Johns Hopkins University. Graduate Board.

The Graduate Board first appeared in February 1962, replacing the Group Council, which had itself replaced the Board of University Studies during the 1950-1951 Academic year. The primary purpose of this board was two-fold. Like the Group Council and earlier Board, it was to oversee the processing of all M.A. and Ph. D. candidates by determining requirements for M.A. and Ph. D. degrees (involving, largely residence and languagerequirements), accepting or rejecting candidates for degrees, accepting or rejecting referee reports on dissertations and essays, overseeing the oral examination process, and recommending for a degree all those who completed the requirements. But it was also, for the first time at Hopkins, specifically endowed with the authority to control the right of "new" departments to offer the Ph. D. within their programs, thus ending the seemingly ad-hoc and unorganized practices of earlier years. Departments were required to present proposals to the Graduate Board which would approve or disapprove the new degree program and then pass their recommendations to the Academic Council. From the outset the Graduate Board has included faculty members from the Faculty of Philosophy and the School of Engineering Science (merging into the School of Arts and Sciences), the School of Medicine, the School of Public Health and Hygiene, and the School for Advanced International Studies. Meeting were held in March, May, and November of each year, until the March meeting was abolished in 1986.