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Administrative Structure

Chairperson

The Chairperson is an individual responsible for governance of the IGG. The IGG Chair oversees all committees of the IGG and selects Course Directors for all courses. The Chair convenes meetings of the Executive Committee and sets the agenda for these meetings. The Chair sets the agenda and presides over biannual Faculty Meetings.

In addition to these responsibilities, the Chair also:

  • Supervises day-to-day operations of the group
  • Serves on all IGG Committees
  • Attends to the funding of all IGG students
  • Helps training grant principal investigators identify students appropriate for their training programs
  • Serves on the Biomedical Graduate Studies Advisory Committee
  • Meets with students on a regular basis
  • Oversees the graduate group coordinator
  • Tracks the progress of the students and maintains student files
  • Oversees the faculty composition of the group
  • Approves rotation and thesis laboratories and assures regular thesis committee meetings
  • Provides final approval for theses
  • Prepares the resource document for review of the group.

The Chair serves a three-year renewable term. In the spring semester of the third year of a term, the Personnel Committee requests nominations for the Chair and then contacts the nominees to determine if they would agree to serve. Nominations must be senior level (Associate or Full Professor) and members of the Standing Faculty of the University. The Chair is expected to be experienced in training doctoral-level students.

Executive Committee

The Executive Committee is an advisory committee to the Chair. It is composed of the IGG Chair and at least five other senior members of the IGG. The membership will represent the concerns of Student Affairs, Curriculum, and Admissions Committees in addition to the primary training grants supporting students in the Program. The Executive Committee’s responsibilities are to maintain integration of the various graduate group programs and to review significant changes in policy, direction, or intent as recommended by other Committees or members prior to final approval by the membership at large. The Executive Committee will decide on the advancement to candidacy for each student in the Program. For this reason, the membership should always broadly represent each aspect of the students’ training program. The Chair of the Executive Committee is always the IGG Chair.

Admissions Committee

The primary duties of the Admissions Committee include:

  1. Reviewing applications to the Program
  2. Selecting applicants to interview
  3. Interviewing students
  4. Organizing recruitment efforts
  5. Ranking applicants and submitting lists to the BGS Admissions Committee.

The Chair of the Admissions Committee will sit on the BGS Admissions Committee and represent the IGG. The Chair will also be a member of the IGG Executive Committee.

Student Affairs Committee

The Student Affairs Committee reviews the progress of all 1st and 2nd year students. This Committee and administers the First and Second Phase Oral Examinations. The Chair of the Student Affairs Committee sits on the IGG Executive Committee.

Curriculum Committee

The Curriculum Committee reviews the existing curriculum and evaluates how the students’ needs are met by the available courses. Modifications to the existing curriculum are initiated by this Committee and approved by the Executive Committee and then by the membership of the IGG. At least one IGG student will serve on this Committee.

The Chair of this committee prepares the agenda and runs committee meetings, attends BGS Curriculum Committee meetings, and sits on the IGG Executive Committee.

Career Development Committee

The Career Development Committee engages students to ensure that their career needs are being met. With the help of the IGG faculty, this committee will assist students in taking advantage of existing opportunities and devising new ones.

Retreat Committee

The Retreat Committee coordinates the Annual IGG Weekend Retreat. Members of this committee are responsible for inviting a guest speaker to discuss his/her work. The co-chairs of this committee also organize chalk talks and poster presentations given by the Graduate Group students and faculty members.