As final-semester students receive their graduation applications, the Faculty Senate is gearing up for an often overlooked aspect of its duties.

Students who graduate from Iowa State must not only complete all courses and requirements in their majors to earn degrees, but they must also have their graduation approved by the Faculty Senate.

“The faculty has the expertise. They understand what it takes to earn a degree,” said Jack Girton, past president of the Faculty Senate and associate professor of biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology.

Girton said the Faculty Senate has the authority to approve graduations because it is responsible for the curriculum, while administrators do not know exactly what it takes to earn a degree.

Steve Russell, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and member of the Faculty Senate, said he didn’t know approving graduations was a responsibility of the faculty until he became a member of the Faculty Senate.

“It is an unknown quirk that the Faculty Senate approves graduation,” Russell said.

The graduation process occurs throughout a student’s time at the university.

Advisers in each college work with students to help them meet their degree requirements. After those have been met, advisers send a degree audit to the registrar, Girton said.

Kathy Jones, registrar, said students must apply for graduation by the first Friday of the first week of classes of the term in which they wish to graduate.

The registrar reviews each students’ audit individually to make sure all rules and requirements have been met, Jones said.

“The registrar and each college work closely together,” Jones said.

If questions come up about a student’s graduation status, she said, advisers, students and the registrar look at the problems together.

The registrar runs a final degree audit that is electronically sent to the Faculty Senate.

Jones said all graduates must be recommended by faculty, ISU President Gregory Geoffroy and the Board of Regents.

Girton said the registrar usually sends out alerts to the students who haven’t met their requirements before the graduation list is sent to the Faculty Senate.

Girton said with the list being electronic, the registrar can change it within 10 minutes before it is sent to the Faculty Senate in cases where a student might not have passed a course that was required for him or her to graduate in their last semester.

“The entire senate votes formally to approve graduation lists,” Girton said.

He said it rarely happens, but, if there is a problem, any senator can challenge any graduation.

“The way our system works is that we judge graduations by passing grades,” Girton said.

The only way a senator can object to a graduation is if he or she finds an error, he said.

Girton said if a student’s record needs to be looked at more closely, that individual will be put on hold and the rest of the list can be approved.

If an objection involves an error in the list, the question is sent back to the registrar.

If there is a problem with a particular course, the question is sent back to the department, Girton said.