GRADUATE COUNCIL MINUTES

Friday, March 30, 2007-10:00 a.m.

325 Graff Main Hall

Members Present:    Vijendra Agarwal, Ashley Burrowes, Lauren Cikara, Peggy Denton, Tim Donahue, Gary Gilmore, Jonathan Majak, Kasi Periyasamy, S.N. Rajagopal, David Reineke, William Schwan, Steve Simpson, Teri Staloch

Consultants Present:   Chris Bakkum, Charles Martin-Stanley, Rob Tyser

Consultants Excused:  Lise Graham

Others Present:            Amelia Dittman

1.  The meeting was called to order at 10:01 am. by Bill Schwan

2.      A motion was made and seconded to approve the minutes for the March 2, 2007 meeting.  (11 yes, 0 no, 0 abstentions)

Motion carried

3.      Announcements

• Two new Graduate Council members, Ashley Burrowes (CBA) and Charles Martin–Stanley (CLS Consultant), were introduced.  Chris Bakkum position on the Graduate Council has changed; she now serves as the Interim Registrar (she had been the CLS consultant)
• The joint meeting of the Graduate Council and Graduate Program Directors will be April 6, 2007 at 9:30.  Chancellor Gow will join the meeting for the first half hour.  The Outstanding Graduate Research Presenter Awards will be presented to Adam Burrack and Mark Jakubek.  Other agenda items suggested by Graduate Council members included:
  • Hear from Graduate Program Directors about emerging and continuing issues
  • Cover the proposed changes to Graduate Faculty membership policy and criteria
  • David Reineke will speak for a few minutes about the Statistical Consulting Center
  • Repeating a grade policy
  • How can Grad Council better serve the needs of the Graduate Program Directors
  • Ask for input regarding the competitiveness of Grad Assistantships being offered
  • Request that a few of the Graduate Program Directors discuss what is working well in their program; what are their “bragging points” regarding marketing, academic/education, maintaining program quality, or other items of interest.
• Thesis and Academic Achievement Awards
  • Vijendra Agarwal thanked the Thesis Award Subcommittee (Tom Kuffel (representing the Foundation), David Reineke, Vijendra Agarwal, Jeff Steffen and Bernadette Taylor-Winfrey) for their work in selecting this year’s awardees.  A motion was made and seconded to approve the subcommittee’s choices of Jennifer Berling (Clinical Exercise Physiology) and Jonathan Palmer (Biology) as the 2007 Thesis Award recipients.  (13 yes, 0 no, 0 abstentions).

Motion carried.

• The Thesis Award Subcommittee suggested language that would offer specific guidelines for the evaluation process.  A motion was made and seconded to add the following language to the Thesis Award information:  “Evaluation Process:  Process will begin with averaging the rank order of each thesis, followed by discussion, and reranking if appropriate.”  (13 yes, 0 no, 0 abstentions)

Motion carried. 

• The names put forth from the colleges for the Academic Achievement Awards were Ben Garbers (Masters of Software Engineering), Julie Kinney (Reading), Rachel Morey (Master of Education in Professional Development), and Keith Wetzel (Biology)  A motion was made and seconded to approve the nominees selected by the colleges.  (13 yes, 0 no, 0 abstentions)

Motion carried

• Vijendra Agarwal thanked Lauren Cikara and Kasi Periyasamy for their hard work putting together the Graduate Studies portion of the Research and Creativity Celebration held March 23^rd.

4.  The Graduate Council received recommendations from the RSEL Grant Committee.

• The RSEL Grant Committee is Steve Simpson, Lauren Cikara, Gary Gilmore, and Teri Staloch. 
• A motion was made and seconded to approve the 6 applications that the Committee recommended to fully fund.  (13 yes, 0 no, 0 abstentions)

Motion carried.

• A motion was made and seconded to reject an application because the data collection was completed prior to the end of March.  The policy is to fund only work done after award notification.  (13 yes, 0 no, 0, abstentions)

Motion carried.

• A motion was made and seconded to approve funding for one student, less the cost of a flash drive ($30).  After discussion, the motion was amended to approve full funding.  (13 yes, 0 no, 0 abstentions)

Motion carried.

• A motion was made and seconded to fund one student for $50 more than was originally requested on the application.  The student had put estimated costs on the application, but was able to provide additional information to the grant committee during the review process.  (13 yes, 0 no, 0 abstentions)

Motion carried.

• A motion was made and seconded to fund $319 of a $1591 application.  Upon the request of additional information the proposal was changed from Service to Educational Leadership and additional details were provided; however, the goals of all 9 students were not stated, just those of the grant applicant.  So, the committee recommended funding just the grant writer.  (12 yes, 0 no, 1 abstention)

Motion carried.

• A motion was made and seconded to approve an application that involved oversees travel to attend a Bilingual program in Mexico.  While the committee feels that the application clearly falls within current Educational Leadership guidelines, the members questioned whether the RSEL dollars should be paying for tuition at other institutions.  (9 yes, 0 no, 1 abstention)

Motion carried.

• From this round of grant applications, the Graduate Council will be reviewing Educational Leadership requirements and checking with Jay Lokken in the Office of International Education to create guidelines for students requesting to travel abroad with RSEL funds.

5.  Professional Travel Grant Awards - March 16^th cycle

• A motion was made and seconded to approve funding for all applications per the Graduate Council Advisory Committee’s recommendation.  Concern was expressed regarding two applications that were submitted for travel back to La Crosse.  (6 yes, 0 no, 0 abstentions)

Motion carried.

• From this round of grant application, the Graduate Council will be reviewing the guidelines for Professional Travel funds to explore adding funding priorities or restrictions,

Motion carried.

6.      Discussion of Research and Creativity Celebration

·         A thank you to this year’s Graduate Presentation judges:  Lauren Cikara, Jeanne Danneker, Peggy Denton, Tim Donahue, Roger Haro, and S. N. Rajagopal.

·         Vijendra Agarwal discussed the limited participation of some programs.  As part of the RSEL grant review, a strengthening of the Celebration participation wording may be needed.

·         Two of the judges of the Graduate Presentations were concerned with some posters being of proposed work rather than final outcomes. 

Meeting adjourned:  11:08 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Chandra Hawkins

C:        Graduate Council Members

            Department Chairs

            Graduate Program Directors

            Faculty Senate

            Graduate Council File