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In addition there shall be Graduate Program Committees in the following areas, namely the graduate programs in Rhetoric and Composition, Literature, and TESL, as well as for such others as shall be authorized by the Chair upon recommendation by the FAC and the GSC.  In Rhetoric and Composition and TESL, the program committee is a program committee of the whole (i.e., all faculty active in the field).  The program committee in Literature is also a program committee of the whole, but a graduate literature program subcommittee (GLPS) shall be elected through normal departmental election procedures to make decisions about admission and other programmatic decisions listed below.  The Literature program subcommittee is comprised of an elected Chair (who serves two years) and four other members, elected in staggered terms (two elected per year) by the literature faculty. The Graduate Studies Coordinator is an ex officio non-voting member of these several committees.

Program Committees shall have responsibility for all matters concerning their programs and students.  The Program Committees shall report their recommendations to the GSC in a regular and timely fashion and shall seek the advice of the GSC as needed.  The Graduate Studies Coordinator shall coordinate information and decisions from the program committees and shall report to the Chair and the FAC as needed.

Graduate Program Committees shall have primary responsibility for:

• Recommendations concerning criteria for admission of master’s and doctoral students;
• Initial recommendations concerning graduate appointments and teaching fellowships;
• Recommendations concerning criteria for fulfilling the language requirement;
• Maintaining program curriculum, proposing course and programmatic changes, and recommending course offerings and scheduling, in consultation with the Graduate Studies Coordinator and the Graduate Studies Committee;
• Recommendations concerning stipends, program-specific fellowships, and research appointments;
• Recruitment plans and programs;
• Initial academic advising for incoming students;
• Maintaining minutes of meeting and submitting them to the department Chair and the Graduate Studies Coordinator;
• Updating and maintaining the content of Graduate Program websites.