Faculty & Staff

Graduate Faculty

The LSU Board of Supervisors (BOS) requires the university to maintain a graduate faculty comprised of members of the teaching, research, and extension faculties who have been so designated by the Chancellor, upon the recommendation of the Graduate Council acting upon appropriate nominations. LSU’s Graduate Faculty enables the university to maintain its accreditation through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) , while furthering the university’s national flagship agenda to increase the number and quality of graduate students and programs.

The graduate faculty consists of those members of the teaching and research faculties who have been so designated by the Chancellor, upon recommendation of the Graduate Council acting on appropriate nominations. Such designations provide for classification as Members, Associate Members, or Affiliate Members, according to their qualifications and experience. (The term, “Member,” when capitalized, denotes a Full Member of the Graduate Faculty.) Faculty members who hold the rank of adjunct professor, adjunct associate professor or adjunct assistant professor in a department offering work for graduate credit are eligible for graduate faculty status as Full Members or Associate Members, depending upon their qualifications.

The academic deans may determine graduate faculty status with the initial appointment at LSU, at promotion and tenure review, and during the annual performance review. They can also recommend three-year affiliate membership appointments and administrative approvals for non-graduate faculty.

It is the policy of the Graduate School that only persons appointed to the graduate faculty may teach graduate credit courses and serve on graduate student advisory committees. Normally, only Associate and Full Members may direct theses and dissertations. Only Full Members may participate in the determination of the policies of the Graduate School, according to procedures determined by the graduate faculty.