Graduate Students enrolled in the Graduate Program in Oral Medicine are expected to adhere to the Codes of Conduct of the University and the School of Dentistry and to maintain an overall GPA of 3.0 (individual course grades >2.7). In addition, they are expected to adhere to the Department of Oral Medicine requirements expressed in the Oral Medicine Graduate Program Manual. Oral Medicine Graduate Students are also expected to behave professionally, ethically and to make satisfactory progress in the curriculum as determined by their performance in formal coursework, seminars and clinics. The Program Director will determine if a student is out of compliance with any of these requirements at least biannually after consulting with the faculty. Depending on the offense, the student may be placed on probation and will be informed of what the probation will involve. If the student does not satisfactorily complete the probation, the Program Director may dismiss the student. In more serious violations, the Program Director may immediately dismiss the student from the Program.
Students have the right to Due Process regarding these and other program related decisions described below.
Counseling and Advising
The Program Director has an open door policy and is regularly available to meet with students to discuss individual needs. Students are encouraged to present questions, concerns, or complaints at any time. In addition, the Program Director regularly solicits feedback from graduate students on various aspects of the program with the goal of continual improving clinical and didactic experiences.
Student progress is reviewed by graduate faculty on a biannual basis. The program director meets individually with each student biannually to discuss the results of quarterly evaluations and offer recommendations regarding student progress.
Thesis projects take place under the guidance of graduate supervisory committee. Supervisory Committees are finalized at the discretion of the OM faculty after thesis proposals have been approved. The committee is chaired by the student’s Research Mentor. Quarterly meetings of these committees, called by the Graduate Student, are mandatory. Students are encouraged to arrange additional meetings with their Research Mentor or their entire committee when necessary.
Complaint Policy
The program director has an open-door policy and is regularly available to meet with students to discuss individual needs. Students are encouraged to present questions, concerns, or complaints at any time. In addition, the program director regularly solicits feedback from graduate students on various aspects of the program with the goal of continually improving clinical and didactic experiences. Concerns can also be brought to the attention of the chief resident, program director, program administrative assistant or the chair of the department.
Residents have the right to file formal complaints with the Program, the Dean’s office as well as directly with the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA).
The Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA) requires that each program provide all residents with an annual reminder that you have the right to submit complaints about the program directly do the commission. Information for submitting formal complaints to CODA is included below:
The Commission on Dental Accreditation will review complaints that relate to a program’s compliance with the accreditation standards. The Commission is interested in the sustained quality and continued improvement of dental and dental-related education programs but does not intervene on behalf of individuals or act as a court of appeal for treatment received by patients or individuals in matters of admission, appointment, promotion or dismissal of faculty, staff or students.
A copy of the appropriate accreditation standards and/or the Commission’s policy and procedure for submission of complaints may be obtained by contacting the Commission at 211 East Chicago Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611-2678 or by calling 1-800-621-8099 extension 4653.
The accredited program must retain in its files information to document compliance with this policy so that it is available for review during the Commission’s on-site reviews of the program.
Please visit the CODA website for more details.
Due Process
The oral medicine graduate program follows Policy 3.8 Academic Grievance Procedures established by the University of Washington Graduate School.
The department of Oral Medicine will use the following procedure for grievances:
Policy 3.8: Academic Grievance Procedure
The academic grievance procedure for graduate students, intended to ensure uniform and fair application of program, department, unit, or university-level academic policy, adheres to the principle of unit-level determination and University guidelines outlined in Executive Order 58 for undergraduate and professional students, except as specified below. The “units” for this policy refer to schools, colleges, or campuses.
3.8.1 Application
Graduate students who believe they have been subjected to unfair treatment in the administration of academic policies must follow the grievance procedure established within their school, college, or campus.
Note that the following areas have their own procedures and policies:
- Students contesting individual grades or academic evaluations should refer to the Change of Grade Procedure contained in the Scholastic Regulations, Chapter 110, Section 2.
- Students who believe they have been discriminated against on the basis of race, religion, color, creed, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, or status as a disabled veteran or veteran should refer to the Resolution of Complaints Against University Employees Procedure contained in University of Washington Administrative Policy Statement 46.3.
- Student disciplinary proceedings for misconduct, including plagiarism and cheating, fall under the provisions of the Student Conduct Code contained in the Student Policies Chapter 209 and Chapter 478-120 WAC.
3.8.2 School-, college-, or campus-level grievance procedures
Each school, college or campus will develop and implement an academic grievance procedure for graduate students that adheres to the general provisions described in Executive Order 58 as well as the specifics in Sections 2A, 2B, and 2C.
- EO58 – 2A: “An informal conciliation stage, where assistance will be provided to the student by the appropriate departmental personnel, or when requested, through the Office of the University Ombud.” This stage may include, but does not require, assistance from the Graduate School when requested by the student. If the grievance is not resolved in the conciliation stage, and once a particular policy (or policies) has been identified as potentially unfairly applied, the grievance procedure may move to the next stage.
- EO58 – 2B: “The appointment of a college or school Student Academic Grievance Committee, composed of both faculty and students.”
- EO58 – 2C: “The establishment of hearing procedures, under which the Grievance Committee will proceed to arrive at advisory recommendations for submission to the dean.” Here, the “dean” refers to the dean of the academic school or college.
- EO 58, – 2D (appeals) will be administered by Dean of the Graduate School as described in Graduate School policy section 3.8.3 below.
3.8.3 Appeal on grounds of procedural uniformity
Within 15 business days of the conclusion of the school or college-level grievance procedure, a graduate student may file an appeal with the dean of The Graduate School alleging a lack of procedural uniformity in the unit’s application of their grievance procedure. The complaint must be initiated by a written statement that indicates the exact nature of the non-uniformity including the date(s) the action(s) occurred; the deviation of the grievance procedure from the unit’s documented procedure, EO 58, or from other applications of grievance procedure within the unit; and the relief requested. The statement should also include a description of the results of the unit-level procedure, as well as any background information that the student deems pertinent to the complaint.
Graduate School Associate Deans or Directors will review the appeal, consult with the unit and allow a written response, and recommend to the Graduate School Dean whether further action is warranted. Evaluation criteria will be whether the unit-level grievance procedure is clearly articulated and available to all students, as well as whether it was uniformly applied in the student’s case. The Dean of the Graduate School or their designee will notify the student and academic unit leader within 15 business days during an academic quarter of submission of the formal complaint by the student of their determination and any recommended remediation.