2007-2009 Graduate Catalog

Welcome to The University of South Dakota’s Graduate School

Thank you for choosing The University of South Dakota for your graduate or professional education. USD’s Graduate School is the largest in South Dakota, with more than 55 graduate and professional programs and producing more than half of the graduate and professional students from state institutions. Graduate and professional students typically comprise 25% of USD’s student body, reflecting the integral role of graduate education, research, and creative scholarship at USD.

The mission of The Graduate School is to provide high-quality graduate programs in the liberal arts and sciences, education, business, fine arts, law, and medicine; to promote excellence in teaching and learning; and to support research and creative scholarship. In partnership with individual degree programs, we accomplish this mission by providing students with excellent academic preparation and extraordinary opportunities for research, creative scholarship, clinical experiences, and internships.

An important function of The Graduate School is to facilitate communication of expectations, policies, and procedures. This Graduate Catalog is central to that communication and describes academic policies, graduate school procedures, and degree requirements. Other important communication tools are your academic department, the Graduate School website (www.usd.edu/gradsch), and a weekly listserv to which entering students are automatically subscribed. If you seek information that is unavailable from these resources, please do not hesitate to contact our office directly.

This catalog is intended for general information only. It may not contain all regulations that relate to students. The provisions of this catalog do not constitute a contract, express or implied, between any applicant, student, or faculty member and The University of South Dakota. The University reserves the right to withdraw courses any time, change fees, rules, calendar, curriculum, degree programs, degree requirements, graduation procedures, and any other requirements affecting students. Changes become effective whenever the proper authorities so determine and will apply to both prospective students and those already enrolled. Students are held individually responsible for complying with all requirements of the rules and regulations of The University and the South Dakota Board of Regents. It is the responsibility of the graduate student to read and comply with policies, regulations, and procedures described in this document, the Graduate School website (www.usd.edu/gradsch) and communicated through the individual degree programs.

Expectations

A student admitted to The Graduate School is expected to demonstrate intellectual maturity and independence in the pursuit of advanced knowledge. Graduate students are expected to meet the exacting demands of advanced learning through the use of variety of intellectual skills. Thus, a graduate degree represents more than an accumulation of hours and credits in specific competencies in a major field. The student will be judged at all stages on the above grounds and, regardless of grades in courses, may be dropped from the graduate program if progress or behavior is found to be unsatisfactory.

Administration

The Graduate Dean exercises overall supervision and responsibility for administering the policies and procedures relating to graduate study. In collaboration with the Graduate Council, the Graduate Dean provides leadership in establishing standards for graduate education, developing new programs, and maintaining standards and guidelines for existing programs. Within the standards and guidelines of the Graduate Council, the responsibility for the development and implementation of the individual graduate programs resides with the graduate faculty of individual academic disciplines.