Administration

Administration and Accreditation

By legislative act, a nine-member Board of Regents, appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Texas Senate, governs Stephen F. Austin State University. Each member serves a six-year term with three new appointments every two years. Each year, the governor also appoints an SFA student as a non-voting member of the Board of Regents to serve a one-year term. This board elects all members of the administration, faculty and professional staff, and sets general policies for the university’s programs.

Stephen F. Austin State University is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, GA, 3033-4097: Telephone number 404-679-4504) to award degrees at the bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral levels. It also holds accreditation by and membership in the AACSB International - The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, Academy for Certification of Vision, Rehabilitation, and Education Professionals, the Alpha Chi National Scholarship Society, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, the American Dietetics Association, the Council on Academic Accreditation in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, the Association of Texas Colleges and Universities, the Association of Texas Graduate Schools, the Council of Southern Graduate Schools, Computing Accreditation Commission of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology Inc., the Council on Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs, the Council of Graduate Departments of Psychology, the Council on Rehabilitation Education, the Council on Social Work Education, the International Union of Forestry Research Organizations, the National Association for Education of Young Children, the National Association of Schools of Art and Design, the National Association of Schools of Music, the National Association for Sport and Physical Education, the National Collegiate Honors Council, the National Communication Association, the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, the Society of American Foresters, the Southwest Education Council for Journalism and Mass Communication, the Texas Association of Music Schools, the Texas Association of Schools of Art, the Texas Music Educator’s Association, the Texas Music Educators Conference, and the Texas Educational Theatre Association.

Graduate Council

The principal advisory body for graduate education at Stephen F. Austin State University is the Graduate Council, chaired by the dean of the Office of Research and Graduate Studies.

The Graduate Council shall consist of six elected and three appointed members of the graduate faculty. Each college shall elect one representative from the regular members of the graduate faculty in that college. Three members shall be appointed by the dean of Research and Graduate Studies, subject to the principle of proportionate representation from each college on the basis of regular members of the graduate faculty in the respective colleges, and subject further to the approval of the provost and vice president for academic affairs.

Both elected and appointed members of the council shall serve three-year terms. The terms shall be staggered in order to ensure that only one-third of the terms expire each year. Should there be over- representation of any one-term year, an adjustment will be made through the designation of two-year term elections. Should such an adjustment be necessary, the membership will be surveyed to identify those members whose term will be adjusted. Upon the expiration of a term, the council member is ineligible for re-election or reappointment for three years.

A vacancy on the council shall be filled by election or appointment, whichever is applicable to the position vacated. Should a vacancy occur at such a time when the unfilled portion of a member’s term is one academic year or less, the chair of the University Graduate Council may appoint a regular member of the graduate faculty from the appropriate college to fill the partial term. Under these circumstances, the person appointed to fill the partial term shall be eligible for re-election or reappointment.

The registrar, the director of libraries, a representative of the faculty senate and a graduate student shall be ex-officio, non-voting members of the council. Other ex-officio, non-voting members may be appointed to the council as determined by the dean of Research and Graduate Studies with the approval of the provost and vice president for academic affairs.