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2015–16 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 Vice President for Academics (
cedarville.
edu/academics/vpa
) using the “Policies” link from that page.
Students may also obtain the same information directly from the
office of the Vice President for Academics.
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 and Extended Learning
Programs 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 and/or class participation are necessary for
the student to receive full benefit from the University experience.
University policy allows each faculty member to determine and
develop reasonable attendance/participation 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 and Extended
Learning Programs 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 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 and Extended Learning Programs
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.