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Home » Programs » Course of Study School » Advanced Course of Study School

Advanced Course of Study School

The Purpose of Advanced Course of Study

The Advanced Course of Study is a curriculum which will enable a local pastor to meet the educational requirements for provisonal membership, full conference membership, and ordination as an elder in The United Methodist Church. It consists of 32 semester hours of graduate theological study of its equivalent as determined by GBHEM (see ¶ 324.6 of the 2008 Book of Discipline). Included in this curriculum must be United Methodist history, doctrine, and polity for a minimum of two semester hours in each field of study. There are other guidelines regarding advanced Course of Study, and it is important to seek this information from the Annual Conference and GBHEM, Section of Elders and Local Pastors.

Information from the 2008 Book of Discipline ¶ 324.6
Local Pastors may fulfill the requirements for provisional membership and commissioning when they have:

Policies and Procedures

2013 Application and Registration Forms and Costs

Registration Fees

  • Friday/Saturday Weekend Courses are $200 per course
  • Weekend Intensive Fees are based on housing, please consult the registration form for cost.
  • 2 Week Summer Session $300
  • 4 Week Summer Session $400

Late Fees - if your paper work is submitted after the deadline there is a $50 late fee penalty per course.

Course Fees - Each course has a $500 course fee in addition to the registration fees.

  • 1 Weekend/Summer Course = $500
  • 2 Summer Courses = $1000
  • 3 Summer Courses = $1500
  • 4 Summer Courses = $2000
  • 5 Summer Courses = $2500

2013 Course Offerings and Precourse Work

Summer School Meets July 8-19 and July 22-August 2

Fall Intensive:  September 6-8, 2013 - Registration Form for this session only.

Fall:  October 4-5, October 18-19, and November 8-9, 2013


Procedure for applying to the Advanced Course of Study via the Emory Course of Study Office

Once all materials are received and reviewed by the Academic Honor Committee, and if accepted you will be registered for courses you have requested. After a student is accepted into the program there is a general registration form that you will need to complete to register for future courses, you only have to complete the application process once. You will also be invoiced for any registration or course fees that are due, minus any annual conference scholarship funding.

Student Honor and Conduct Code

The Candler School of Theology Course of Study School is dedicated to training and educating men and women for professional competence in ministry.  All students enrolled in this program are expected to maintain highest academic integrity and to exhibit a spirit of shared trust and intellectual honesty with each other in the utmost possible expression of our shared values as the community of United Methodist Clergy. In addition, students will do their best to submit their finest level quality of work, including their grammar usage, spelling, and punctuation, in order to maintain the high standards necessary for college level work.

Student Academic Honor

Candler School of Theology Course of Study School requires that all material submitted by a student be his or her original work.  It is in direct violation of our moral and social ethical codes of honesty, integrity, and credibility as Christian ministers to:

Student Pastoral Integrity

Pastoral Integrity for theological students is defined by the standards of integrity common to all professions and is further specified by those virtues of character required by Christian ministry. To fail to practice these standards diminishes the character and credibility of all students. A person of Christian integrity acts in a way that matches the faith that we profess in words, displays the virtues of truth and fairness, exhibits a consistent Christian character, and takes responsibility for his or her actions, including:

Student Appeal Process

Our faculty is committed to evaluating all work fairly and in a timely manner.  In the event that there is a dispute about a grade, the student may submit an appeal to the Academic Honor Committee in which the teacher and the student will appear before the committee.  It will then be up to the committee to determine if the grade should be changed.

Cancellation, Attendance and Incomplete Policies

Cancellation Policy

In the event that you cannot attend classes as planned, you should contact the Course of Study School Office as soon as possible before the session begins for which you are registered. The registration fee is non-refundable and non-transferable. No credit hours will be earned for cancelled classes. Students must attend the entire two weeks of each course to complete the course and be eligible to receive credit during summer school or all weekend sessions during weekend school. Annual conferences will be charged the entire course fee for any student who begins a course, even if they do not complete the course. Annual conferences will not be charged for students who register and cancel prior to the start of the session.

Attendance Policy

Each student is expected to attend every class session. All absences require an emailed excuse to the COS Office and the faculty member. Students are responsible for the materials covered and make up work may be assigned at the discretion of the instructor. Unexcused absences may lead to loss of credit or dismissal from the school. A student who misses more than twenty (20%) percent of the classroom work shall not receive a grade for that class.

Incomplete Policy

An incomplete may be granted to students who, because of special circumstances, are not able to complete the required work during a given session. To receive an incomplete, the student must submit the appropriate form (available from the COS office) and receive written permission from both the faculty member and the assistant director of the Emory COS School before the end of the session for which the incomplete is being requested. The completed work must be sent to and received by the instructor no later than 30 days after the last class. The instructor will send the grade and completed work to the assistant director. If the work is not received within 30 days of the last class session, the incomplete will automatically be changed to an "F".

Transcript Requests

The academic records of all Course of Study Schools are kept by the Director under the guidelines developed by the Division of Elders and Local Pastors and the General Council of Finance and Administration. A report of the progress of each student shall be sent to the Division of Elders and Local Pastors, where grades will be recorded on the student's permanent record. Copies of this permanent record will be sent to the Boards of Ordained Ministry by the Division of Elders and Local Pastors. Grade reports will also be sent to the appropriate Annual Conferences and to the students by the COS School. If you need a transcript of all your academic work, you will need to contact the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry at 615.340.7416 or email cosregistrar@gbhem.org. 

Guidelines for Written Assignments

Directions to Email Precourse Assignments

Please read all the directions below before emailing your assignments to the COS Office, any emails received that do not follow the directions below will not be accepted. You will receive an email confirmation of receipt and if your email is not submitted correctly an email indicating you will need to resend your assignments. 

Plagiarism Policy
I have read the plagiarism definition below and verify that this assignment represents my own work, except where credit is given.  I have also made copies of this assignment and I will bring them with me to class in the event that any of my work is misplaced.
 

Plagiarism Defined
“You plagiarize when, intentionally or not, you use someone’s words or ideas but fail to credit that person.  You plagiarize even when you do credit the author but use his exact words without so indicating with quotation marks or block indentation.  You also plagiarize when you use words so close to those in your source, that if your work were placed next to the source, it would be obvious that you could not have written what you did without the source at your elbow.  When accused of plagiarism, some writers claim I must have somehow memorized the passage.  When I wrote it, I certainly thought it was my own.  That excuse convinces very few.” From page 167 of The Craft of Research by Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams, published in 1995 by The University of Chicago Press in Chicago.

Grading Policy

Grades reflect a professor’s evaluation of the quality and comprehension of a student’s work in a course. Grades give feedback to the student and to the organizations to which the student and professor are accountable.

Faculty members have the freedom to design assignments in a variety of ways in order to better “capture” an understanding of a student’s growing competence. Faculty members also have the freedom to assign numerical scales in line with the type of assignment (such as an exam) and desired outcomes of the course.

Course of Study grades are reported to the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry, to the student’s conference local pastor registrar, and to the student. They are used by conferences, in combination with other factors, to determine “appointability” of a local pastor. The annual conferences in the Southeast Jurisdiction require a grade of “C” (meaning they do not accept a “C-“) toward the completion of the Course of Study. If a COS student decides to attend Candler School of Theology, up to nine credits worth of courses in which a student has made a B or higher, are transferable as elective credit (although assigned an “S” rather than transferring the grade).

Assignments to be graded are designed to lead students toward the comprehension and accomplishment of specific outcomes. The General Board of Higher Education and Ministry establishes these outcomes for each course in the Course of Study.

After final grades are posts students who wish to appeal a final grade may do so but should contact the COS Office directly and requesting for the formal view of the grade by the Academic Honor Committee.

Grade

A

B

C

D

F

Comprehension

Superior

High

Good

Evidence of exposure

Gives no evidence of exposure or understanding material

Ability to Interpret Material

Consistently excellent and creative; superior ability to interpret material

Good, but less evidence of ability to interpret

Mix of strengths and weaknesses; moderate level of analysis and interpretation

Inability to interpret material

Incomprehensible

Written and Oral Assignments

Strong and interesting; able to interpret theses and points of view of others in his or her own words.

Interesting, exhibiting a high level of analysis and interpretation; theses are predictable or too broad; may not be fully supported

Theses are too obvious or vague; introductions, conclusions are not very effective; grammar, word choice, and spelling errors present.

Has not followed directions or has failed to present what has been asked for. Unclear or lacking thesis, arguments, and/or evidence. Extremely "quote dependent"

Unreadable, unrecognizable or missing. Evidence of Plagiarism

Grammar, Spelling

Clear, without errors in grammar, spelling, and diction

Clear, without errors in grammar, spelling, and diction

Contains some errors in grammar, word choice, and spelling

Contains many errors in grammar, word choice, and spelling

Indecipherable

Class Participation

Contributes significantly and appropriately to growth and learning of whole class

Contributes somewhat to the growth and learning of the whole class

Speaks up in class occasionally, but contributes little to growth and learning of the class

Student is present but does not participate

Inappropriate, incomprehensible, or absent

 

Violations of Academic Honor Code

Instances involving an alleged violation of academic honor (including plagiarism) should be reported to the COS assistant director, who will conduct a preliminary investigation of the alleged violation. The assistant director will decide if the case has sufficient merit for a possible honor code violation, whether the case should be resolved using the informal process, or if the case is of sufficient gravity to proceed directly to the formal process. 

Informal Process
The assistant director, associate dean of Methodist Studies, faculty involved, and whomever the assistant director deems appropriate will review the facts of the offense. In the case of a first offense, they may recommend any of the following penalties depending on the severity of the offense:
warning

Formal Process
The case will be heard by Academic Honor Code Committee comprised of the following: assistant director of Course of Study, associate dean of Methodist Studies, three faculty members, and one person not directly connected to COS. The assistant director will be a nonvoting member of the committee. The associate dean of Methodist Studies will serve as the chair of this committee. After thorough review of the case, a majority vote of the committee will suffice for a finding of guilt. If the person is found guilty, the committee may decide one or more of the following actions or such other action as the committee deems appropriate:
warning

If the student is guilty of a prior offense, the penalty will be much more severe and will result in one or a combination of:
a grade of F for the course

Upon review of the committee’s recommendations, the assistant director and associate dean will notify the student of the committee’s decision. For both the informal and form process and for each offense, a letter will be sent to the student’s District Superintendent and Board of Ministry Representative alerting them to the Academic Honor Code violation.

Appeal
A student who wishes to appeal the decision of the committee must make such a request in writing to the associate dean of Methodist Studies. The appeal must be made within ten days of the assistant director and associate dean‘s notification to the student. In the letter to the associate dean, the student must indicate the reasons for the appeal and supply any relevant documents supporting the appeal.
After reviewing the request for appeal, the associate dean may deny the request for an appeal, may render a new decision in the case, or may increase or decrease the severity of the action taken. The associate dean will render a final decision on the appeal and inform the student of his or her decision.

Student Conduct Violations
Student conduct violations consist of but are not limited to the following actions:

Procedures for Student Conduct Code Violations

Alleged breaches in non-academic student conduct should be reported to the assistant director of the Course of Study School, who will conduct a preliminary investigation. The assistant director may then appoint an ad hoc committee consisting of faculty and students and chaired by the associate dean of Methodist Studies. If such a committee is appointed, the chairperson will inform the accused person in writing of the charges against him/her, the name(s) of those who reported the charges, and the date, time, and place of the hearing on these charges. The accused will be allowed a reasonable time to prepare a defense and will be granted the privilege of an adviser to be chosen by the student from the Course of Study faculty. The adviser shall assist the student in the process.
In all hearings, the accused will have the right to be present at all times during the hearing except when the committee retires to deliberate and makes its decision. Evidence shall be admitted without regard to the rules of evidence in courts of law. The accused student may present evidence to the committee. After thorough review of the case, the committee will decide whether the accused is guilty or not guilty of the charges. A majority vote of the committee will suffice for a finding of guilt. If the person is found guilty, the committee may recommend one or more of the following actions or such other action as the committee deems appropriate:

Upon review of the committee’s recommendations, the associate dean will take such action as may be deemed appropriate, will notify the student of such action, and may notify University authorities of that action.

Appeal of Decisions Regarding Conduct Violations
A student who wishes to appeal the decision of the ad hoc committee must make such a request in writing to the associate dean of Methodist Studies. The appeal must be made within ten days of the associate dean’s notification to the student. In the letter to the associate dean of the school, the student must indicate the reasons for the appeal and supply any relevant documents supporting the appeal. 
After reviewing the request for appeal, the associate dean of the school may deny the request for an appeal, may render a new decision in the case, or may increase or decrease the severity of the action taken. The associate dean of the school will render a final decision on the appeal and inform the student of his or her decision.

Emory University Discrimination Policy

Emory University is dedicated to providing equal opportunities to all individuals regardless of race, color, religion, ethnic or national origin, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, veteran’s status, or any factor that is a prohibited consideration under applicable law. Emory University does not discriminate in admissions, educational programs, or employment on the basis of any factor outlined above or prohibited under applicable law. Students, faculty, and staff are assured of participation in University programs and in the use of facilities without such discrimination.
Emory University complies with all applicable equal employment opportunity laws and regulations, and follows the principles outlined above in all aspects of employment including recruitment, hiring, promotions, transfers, discipline, terminations, wage and salary administration, benefits, and training.
For issues or questions regarding Emory’s non-discrimination policy, contact the Office of Equal Opportunity Programs, 201 Dowman Drive, Administration Bldg., Suite 305, Atlanta, GA 30322-4250; phone: 404.727.9867; web: http://www.eop.emory.edu/index.html 
 

Sexual Harassment Policy
Students, faculty and employees of the Course of Study come under the jurisdiction of their own annual conference policies on sexual harassment. However, while the person is at the Course of Study School the following policy shall also apply.
The Course of Study School is committed by Christian faith to justice for all persons and does not tolerate any behavior, verbal or physical, by any person associated with the school, which constitutes sexual harassment against any other person associated with the school. Any person of the Course of Study School community who believes that he or she has been subjected to sexual harassment should immediately report the situation to the assistant director of the Course of Study School. When reporting a complaint, the individual should be prepared to furnish accurate information (i.e., date, name and facts). All such complaints will be treated in a confidential manner to the extent feasible, while permitting the school to investigate the complaint thoroughly and to take appropriate action.
The school expects the cooperation of all members of the school community with respect to avoiding such harassment.
The school will investigate all complaints. If it is determined after an investigation, that a member of the school community has violated this policy, he or she will be subject to appropriate disciplinary action up to and including suspension or termination from the school. In addition, a full report will be made to that person’s annual conference or judicatory body.

Definition of sexual harassment:
Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitute sexual harassment when:

Racial Harassment Policy
Persons enrolled in the Course of Study come under the jurisdiction of their own annual conference policies on racial harassment. However, while the person is in the Course of Study School the following policy shall also apply.
The Course of Study School is committed by Christian faith for justice for all persons and does not tolerate any behavior, verbal or physical, by any person associated with the school, which constitutes racial harassment against any other person associated with the school. Any person of the Course of Study School community who believes that he or she has been subjected to racial harassment should immediately report the situation to the Director of the Course of Study School. When reporting a complaint, the individual should be prepared to furnish accurate information (i.e., date, name and facts). All such complaints will be treated in a confidential manner to the extent feasible, while permitting the school to investigate the complaint thoroughly and to take appropriate action.
The school expects the cooperation of all members of the school community with respect to avoiding such harassment.
The school will investigate all complaints. If it is determined after an investigation that a member of the school community has violated this policy, he or she will be subject to appropriate disciplinary action up to an including suspension or termination from the school. In addition, a full report will be made to that person’s annual conference or judicatory body.

Definition of Racial Harassment
Any conduct directed against a person with the effect of insulting, degrading or abusing him/her because of his/her racial background.

Procedures
The Course of Study School is committed to using the process outlined below to deal with allegations of sexual and racial harassment within the school community. A sexual or racial harassment allegation may be resolved on an informal basis. Any member of the school community who wishes to make a formal complaint must submit a written description of the incident to the Director.
Allegations are thoroughly investigated by a Sexual or Racial Harassment Committee composed of the Director and two members of the faculty. The investigation shall include a meeting with the person alleged to have engaged in the harassment. The accused and/or the complainant may bring a trusted colleague (other than an attorney), committed to maintaining confidentiality, with him/her to such a meeting.
If the Sexual or Racial Harassment Committee decides inappropriate behavior has occurred, after completing the investigation, the Director takes appropriate disciplinary and/or other action related to the accused person’s participation in the Course of Study School on that campus. In addition, the Director will inform the accused person’s annual conference or judicatory body of the action taken.
The Course of Study School takes steps to ensure that a person against whom such a complaint is brought is treated appropriately and has adequate opportunity to respond to such accusations.
The complainant and the person complained against are notified of the disposition of the complaint. If the disposition involves any ongoing process the Director keeps the complainant informed until the process is complete.

Appeal Process
If the accuser or the accused is not satisfied with the action taken by the Course of Study School, s/he may express such dissatisfaction, in writing to the Director of Board of Ordained Ministry Relations, Division of Ordained Ministry, General Board of Higher Education and Ministry, within 15 days after receiving notification of the disposition of the complaint.

Confidentiality
Every effort will be made to ensure confidentiality to the extent feasible, while permitting the school to investigate the complaint thoroughly and to take appropriate action. The school will not tolerate retaliation against any member of the school community who complains of sexual or racial harassment.

Explanatory Notes
If the person alleged to have engaged in sexual or racial harassment is the Director, then the person bringing the complaint shall notify one or two faculty members who serve on the Sexual or Racial Harassment Committee. The two faculty members shall ask the president of the seminary at the host school to appoint an administrative officer to serve as chairperson of the Sexual or Racial Harassment Committee and to function as the Director in the process outlined above.