The Graduate Neuroscience (Veterinary Science) Program has three standing committees:  Executive Committee, Graduate Studies Committee, and Curriculum Committee. Because the Veterinary Science Program has not set curriculum, it has no standing curriculum committee and the student's Thesis Committee fulfills the function of the Curriculum Committee.

Executive Committee

The Executive Committee is comprised of the Chairs of the three standing committees, the Program Director, Program Co-Director, Program Assistant Director, and two at large members of the Graduate Faculty. The  Executive Committee for the Veterinary Science Program consists of those members of the Neuroscience Executive Committee who are also members of the Graduate Faculty in the Veterinary Sciences Program.

The Executive Committee is responsible for the overall direction of the Program and shall give directions and advice to the Program Director in managing the Program.

The Executive Committee must approve all selections for doctoral mentor.  When a student is ready to name their doctoral mentor they must petition the Executive Committee for approval.  The petition must include a letter from the proposed doctoral mentor stating both their willingness to take on the role as doctoral mentor and describing the financial support available to support the student in their thesis work.

The duties and responsibilities of the committees are: 

Graduate Studies Committee (Neuroscience and Veterinary Science)

The voting members of the Graduate Studies Committee shall be elected/appointed from the graduate faculty of the Program and will consist of at least four, but not more than six voting members. 

 The Chair of the Graduate Studies Committee will be the Co-Director of the Program in Neuroscience and is appointed by the Program Director in accordance with the Neuroscience Program bylaws.

 The Program Assistant Director will be an ex officio member of the Graduate Studies Committee without voting rights.

 The Graduate Studies Committee has responsibilities to both the Graduate Program in Neuroscience and the Graduate Program in Veterinary Sciences that is administered through the Department of VCAPP.  Thus all duties described below are applicable to both programs.

1.   Stipends/Fellowships.  The Committee makes recommendations to the Program Director for distribution of departmental and programmatic stipends and fellowships.

2.   Recruitment.  The Committee makes recommendations to the Program Director in the selection of new graduate students to the program.

3.   Examinations. The Committee is responsible for the design and timing of exams as outlined in the Policies and Procedures Manual of the Program.

4.   Policies. The Committee shall keep a Policies and Procedure Manual for the Program.  The manual shall contain at a minimum polices regarding Stipends/Fellowships, Recruitment, and Exams.  These policies shall be made available to any graduate faculty member or graduate student who requests them. Minor alterations in the policies of the Graduate Studies Committee can be made by majority vote within the Committee.  Major changes to policies should be submitted to a vote of the entire graduate faculty.  The Chair of the Graduate Studies Committee, in consultation with the Program Director, shall determine if a change requires the vote of the entire graduate faculty.

 Curriculum Committee (Neuroscience and Veterinary Science)

The voting members of the Curriculum Committee shall consist of the course directors of regularly taught VCAPP courses at both the graduate and undergraduate levels.  This does not include membership based on mentoring research credits or leading a special topics course.  In addition, the Curriculum Committee shall have two at-large members elected from the graduate faculty who are not course directors in a regularly taught neuroscience course.

1. The Curriculum Committee is responsible for the design of the overall curriculum of the program.

2. When changes in the curriculum are minor (modifications within a single course such as change of focus, number of credits, prerequisite change, or satisfactory/fail vs. graded options), the Committee can make the alteration without a vote of the entire graduate faculty.

3. When changes in the curriculum are major (dropping or adding one or more courses to the curriculum or change in degree requirements), the committee must propose the alteration to the entire graduate faculty membership.

   • The proposal may be discussed at a meeting of the graduate faculty or can be discussed via e-mail distribution of written documents.  The Chair of the Curriculum Committee is responsible for distributing information to the general graduate faculty.  Comments from the graduate faculty regarding the changes should be made within two weeks of distributing the information.

   • Once the information has been distributed and comments returned, at the discretion of the Chair of the Curriculum Committee, the proposal can be altered before a final vote on the proposed changes. 

   • The Chair of the Curriculum Committee will be responsible for organizing the vote of the graduate faculty.  A written explanation of the final proposed change will be distributed to the graduate faculty by e-mail.   The Chair of the Curriculum Committee will collect ballots (electronic or paper).  Ballots are due ten working days after the final proposal has been distributed.  The Chair of the Curriculum Committee will send one reminder to the graduate faculty to vote.

   • To pass, the proposal must have a simple majority of votes cast.  A minimum quorum of 50 percent of the graduate faculty is required.  If a proposal should fail for lack of quorum, the vote may be extended for one week.

4. The Curriculum Committee is also responsible for any non-standard proposed changes to the curriculum of an individual student.  These include, but are not limited to, acceptance of course work prior to entering the graduate program as substitutes for specific core requirements, and acceptance of other graduate credit taken at WSU in lieu of specific core course requirements in the program.  To request such changes the student must write a letter to the Chair of the Curriculum Committee outlining the nature of the request.  Such requests can be handled by electronic meetings and do not require a physical meeting of the Curriculum Committee unless requested by two or more members of the Curriculum Committee.

5. Minor changes requested by students (for example, changes in filed forms that do not cause substitutions of core requirements) can be approved by the Program Director, Co-Director, or Assistant Director.

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