Records Retention Policy

Communication Sciences & Disorders

Administrator of Departmental Records: 
Joyce Pride
Email: jmpride@olemiss.edu
Phone: 662-915-7652

The Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders (CSD) is the official repository for documents shown below. The department is responsible for retaining the official copy of a record and serves as the department responsible for the development, maintenance, retention and destruction of records. Records are retained as specified by UM, IHL, State, Federal or outside entity guidelines. Departmental records are retained at the discretion of the department but are encouraged to follow the guidelines outlined in order to reduce labor and save space.
Policy related to students graduating with a bachelor’s degree in CSD:
Paper copies of the undergraduate academic files (academic record, advising record and verified summary of clinical observation hours) will be retained for five years after the student graduates or officially or unofficially withdraws from the program.
Verified summary of undergraduate clinical observation clock hours will be maintained until 2023, in electronic format with encryption, for students who graduate within the period of 2008 to 2018.
Students graduating with a bachelor’s degree after May 2019 will be responsible for maintaining a paper and/or electronic copy of the verified summary of their undergraduate clinical observation clock hours and any other pertinent records. The department will not be responsible for maintaining these records and students will be requested to sign a statement attesting to this fact.
Policy related to students graduating with the master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology:
Paper copies of the graduate academic and clinic files containing following records will be retained for 10 years after the student graduates or officially or unofficially withdraws from the program.

• A verified summary of a minimum of 25 observation hours in CSD.
• Undergraduate or graduate transcripts showing successful completion of course work in biological sciences, physical sciences, statistics and social/behavioral sciences.
• The latest verified summary record of supervised graduate clinical practicum.
• A record of successful completion of the comprehensive examination or master’s thesis if applicable.

Policy related to clinic records:
Patient records will be retained for up to 10 years in paper format.
Record Security:
All electronic records will be maintained in an encrypted format on a secure drive.  All electronic and paper records will be maintained in a locked cabinet in the Administrative Coordinator’s office or the designated secured file room within the CSD department.
Disposal of Records:
At the end of the retention period, all paper records will be shredded.  Data stored in an electronic format will be overwritten using approved software.