Graduate Faculty | Graduate School

Membership Categories

Any faculty member, regardless of specific title series of appointment, is eligible for consideration for membership on the Graduate Faculty. Eligibility qualifications are as follows:

The doctor's degree or its equivalent in scholarly reputation.
The rank of assistant professor (or equivalent) or higher.
Scholarly maturity and professional productivity as demonstrated by publications, editorial services, research surveys, creative work or patents, and research in progress at the time of appointment.
Demonstrated participation in graduate teaching and research in the program.

Associate Member

Faculty members at the Assistant Professor level are typically appointed as Associate Members of the Graduate Faculty. Associate members are authorized to teach graduate courses, direct master's theses, and serve on and co-chair doctoral committees. Associate membership is limited to a term of three years with reappointment possible after departmental review.

Full Member

Faculty are eligible for appointment as Full Members of the Graduate Faculty upon promotion to Associate Professor. Full members are particularly responsible for:

Guidance of doctoral student research and study to its completion. The finished work should meet or exceed accepted standards for publication, dissemination or performance within the particular discipline.
Participation in the formulation of graduate curricula and policy.

In unique instances an advanced assistant professor may be nominated by his or her chairperson for full membership in the Graduate Faculty. To be considered for this status a nominee must meet the following criteria:

Completion of a minimum of 2 years of employment at UK at the assistant professor level.
Demonstration of the appropriate level of scholarly research and productivity and evidence of important contributions to the department's graduate program, including graduate teaching.

Non-UK Experts

Non-UK-affiliated experts can add valuable insights for graduate student research projects and thus be valuable members of student advisory committees. There are several ways that these experts can be appointed to serve as official members of graduate student committees. It is recommended but not required that such appointments are made in addition to the standard three member master's committee or four member doctoral committee consisting of UK faculty.

If they are a faculty member at another academic institution, they can be appointed to Associate Graduate Faculty status in order to serve as a voting member of an advisory committee. The appointment is restricted to one committee and ends at the time the student successfully defends the thesis or dissertation. If the intent is to become more expansively involved in the graduate program (service on multiple committees; graduate teaching etc.) an adjunct faculty appointment is recommended prior to appointment to the graduate faculty.
If they are experts who hold non-academic positions, there are several possibilities.
- They can be appointed as a Voluntary Series Faculty (AR 2:10), which is a 5-yr appointment, and then can be subsequently appointed to Associate Graduate Faculty status.
- They can be appointed as an Adjunct Series Faculty (AR 2:8) and then can be subsequently appointed to Associate Graduate Faculty status.
- They can be appointed to Auxiliary Graduate Faculty status for the duration of the student's dissertation research. Auxiliary Graduate Faculty are non-voting members of the student's committees.

Appointment Process

The on-line graduate faculty appointment form for University of Kentucky faculty members can be accessed by clicking here.

You will be asked to confirm that the graduate faculty of the program, the chair, and the dean of the college support the appointment request. There is no proscribed process for obtaining these approvals and documentation is not required.
A request for appointment of an assistant professor as a full member of the graduate faculty must include a detailed letter of support from the chair or Director of Graduate Studies. This can either be pasted into the form or uploaded as a separate document.
A current CV of the nominee must be uploaded.

The on-line graduate faculty appointment form for Non-UK Experts can be accessed via this link.

You will be asked to confirm that the graduate faculty of the program, the chair, and the dean of the college support the appointment request. There is no proscribed process for obtaining these approvals and documentation is not required.
The request must include a detailed explanation from the committee chair or the Director of Graduate Studies of why the appointment is needed and must include the name of the doctoral student.
A current CV of the nominee must be uploaded.

Requests will normally be processed within five working days. You will not receive confirmation of the appointment; when approved the name (or change in status) will be visible on the Graduate Faculty list.

A complete list of current Graduate Faculty members can be found here.* Students will not have access to this reporting. It is the role of the program’s DGS or the student’s direct advisor to assist their students in forming their committee, determining someone’s graduate faculty status, and the DGS signs off on the committees.

* If the link above will not work in your browser, this workbook is also accessible via the Graduate Data Portal page as GS GS General Info - Graduate Faculty GRADS.