Radford University Undergraduate Catalog, 2011-2012

Participation and Graduation
Students must complete the bachelor’s degree
prior to entering the master’s program. Students
in an accelerated program may not elect to
by-pass the baccalaureate degree. Students must
receive a grade of “B” or better in the double
counted graduate-level courses. Courses with a
grade of “C” or below cannot be double counted
between the two degrees. No more than twelve
(12) hours of graduate work may be counted towards
the requirements of both degrees (15 hours
in the RN/BSN/MSN program). Students must
complete the master’s degree within six years of
the start of their first graduate course. If the
master’s program is not completed within these
time limits, none of the graduate courses taken
as an undergraduate will be counted toward the
master’s degree. Permission to pursue an accelerated
degree program does not guarantee an
admission to the Graduate College. Admission
is contingent on meeting eligibility requirements
at the time of entering the graduate program.
Withdrawal/Ineligibility
A student may at any time withdraw from
an approved accelerated program, by informing
the Graduate Program coordinator in writing. A
copy of this should be sent to the Graduate College.
If a student completes the baccalaureate
degree requirements with an accumulated GPA
of less than 3.0, then he/she is no longer eligible
to pursue the accelerated program. Individual
departments may have higher requirements and
a failure to meet these requirements will make
a student ineligible to participate in the accelerated
program. A student who does not follow
the approved accelerated degree requirements
may become ineligible to participate in the accelerated
program. A student who is ineligible
to participate in (or withdraws from) the accelerated
program, cannot double count any courses
for both bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
Approved Accelerated Degree
Program Offerings
• Corporate and Professional
Communication (p. 167)
• Criminal Justice (p. 141)
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EXCEPTION TO ACADEMIC POLICY
The Radford University Undergraduate
Catalog is the basic authority for academic requirements
at Radford University. All students
are expected to follow the catalog in the pursuit
of their degrees. On occasion, extraordinary circumstances
may, however, justify minor departures
from the catalog requirements. Students
who believe their situation warrants a deviation
from academic policy may petition for an exception.
Students should consult with their advising
coordinator to explore the feasibility of petitioning
for an exception to academic policy.
Undergraduate students who need to petition
for an exception to academic policy must
fill out the Undergraduate Student Academic
Petition form, available in advising centers.
There are several academic requirements for
which exceptions are never made, even through
the academic petition process: the minimum
grade point average (2.00) to graduate, the
minimum number of semester hours (120) to
graduate; the minimum number of semesters
hours (45) earned at Radford University to graduate
(unless the student is graduating under the
provisions of an articulation agreement between
Radford University and a Virginia community
college in which the possibility of graduating
with fewer than 45 Radford University hours
is clearly stipulated); the number of class withdrawals
(5) a student may use; the number of repeats
(3) permitted; the number of earned credits
(60) at Radford needed to qualify for Latin
Honors.
In addition, no exceptions to the academic
suspension policy will be made for continuing
students. Finally, students who are dismissed
from the university for academic reasons may
not petition for readmission. (See “Terms of
Suspension,” p. 59.)
The college dean of the petitioning student
has the authority to approve or disapprove the
student’s request for an exception to academic
policy upon review of recommendations from
the student’s academic advisor, department chair
and instructor (as appropriate), and – if deemed
necessary – in consultation with the registrar.
The dean will submit the form to the Office of
the Registrar.