be made within 30 days of notification (grade posting, exam results, termination letter).

A student with a non-academic grievance should meet with the Department Chair. The Department Chair will offer the student the opportunity to document the grievance in writing. Depending on the grievance, the Department Chair may be required to report it to Title IX and/or UNL Police. The Department Chair will serve as the grievance panel for non-academic grievances, ones not needing to be reported to Title IX or UNL Police, and ones not involving legal issues.

If the student submits a written grievance, the Department Chair will talk with the identified person(s) about the issue. The written grievance will be kept on file in the Department Office. If the student does not file a written grievance, the Department Chair will not take action.

After talking with the identified person(s), the Department Chair will have several options on how to proceed, including:

  1. Reporting back to the student that the issue was addressed.
  2. Mediating a meeting with the identified person(s) and student.
  3. Taking another action depending upon conversations with the student and the identified person(s).

If the student does not feel the grievance has been adequately addressed, he/she may file a grievance with the Dean of the College of Education & Human Sciences. In this circumstance, the Department Chair will forward all available documentation to the Dean.