Advisory Committee for Graduate Education
Background
With full recognition that graduate degree programs are offered through colleges and schools of the University where the Graduate Faculty reside and where graduate courses are offered, the organizational structure of graduate education at Penn State is that all graduate degree programs (excluding medical and law education and their affiliated degree programs, e.g., the M.D., M.P.A.S., J.D., L.L.M., S.J.D.) report to a central graduate academic unit (college or school); for Penn State this unit is the J. Jeffrey and Ann Marie Fox Graduate School.
Academic policies related to graduate education (admissions and academic standards, degree requirements, etc.) are the purview of the Graduate Council as the governing body of Graduate Faculty of the University. Administrative policies to support those academic policies or other matters related to graduate education (requirements for receiving a graduate assistantship, World Campus course registration for resident students receiving an assistantship) are the purview of the Fox Graduate School.
However, the colleges/schools that offer graduate programs are critical partners with the Fox Graduate School in delivering graduate education across the University, and a mechanism to facilitate discussion, feedback and collaboration among the colleges/schools and the Fox Graduate School is critical.
Consequently, in approximately academic year 2000, the Advisory Committee for Graduate Education (ACGE) was formed by then vice president for research and dean of the Graduate School, Eva Pell. This group has served an invaluable role ever since.