Graduate School and Departmental Policies for Termination 

The Department of Sociology is bound by all university regulations regarding termination from the degree programs as well as those for the Department stated in this manual.  Students and faculty are referred to the Graduate School Bulletin for information regarding academic policies and the handbook of Student Rights and Responsibilities for additional policies, including  University policy on cheating and plagiarism.  The Graduate School Bulletin is available on-line at www.rgs.uky.edu/gs/bulletin/bullinfo.html.  The Student Rights and Responsibilities handbook can be accessed on-line at http://www.uky.edu/StudentAffairs/Code/.  

A "B" average in all coursework must be maintained and a minimum grade of "B" must be earned in Department required theory and methods courses.    

For the doctoral Qualifying Examination, the Graduate School requires that if the oral Qualifying Exam is failed, a second examination must be taken no sooner than four months and no later than one year following the initial attempt.  The Graduate School does not permit a third attempt to pass the oral Qualifying Exam; therefore a student who fails the second examination is dropped from the program.  A qualifying examination includes both the written and oral portion.  Once a student opens the written exam questions, the exam must follow through to an oral examination.  Failure of the oral portion of the Qualifying Examination constitutes failure of the Qualifying Exam.  In all decisions, the majority opinion of the committee prevails.

For the Final Examination for either the M.A. or the Ph.D., the Graduate School specifies that if the Exam is failed, the advisory committee may recommend to the Dean of the Graduate School the conditions under which the candidate may be re-examined, if re-examination is deemed appropriate.  When conditions set by the Dean of the Graduate School have been met, the candidate may be re-examined.  A third examination is not permitted.

The departmental policies outlined in this manual were approved in April 1998; April, 1999; September, 1999; December, 1999; October, 2001; March, 2002; September, 2002; November, 2003, March 2004, and November 2006.