Rationale

All universities are concerned with the cultivation of specialized knowledge and the development of technical skills, and by introducing graduate and post-doctoral students to these disciplinary arts, they preserve, transmit and refine the current body of knowledge and lay claim to their definitions of academic excellence. While research contributing to the advancement of a particular form of intellectual inquiry marks the completion of traditional graduate plans, the end goal of the plan lies in the achievement of certain ways of thinking.

Achievement of graduate educational goals lies in development of analytical independence and conceptual self-consciousness; in the stimulation of creative imagination and critical abilities; in adoption of disciplined thinking and commitment to personal honesty, intellectual integrity, analytical consideration of competing claims, and respect for the contributions of others to a common intellectual enterprise. Creighton University has a reputation for developing people of high professional competence; our best graduates combine professional excellence with a healthy capacity to see technical problems in their larger contexts, and to combine imagination, intellect and action into forming a Christian wisdom that extends beyond mere convention.

Policy on Academic Honesty

In keeping with its mission, the University seeks to prepare its students to be knowledgeable, forthright, and honest. It expects and requires academic honesty from all members of the University community. Academic honesty includes adherence to guidelines established by the University, its Colleges and Schools and their faculties, its libraries, and the computer center.

“Academic or academic-related misconduct” includes, but is not limited to, unauthorized collaboration or use of external information during examinations; plagiarizing or representing another’s ideas as one’s own; furnishing false academic information to the university; falsely obtaining, distributing, using or receiving test materials; falsifying academic records; falsifying clinical reports or otherwise endangering the well-being of patients involved in the teaching process; misusing academic resources; defacing or tampering with library materials; obtaining or gaining unauthorized access to examinations or academic research material; soliciting or offering unauthorized academic information or materials; improperly altering or inducing another to improperly alter any academic record; or engaging in any conduct which is intended or reasonably likely to confer upon one’s self or another an unfair advantage or unfair benefit respecting an academic matter.

Further information regarding academic or academic-related misconduct, and disciplinary procedures and sanctions regarding such misconduct, may be obtained by consulting the current edition of the Creighton University Handbook for Students. However, students are advised that expulsion from the University is one of the sanctions which may be imposed for academic or academic-related misconduct.

The University reserves the right to modify, deviate from, or make exceptions to the foregoing or to the Handbook for Students at any time, and to apply any such modification, or make any such deviation or exception applicable to any student without regard to date of admission application or enrollment.

Required Documentation

All master's students completing a program under Plan A (thesis) and doctoral students are required to submit to the Graduate School the necessary forms to track their progress toward degree completion. These include a Plan of Study, Committee Evaluation, Progress Report, Advancement to Candidacy, Application for Final Oral Examination, and a Final Report on Candidate for Degree. These forms may be obtained from the graduate program director, or in the Student Resources section of a Blueline course.