College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences Catalog 2016

53 friends and colleagues. We strive to recruit a diverse student body, in terms of age, experience, sexual orientation, race, class, culture, gender, and national origin. We are transparent about our values and what we offer, providing all prospective students with a statement of our core diversity/inclusion values, and publicizing both our licensure exam pass rates and our postgraduate employment statistics. Retention Policy As noted in the Ph.D. in MFT Educational Outcomes, the NSU Ph.D. in the MFT program demonstrates a commitment to diversity and inclusion, and prepares students for the clinical practice of family therapy, maintaining a high level of graduation and postgraduate success in the field. Our retention policy balances our commitment to the best outcome for individual students, with the need to maintain a positive reputation for our graduates to ensure success in the field. The Program Director attends closely to the progress of individual students during the entire program as evidenced in the Annual Review (Preliminary Review). Most of our attrition occurs during this first semester, when students are not able to succeed academically or have underestimated the commitment required for a graduate program. In this event, the Program Director meets with the student and the faculty teaching the student that semester. Every effort is made to work towards a mutually agreeable outcome. The Program Director is notified if a student earns a “C” in any course and a letter is sent to the student advising her/him that students are required to repeat a course in which a second “C” is earned. Additionally, students may be asked to take additional internal practicums above and beyond the minimum requirement. The Program Director and the faculty work with individual students to maintain their progress towards graduation. If at any time, however, it becomes clear that a student is interpersonally, ethically, or academically unqualified for the practice of marriage and family therapy, the Program Director will schedule an appointment with that student and the possibility for a remediation plan will be discussed along with the possibility of dismissal from the program. Our goal is a high level of retention, but balanced at all times with the need to maintain the integrity of the program and the profession. Grievances/Student Complaints See the section in this catalog on Student Appeals. Governance of the Program The Ph.D. Program in Family Therapy employs a Program Director who is academically, professionally and experientially qualified and is vested with the authority necessary to accomplish the educational outcomes of the program. The program values highly input from its communities of interest which include both faculty and students. Faculty participate in the governance of the program through their involvement in teaching and supervising students as well as through faculty meetings, faculty retreats, committee participation, and various other evaluative mechanisms. Faculty are encouraged to offer feedback regarding the program throughout the year. Students are involved in the governance of the program through the feedback they provide via the course evaluations, Annual Reviews, Student Government Association (SGA), Doctoral Seminars, Doctoral Town Hall meetings, and various other evaluative mechanisms. Faculty and students are also represented on the Advisory Board as well as the Ph.D. Curriculum Committee. Feedback from all communities of interest is collected and reviewed at faculty meetings for possible program changes and improvement. Any major changes to the program, such as curricular changes, are proposed to and approved by the faculty, then the department chair, then the Dean, then the institution and accrediting bodies. Any changes to the program are communicated with students via the list serve.