Graduate Faculty

Full Graduate Faculty

All tenure-track and tenured faculty and permanent status or permanent status track librarians at Towson University are automatically appointed as members of the graduate faculty (full graduate faculty). They are eligible to teach graduate-level courses, serve on departmental graduate committees, chair or serve on graduate thesis and dissertation committees, be appointed or elected to the university’s graduate studies and graduate curriculum committees.

Graduate Teaching Faculty

All clinical faculty, lecturers and adjunct faculty at Towson University with a terminal degree or assigned to teach graduate level courses or supervise graduate level clinical/professional practice are automatically appointed as graduate teaching faculty, unless they are current Towson University graduate students.

Graduate teaching faculty members are eligible to teach graduate-level courses, serve on departmental graduate committees and participate on graduate thesis or dissertation committees, in accordance with the Office of Graduate Studies Guidelines for Preparing Theses and Dissertations

Associate Graduate Faculty

Research or visiting professors, professor of practice (and other USM defined faculty ranks), and external thesis or dissertation committee members are assigned associate graduate faculty status at time of appointment. External committee members shall be assigned based on program specific policies for determining qualifications.

Administrative staff with an earned terminal degree or master’s degree plus five years of qualified professional experience are also assigned associate graduate faculty status at time of appointment. Emeritus professors holding full graduate faculty status at the time of their retirement will be automatically granted associate graduate faculty status.

Associate graduate faculty may serve on departmental graduate committees and participate on graduate thesis or dissertation committees in accordance with the Office of Graduate Studies Guidelines for Preparing Theses and Dissertations.

Duties of Graduate Faculty

All graduate faculty are vested with the responsibility for advancing the university’s mission at the graduate level; they will provide support for graduate education through teaching, research supervision and advising of graduate students as appropriate to their appointment. Graduate faculty should support the continued improvement of instruction, curriculum development and program goals of their program(s). They should continue to develop and enhance their professional scholarship in support of providing a relevant educational experience to all graduate students.

Privileges of Graduate Faculty

Graduate Faculty status provides eligibility to apply to the University System of Maryland inter-institutional graduate faculty.

Approved by the University Senate, September 28, 1999.
Amended and approved by the Graduate Studies Committee, March 2013 and November 2022.

National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity (NCFDD) Membership

The NCFDD is an online community that provides resources and tools, mentoring, and support for faculty and graduate students including:

• professional development programming that is focused on increasing productivity
• an intense and reliable support network of highly trained and successful mentors
• an independent confidential “safe space” for brainstorming and problem solving