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2014–15 Graduate and Adult Programs Academic Catalog
Graduate Programs
Academic Information
Grade Appeal Process
A student who believes that a grade received is incorrectly
recorded, inaccurate, unfairly awarded or based on criteria
different than that applied to other students in the same class may
initiate a grade appeal. The process for grade appeals is available
on the website of the Academic Vice President (
cedarville.edu/
academics/avp
) using the “Policies” link from that page. Students
may also obtain the same information directly from the office of the
Academic Vice President.
Petitions and Student Complaints
Student complaints about any aspect of a graduate program or
requests for exceptions to an academic regulation should first be
discussed with the appropriate faculty member or director of the
program. If those discussions fail to resolve the complaint a written
request must be initiated by the student and must be submitted
to the office of the Dean of Graduate Studies or director of the
program.
Probation and Suspension Policies
Students placed on academic probation or dismissal will be
notified in writing by their academic department.
The School of Pharmacy provides pharmacy students with
remediation (progression, probation, and suspension) policies in
the School of Pharmacy Professional Student Handbook.
For other programs, the following standards apply:
Academic Probation
status refers to any student whose
cumulative graduate grade point average falls below 3.00 and
is no longer in good academic standing. Students placed on
academic probation are expected to return to good academic
standing (overall GPA of 3.00 or above) within the attempting of
15 additional graduate credits. Failure to return to good academic
standing may result in academic dismissal.
Academic Suspension
status refers to any student who fails
to make satisfactory progress toward declared goals or who
accumulates six semester credits of “C+” or below. A student who
is suspended from a graduate program may not be readmitted
for one calendar year, and then only if evidence for expecting
satisfactory performance is submitted and found to be acceptable.
A student receiving veterans benefits who is on
academic
probation
after half of the hours for a given degree program are
completed, or whose cumulative grade point average falls below a
2.5, will be reported to the Veterans Administration. The veterans’
benefits for such a student will be terminated unless the student
is making progress toward meeting the minimum academic
requirements for graduation.
Attendance
Regular attendance is necessary for the student to receive full
benefit from the University experience. University policy allows
each faculty member to determine and develop reasonable
attendance standards that will meet the particular needs of the
course. See syllabi for attendance requirements for individual
courses.
Course Load
A student’s academic load for any given term is subject to
reduction or limitation by the Dean of Graduate Studies or director
of a particular graduate program for poor scholarship or excessive
work responsibilities outside of college hours.
Repeating Courses
Any graduate course may be repeated once with the approval
of the Dean of Graduate Studies or director of the program.
When a student repeats a course only the most recent grade is
calculated into the cumulative grade point average. Credit hours
for a repeated course count only once toward the credits needed
for graduation. Students have up to two years from the end of the
original course to repeat a course.
Students repeating courses are required to pay all applicable
tuition and fees for those courses. Other program-specific
requirements may be listed under the academic program.
Independent Study
On occasion special student circumstances may suggest
that an independent study course option should be considered.
Such an option might recognize opportunities to explore areas
not covered in normal course structure, reward self-motivated
students, and encourage joint study by faculty and students on
specialized projects.
Individual students and faculty members develop the specific
criteria that must be met for the successful completion of
independent study projects. However, the following guidelines
govern the independent study program:
• Only one independent study project may be undertaken in an
academic term.
• The maximum credit that may be earned for any one
independent study project is three semester hours.
• The faculty member supervising the independent study and
the Dean of Graduate Studies or director of a particular
graduate program must sign the student’s independent study
form. Registration for the independent study must occur at
the beginning of the semester in which the work is to be
completed.
• No more than six semester hours in independent study may
be counted toward the graduate degree.
• In general independent study projects cannot be taken in lieu
of required courses unless special arrangements have been
made through the department sponsoring the course and the
director of that particular graduate program.
• It is the prerogative of individual faculty members to offer
independent study courses or not.
• Participating faculty members determine the letter grade.
