At the end of every academic, the graduate faculty in the Department of Communication evaluates the progress of every PhD student in the program. For a student to continue

in the program, he or she must maintain satisfactory progress. The student will be judged as NOT making satisfactory progress if:

1. The student’s cumulative GPA drops below 3.0 and remains there for more than one semester or nine credit hours.
2. The student has acquired more incompletes than he or she can complete during one semester of normal academic work.
3. The student fails the Comprehensive exam.
4. The student’s coursework does not demonstrate promise for independent scholarly work.

Should a student fail to maintain satisfactory progress, the Graduate Committee, in conjunction with the department chair, can recommend to the CCFA Associate Dean for Graduate Affairs and the U of M Vice Provost of Graduate Programs that the student be dropped from the program. Moreover, students found by the Office of Student Conduct to have committed misconduct will be sanctioned by the University in accordance with the policies contained in the “Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities.” In these cases, the Department may also recommend to the CCFA Associate Dean for Graduate Affairs and the U of M Vice Provost of Graduate Programs that the student be dropped from the program.