Guidelines for Certificate Offerings at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth

There is a growing recognition that valuable knowledge and expertise can be imparted by the Faculty of the Geisel School of Medicine (Geisel) through educational offerings that do not lead to the bestowal of a degree. Participants in such offerings may receive certificates that attest to their exposure to and/or a level of competence in a given subject area.  The following guidelines are set forth to delineate:

  • Requirements/expectations for different certificate offerings
  • Approval processes (departmental, Geisel, Dartmouth)
  • Implications for faculty with respect to teaching and other professional obligations
  • Financial considerations (individual, programmatic, institutional)
  • Compliance with accreditation standards and potential integration with degree-granting programs

I. General Program Guidelines:

  • All educational offerings provided by Geisel faculty, non-faculty academics, and staff as part of their expected professional responsibilities across Dartmouth (e.g., if Geisel faculty were participating in certificate programs in Tuck) should be presented to the appropriate Geisel administration officials (e.g., Chairs, Dean) prior to implementation.
  • Some of these offerings may not warrant an association with Geisel/Dartmouth, but may nonetheless have merit (and thus participation acceptable). In all cases, the Chair and the Dean’s Office need to be apprised of participation in a certificate program related to the individual’s professional responsibilities;
  • The Geisel Dean’s Office will retain a list of certificate programs/offerings and how they meet categories/criteria enumerated above;
  • Any program that has an explicit association with Geisel/Dartmouth must be led by Geisel/Dartmouth faculty, although non-faculty at Geisel/Dartmouth and individuals from other institutions may participate.

II. Types of Certificate Offerings:

Certificate of Completion

  • Offerings/programs should have an identified goal/mission/area of study that is germane to the missions/goals of Geisel;
  • Offerings/programs must set out requirements for participation;
  • Expectation is that time commitment is at minimum 5 hours of contact time to warrant a certificate of completion;
  • Expectation that material is part of a single offering/course;
  • May be residential, online or a mix of residential/online;
  • Participants must attend/complete >75% of the meetings/assignments to receive a certificate;
  • No assessment of individual student competency is required to attain a certificate of completion;
  • DAB should be apprised of the overall scope/content (do not need to review specific material) and make a recommendation to the Dean that the certificate is appropriate for Geisel.

Certificate with Demonstrated Competence

  • Offerings/programs should have an identified goal/mission/area of study that is germane to the missions/goals of Geisel;
  • Offerings/programs must set out requirements for participation;
  • Expectation is that time commitment is at minimum 20 hours of contact time;
  • May include material presented in multiple courses;
  • May be residential, online or a mix of residential/online;
  • Participants must attend/complete >75% of the meetings/assignments to receive a certificate;
  • Assessment of individual student competency in establishing a baseline understanding of the material is required;
  • Participants must agree to the Dartmouth Honor Code; violation will result in suspension/expulsion from program.

III. Approval Process

  1. In all cases, both the Chair and the Dean must be apprised of any certificate program to which Geisel faculty/staff or trainees in Geisel-supported research programs contribute and must approve of the proposed program. The Chair/Center Director must also approve of participation of all participants as consistent with their professional and/or academic responsibilities.
  2. For offerings/programs that are provided with an association with Geisel/Dartmouth College, the following approval processes should be followed:
  • Certificate of Completion
    • Lead faculty member obtains approval by Chair for the activity;
    • Program offering/title must be reviewed by the Dean’s Academic Board (DAB) who will make a recommendation to the Dean;
    • Program offering/title must be approved by the Dean of Geisel (with notice provided to other deans, if applicable);
    • Provost must be apprised of the program offering/title with option to challenge if warranted
  • Certificate with Demonstrated Competence
    • Lead faculty member obtains approval by Chair for the activity;
    • Program offering/title must be reviewed by the Dean’s Academic Board (DAB) who will make a recommendation to the Dean;
    • Program offering/title must be approved by the Dean of Geisel (and other deans, if applicable);
    • Other school’s deans must be apprised of the program/offering;
    • Provost must approve of the program/offering.

IV. Teaching/Professional Obligations

  • All effort (faculty, non-faculty academics, staff) committed to any certificate program/offering must be consistent with employment compliance (i.e., individuals cannot be committed at >1.0 FTE on Dartmouth payroll);
  • Trainees (students/postdoctoral trainees) are not permitted to contribute (i.e., teach or lead any instructional component) of certificate programs unless they receive an explicit exemption by the Dean;
  • Participation by trainees must be voluntary:  no student or postdoctoral trainee may be required to participate in or provide support to a faculty member who is engaged in certificate program instruction. Moreover, participation by learners must be in accordance with the requirements of their degree-granting programs and/or extramural support mechanisms (e.g., training grants).
  • Effort committed to the development and/or participation in certificate programs shall not compromise the other standing professional obligations of faculty, non-faculty academics, staff (e.g., for faculty participation, cannot be at the expense of expected contributions in courses that are part of degree-granting programs);
  • Time commitments to a certificate program must be approved annually by the Chair and by the Dean of Faculty Affairs;
  • Certificate offerings/programs may be considered comparable to teaching in degree-granting programs with respect to meeting academic expectations and advancement (e.g., by APT Committee) upon review of the programmatic material and approval for such status by the Dean (her/his/their designee) and the DAB;
  • For individual faculty members who receive subvention greater than the 5% de minimis level (i.e., 25% or greater), contributions in certificate offerings/programs will be deemed acceptable in meeting expectations for teaching contributions only with approval of the Chair and the Dean (or designee).

V. Financial Considerations

  • All certificate programs subject to these guidelines shall be deemed Geisel/Dartmouth education programs, and accordingly, all associated revenues (tuition, fees, honoraria) shall be deposited in a (new) unique account at Geisel/Dartmouth;
  • Similarly, all expenses associated with the development and hosting and support of associated certificate programs shall be recorded in discreet accounts at Geisel/Dartmouth, so as to enable the comparative assessment of programmatic and financial performance for each certificate program;
  • Budgets for each certificate program, including compensation for faculty, non-faculty academic and staff commitment of effort shall be agreed upon with the Dean’s Office in advance of any commitments being made;
  • Gainsharing of net proceeds (direct revenues, less direct expenses) shall be discussed and considered and shall be agreed to between the Dean’s Office and the leadership of the Geisel departments/centers sponsoring in advance of each certificate program being launched.

VI. Accreditation and Interface with Degree-granting Programs

  • Upon approval of the relevant leadership of a degree-granting graduate program and the Guarini School of Graduate and Advanced Studies, individuals who participate in programs that provide Certificates with Demonstrated Competence may be able to have some or all of the components (courses) of that specific certificate program count towards the requirements of a degree-awarding graduate program;
  • Ability of participants to roll up certificate program courses to degree-granting program requirements must follow an assessment of competency (i.e., that those who took coursework through the certificate program have the expected level of competence in any given course area as do students in the degree-granting program);
  • Any agreement to allow certificate program offerings to meet requirements for degree-granting programs must be reviewed and approved by the relevant chairs, program leadership, deans (Geisel/Guarini) or their designees with respect to financial considerations and any gainsharing across degree-granting and certificate programs and their contributing faculties;
  • All certificate programs/offerings that are considered applicable to a degree-granting program must meet current requirements of the relevant accrediting body (e.g., CEPH, LCME, NECHE).

VI. Periodic Review

  • Any substantive revision of a certificate program (e.g., but not limited to, change in status from 'completion' to 'demonstrated competence'; >25% change in expected time commitment; major change in stated goal/focus of the program; major change in participating faculty/non-faculty academics or staff) must be approved according to processes set out above (III);
  • All certificate programs will be assessed annually by the Dean's Office (Executive Dean for Administration and Finance, Director of Finance, Dean of Faculty Affairs) to ascertain financial status of the program and to determine appropriate allocation of resources for meeting program goals;
  • All certificate programs will be expected to be reviewed by the Dean and the DAB (and Guarini, if relevant) at least every three years with respect to academic content and if programs continue to meet goals/missions of Geisel.