Committee Charge

Develop academic policies concerning academic integrity for graduate students, for consideration by the Committee on Graduate Student and Faculty Issues and the Graduate Council.

Rationale

In 2017, Penn State Executive Vice President and Provost Nick Jones created a task force to assess the current process and structure used to manage academic integrity cases and strengthen a culture of integrity. In Spring 2019, the Task Force made a number of recommendations to the Provost, including: establishing a central University Academic Integrity Office. However, while violations of academic integrity and appropriate sanctions for graduate education might look quite different than for undergraduate education, there is no clear set of standardized procedures currently in place specific to graduate education or outlined by the Task Force. The Academic Integrity policies, procedures, and sanctions at the University are designed for undergraduate students. The current policies and procedures do not work well for violations that occur in academic work outside of the classroom, such as in the Qualifying or Comprehensive Exams. In addition, many graduate students fill a unique role in relationship to academic integrity, since they serve as instructors of undergraduates in addition to being students themselves.

This charge might appropriately be given to the Graduate Council Committee on Graduate Student and Faculty Issues. However, GSFI has a full slate of agenda items for the 2019-20 academic year. In addition, creating an ad hoc committee would allow for appointing a wide range of committee members engaged in graduate education and/or academic integrity issues across the University.

Outcome

Policies developed by the Ad Hoc Committee will be reviewed and voted on first by the Committee on Graduate Student and Faculty Issues. When GSFI has approved these policies to move forward, they will go to Graduate Council for final review and approval.

Time Frame

The committee will complete its work in the 2019-2020 academic year.

Committee Chair

Esther Gomez, Associate Professor, Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, Chair

Membership

Nominations for membership were solicited from members of the Advisory Committee for Graduate Education, which is made up of the associate deans for graduate education from all of the colleges that offer graduate programs. Student members were nominated by several associate deans and GPSA.

• Branden Elmore, Graduate Student in Higher Education
• Semih Eser, Professor of Energy and Geo-Environmental Engineering, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences
• Karen Feldbaum, Interim Senior Director, Office of Student Conduct
• Lou Gattis, Clinical Professor, Faculty Director of Executive MBA Program, Smeal College of Business
• Esther Gomez, Associate Professor, Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering
• Diane Henderson, Professor of Mathematics, Eberly College of Science
• Andrew High, Associate Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences
• Jason Kaye, Professor of Soil Biogeochemistry, Chair of Ecology Intercollege Graduate Degree Program, College of Agricultural Sciences
• Lisa Kitko, Associate Professor, Josiah S. Macy Jr. Faculty Scholar, College of Nursing
• Wanda Knight, Associate Professor of Art Education
• Andrew Peck, Director of the College of the Liberal Arts Academic Integrity Office
• Brianne Pragg, Graduate Student in Sociology and Demography
• Joel Segel, Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Administration, College of Health and Human Development
• Srisharan Shreedharan, Graduate Student in Geosciences
• Eric Stein, Associate Professor of Management Science and Information Systems, Penn State Great Valley
• LaWanda Ward, Assistant Professor of Education

• Jan Reimann, Chair of Graduate Council, Ex Officio