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Section VI: Federal Mandates for Title IV Funding
SACS Comprehensive Standard 

VI-2.  The institution maintains a curriculum that is directly related and appropriate to the purpose and goals of the institution and the diplomas, certificates or degrees awarded.

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

East Tennessee State University's mission, goals, and programs offered are approved by the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR), the policy board for the state university and community college system.  The university is authorized to offer associate through doctoral degree programs by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC), the coordinating board for all Tennessee higher education institutions (TBR Manual, Enabling Legislation).

All aspects of the educational program are clearly related to the mission and purpose of the institution.  The complement of academic degree programs is consistent with ETSU's mission and purpose.  The TBR and THEC program approval processes require assessment of consonance of each degree program with the mission and purpose of the institution (TBR Manual, Program Review and Approval).

Additionally, the ETSU Office of Outcomes Assessment conducts systematic evaluations of all graduate curricula and program requirements on a five-year cycle, for both accredited and non-accredited degree programs.  Evaluations consider all aspects of admission, curriculum, courses, and faculty.  The ETSU Guidelines for Academic Program Review describes this review process in detail and provides the schedule for reviews (ETSU Program Review).  The guidelines and standards assure that admission and completion requirements are appropriate (ETSU Guidelines for Academic Program Review).

Undergraduate

Completion requirements for undergraduate programs are identified for each degree program in the undergraduate catalog.  The catalog gives information specifying the total number of credit hours (minimum of 120 hours) to be earned for graduation, any specified distribution of general education credits needed, and other requirements that students must meet in order to receive a degree (varies by degree program).  The university requires that 25% of the total hours required for the baccalaureate degree be earned through coursework taken at ETSU (ETSU Undergraduate Catalog, Bachelor Degree Requirements, Item 4).

Individual academic programs specify requirements for each major and area of concentration, the number of upper division credit hours within the major or concentration, and requirements for demonstrating satisfactory progress (ETSU Undergraduate Catalog).  Requirements for pre- and co-requisite coursework also are contained in the course description section of the catalog and are included in the sample course sequences provided for each major.  To ensure timely notice of any required coursework still needed to meet degree requirements, students may request a program review by the graduation analyst at the beginning of the student's senior year (ETSU Undergraduate Catalog, Bachelor Degree Requirements, Item 8).

Graduate

East Tennessee State University offers 13 master's degree programs, the Education Specialist (Ed.S.), the Doctor of Education (Ed.D.), Doctor of Medicine (M.D.), the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Biomedical Sciences, and four graduate certificates (Health Care Management, Post-master's Nursing, Business, Gerontology).  The Doctor of Science in Nursing (D.S.N.) was approved       May 2001 by the TBR and forwarded to the THEC for its consideration.  Presently, a proposal for the Doctor of Audiology (Au.D.) is in the university's approval process, having already been approved by the ETSU Graduate Council. 

East Tennessee State University has established policies governing all aspects of completion requirements (ETSU Graduate Catalog, sections specified below), which include the following items:

• specified period of time for degree completion (Timetable),

• requirements governing residency (Residency Requirements),

• thesis and dissertation requirements (Degree and Graduation Requirements),

• minimum number of credit hours required for the degree(Degree and Graduation Requirements, see individual programs),

• minimum acceptable grade-point average (Grades),

• standards for satisfactory academic progress (Grades),

• level of academic progress at which the student should apply for candidacy (Admission to Candidacy and Approval of the Program of Study), and

• types of qualifying and exit examinations the candidate must pass (Timetable, see individual programs).

The ETSU Graduate and Academic councils review all admission and completion criteria for new or significantly revised programs prior to review and approval by the TBR (ETSU Curriculum Process Manual).

College of Medicine

The ETSU James H. Quillen College of Medicine (COM) offers the doctor of medicine degree (ETSU Quillen College of Medicine Catalog, Academic Requirements).  The courses and curricula leading to the degree are guided by a committee of the faculty, the Medical Student Education Committee (MSEC), and approved by the faculty and the dean of the college (ETSU Quillen College of Medicine, Medical Student Education Committee: Structure, Charge, Membership).  The curriculum is also under the continuous and careful scrutiny of the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, the college's accrediting body.  Student achievement and progress is continuously monitored by the COM Student Promotions Committee to ensure that overall standards of satisfactory academic progress are met.  Outcomes are assessed by monitoring the student graduation rate and the success of graduates in obtaining postgraduate (residency) training in preferred fields of specialty (Residency Placement Statistics). 

The ETSU Quillen COM is recognized nationally for graduating a significant percentage of physicians--over 60% of all graduates--who chose primary care medicine for their residency training and practice.  According to U.S. News and World Report (2002 Best Graduate Schools), ETSU tied for fourth place among the top (125) medical schools for rural medicine education.  This is the fourth consecutive year ETSU has placed in the top ten medical schools for this category.  In family medicine training, the ETSU Quillen COM tied for 13^th place in 1999, and placed 19^th among these top schools in 2000.

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