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Section IV: Programs
Comprehensive Standard for Graduate Programs

IV-20. The institution ensures that its graduate instruction and resources foster independent learning enabling the graduate to contribute to a profession or field of study.

JUDGMENT OF COMPLIANCE

Yes, East Tennessee State University is able to provide a portfolio of evidence supporting compliance.

STATEMENT OF RATIONALE FOR JUDGMENT OF COMPLIANCE

The ETSU School of Graduate Studies defines instruction as activities that provide experience and knowledge to students. Resources are defined as the basic support necessary for all aspects of each degree program, including library and learning resources, computer, and laboratory facilities (SACS Standard IV-18). Independent learning is defined as learning that takes place as the result of extended, thoughtful activity independent of, but not separate from, didactic and classroom experiences.

Graduate instruction at ETSU is broadly designed to stimulate students to analyze, explore, question, reconsider, and synthesize. Each degree program is then designed to provide unique experiences, appropriate to each discipline, that provide each student with the competence and experience to practice and contribute to his or her chosen field. Graduate students are required to engage in activities designed to assure that they develop specialized skills and a sense of creative independence. Various methods of delivery (e.g., lecture, discussion, project, and seminar formats) engage students in higher critical thinking skills. Research and creative projects foster independent learning by requiring skills in analysis and synthesis (e.g., design, implementation, written and oral presentations), which are predicated on a student's ability to evaluate, reconsider, and question. Every graduate degree program at ETSU requires a culminating experience, apart from comprehensive examinations, that demonstrates the student's independent learning. Emphasis on specialized activities are appropriate to each discipline---e.g., in the sciences (biological and biomedical sciences), students give seminars, present in journal clubs, and complete grant proposals, or are extensively involved in practicums (applied health sciences); in the arts, students complete portfolios and present studio exhibitions; in applied technology and business, students utilize internships and collaborative partnerships (ETSU Graduate Catalog, specific degree programs). The ETSU Graduate & Professional Student Association awards travel grants to graduate students for presentations at professional meetings, thus assisting the institution in supporting standards and promoting student contributions to their professions and fields of study (ETSU Graduate and Professional Student Association, Records).

Both the curriculum review process (ETSU Curriculum Process Manual) and the academic program review process ensure that new or revised programs of study meet quality standards and foster independent learning. For graduate programs, specific standards address requirements for higher critical thinking skills and independent learning (ETSU Guidelines for Academic Program Reviews, Standards for Evaluating Graduate Programs). Reviews of new or revised graduate curricula by the graduate and academic councils (ETSU Graduate Council, Minutes; ETSU Academic Council, Minutes) ensure that the course of study is designed to produce graduates who can contribute meaningfully to a profession or a field of scholarship. Specific graduate program review standards also address these requirements for appropriate content (ETSU Guidelines for Academic Program Review, Self-Study Document Guidelines). No reviews of ETSU graduate programs have cited any weaknesses in either of these areas (ETSU Academic Program Review Summary). For the degree of doctor of medicine, program and curriculum review is overseen directly by the faculty, and the ETSU James H. Quillen College of Medicine is fully accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (ETSU James H. Quillen College of Medicine, Accreditation Records).

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