Policies

INSY Seminar Policy

In addition to having to satisfactorily complete one semester of INSY 7950/7956 to graduate, funded graduate students should attend the seminars every semester, but are not required to be enrolled more than one semester.  Graduate students who are not funded by the department are also encouraged to attend graduate seminars every semester.

Course Audit Policy

Graduate students funded by the INSY department are not allowed to audit graduate courses without permission from the department.  The reason for this policy is because the Graduate Fellowships provided to all of our funded students are not designed to be used for audits or other courses not pertinent to a student's area of study.

Outside Courses Policy

A student may have no more than three non-INSY graduate courses on the required Plan of Study. Note that there is no restriction on the number of non-INSY courses that can be taken, only on the number that can appear on the required Plan of Study. For MBA/MISE students, this means that a minimum of 21 of the required 54 hours should be INSY graduate courses.

STAT 7000 Policy

STAT 7000 cannot be used on the required Plan of Study.  Note that there is no restriction on taking STAT 7000 (it is often used to where a student does not have the required probability and statistics background for our graduate program), only on it appearing on the required Plan of Study.

Remediation Policy

A suspended graduate student who wishes to go through the remediation process (as described in the AU Bulletin) must submit a written request for remediation along with a proposed remediation plan to the Graduate Program Officer. A departmental committee reviews all remediation requests and determines whether the remediation request should go forward to the Graduate School for approval. The written request should include the following:

• A brief explanation of the problems that led to the suspension and the student’s plan for addressing these problems; and
• A proposed remediation plan – the schedule of specific courses that will satisfy the graduate school requirement for getting the GPA back to 3.0 or above.

The Graduate Program Officer and/or the Department Chair can assist with the development of the remediation plan.

Assistantship Policy

Research or teaching assistantships require that you be a full time student in good standing in this department’s graduate program.  In summer semester or in special circumstances with the permission of the Graduate Program Coordinator or Officer, students may have assistantships without being full-time (9 hours).  However, students must be registered for at least 1 hour during any semester for which they have an assistantship.  Continuation of the assistantship and fellowship beyond depends both upon the availability of funds and your performance as a graduate student, both academically and for your assistantship duties. If you are convicted of academic dishonesty by the University Honesty Committee, your assistantship from the department will be immediately and permanently revoked.

Independent Study Hours on the plan of study Policy

A student may include at most 3 hours of independent study courses (INSY 7940) on the required Plan of Study.  Note that there is no limitation on the number of independent study courses that can be taken, only on the number that can appear on the required Plan of Study.

Thesis/Dissertation Policy

Starting Fall Semester 2009, the Graduate School no longer requires that students submit paper copies of theses and dissertations; however, the Industrial and Systems Engineering department requires a bound, hard‐copy to be submitted for our internal library. Students will need to use a commercial binder, such as CopyCat in order to produce the hard‐copy.

The Graduate School’s new Electronic Thesis and Dissertation (ETD) Guide) is available at this address: http://www.grad.auburn.edu/etd_guide.html

The signature page is replaced by the Electronic Thesis/Dissertation Approval Form. The new Electronic Thesis/Dissertation Final Approval form can be found at this address: http://www.grad.auburn.edu/etd/approval_form.pdf

Students who began theses or dissertations using the previous Graduate School guide and who plan to submit theses or dissertations after August 17, 2009 should contact Julie Renfro. Likewise, please direct questions and/or comments to Julie Renfro at renfrjb@auburn.edu

Residency Policy

The policy of the Graduate School of Auburn University prior to April 2003 regarding residency for MS and PhD students was:

1. for MS students, 1 term of full time enrollment on campus during the course of study.
2. for PhD students, 2 consecutive terms of full time enrollment on campus during the course of study.

The Graduate School has now passed responsibility for residency requirements down to the degree granting entities, that is, the departments. The policy of the ISE Department will be identical to the pre April 2003 policy of the Graduate School (items 1 and 2, above). In unusual circumstances, exceptions to the residency requirements for either MS or PhD will be considered by individual faculty advisors in consultation with the departmental Graduate Program coordinator and the department Chair.

The Residency Certification Form is still required by the Graduate School by all MS and PhD degree seekers and may be found at: http://www.grad.auburn.edu/forms/residency.pdf

Curriculum Practical Training Policy

Curricular Practical Training (CPT) is a provision for international students (undergraduate or graduate) on F1 visas. This allows students to work while attending school where the work experience is integral to their academic studies and where they receive academic credit for the work experience.

The ISE Department does not have mandatory internships or practicums so our involvement with CPT is not as clear as with some other degree programs. After reviewing the official materials on CPT (see links below), the faculty has devised the following policy for our ISE students:

a. A student who meets CPT requirements (F1 visa, prior full time enrollment for at least one academic year) may request a CPT term through his or her advisor. The proposed employment opportunity must relate to the student’s academic program and may not be taken for the primary reason of facilitating employment after graduation. The student must initiate the request for CPT well in advance of the proposed CPT term – a minimum of four weeks is needed to process the materials through the department and the university international office.

b. If approved by the advisor, the advisor shall recommend that CPT be granted to the Department Chair. The student must register for 3 hours of Special Projects at the appropriate level (UG or graduate) during the CPT term. The hours may be graded or S/U, at the discretion of the advisor.

c. The student must complete a written report on his / her CPT employment experience relative to his / her academic studies.

d. In no case will more than one CPT experience (one term) per degree per student be granted.

Students, please note that a CPT experience may negatively affect your employment opportunities with that company or business upon graduation. Consult with the International Student Office for advice on this aspect of CPT.

University Link with the official information on CPT:

http://www.auburn.edu/academic/international/isss/iss_faqs.php

Travel Policy

Funding graduate student travel and associated costs such as registration fees to events such as conferences, workshops and seminars is subject to this policy. The policy is designed to ensure equitable opportunities for graduate students while recognizing the budget limitations that always exist.

1. There is no restriction on attendance if all costs are funded by (a) a third party, (b) a research contract, (c) university monies under the jurisdiction of individual faculty members, (d) the student himself or herself, (e) other departments or entities within the university, or (f) a combination of the preceding. Note that items b and c are entirely up to the approval of the faculty member(s) responsible for the research contract or the individual funds. Note also that all travel outside of the US contiguous 48 states must be made with a pre‐approved RAT (Request for Authority to Travel) form and all expenses that are vouchered through the university are subject to all university rules and restrictions. Further note that some research contracts place additional restrictions on travel and receipts.
2. Should a student desire that all or part of the expenses come from a common departmental account (that is, part of the regular department budget), the following apply:
   1. All proposed travel must be approved and endorsed by the student’s advisor or faculty mentor.
   2. The student must concurrently apply for a travel grant through the Graduate School.
   3. Events where the student is an elected or selected representative of the department and are in the mainstream of such events in our field, such as the IIE Doctoral Colloquium, the INFORMS Doctoral Colloquium or the Winter Simulation Doctoral Colloquium will be sponsored by the department subject to items a and b.
   4. Other events where the student is presenting a paper or otherwise assuming a leadership role will be considered by the faculty in this order of priority:
      1. Doctoral students graduating within 12 months.
      2. Doctoral students graduating within 2 years.
      3. Other doctoral students.
      4. Masters students.
   5. A student will not be funded for more than one event per year except where the student fills multiple events under item c.

Please be advised that along with the list in item d, the faculty will consider the amount of additional funding that the student has for the event and how much the student is requesting. Note also that all travel outside of the US contiguous 48 states must be made with a preapproved RAT (Request for Authority to Travel) form and all expenses that are vouchered through the university are subject to all university rules and restrictions. Finally, note that applying under item d especially will require a lead time to allow the faculty to convene and consider the request. In no cases will retroactive approval for funding be granted.