Graduate Council Minutes

Friday February 15, 2008

325 Graff Main Hall

 

Members Present: VJ Agarwal, Ashley Burrows, Rob Dixon, Tim Donahue, Gary Gilmore, Tom Kuffel, Jonathan Majak, Kasi Periyasamy, S.N. Rajagopal, David Reineke, Bill Schwan, Michele Thorman


 

Members Excused: Ashley Olson

Consultants Present: Chris Bakkum, Lise Graham

Consultants Absent: Ray Abhold, Charles Martin-Stanley

 

  1. Meeting called to order at 10:02 am by Bill Schwan.
  2. Motion (Burrows/Majak) to approve the minutes of February 1, 2008. Passed 9-0-1.
  3. Announcements
    1. Chris Bakkum announced that the Repeat Grade Policy will be delayed in implementation due to the change to a new computer system.

                                                              i.      Concern expressed about the computer dictating the system

                                                           ii.      What happens to a student who is caught in this time frame? Allowed to repeat the class through an independent study. The new grade would not replace the old grade.

    1. Celebration of Student Research and Creativity is March 7. There will be a joint publication of graduate and undergraduate abstracts. Everyone is encouraged to attend the event.
    2. There is a new Enrollment Management group. One sub-committee of the group will focus on graduate students and be chaired by VJ Agarwal. The group consists of Kathie Kiefer, Jay Lokken, Teri Thill and the three academic Deans. An agenda from Feb 14th was distributed to Grad Council to provide a flavor for direction of the group.
    3. Professional travel needs of the students are increasing. Traditionally we received $3K; received $4.5K last year and requesting $6K for this year.
    4. Discussion of future meetings

                                                              i.      Cancelled Feb 22nd meeting for the two appeals in favor of Feb 26 @ 4 pm. This will allow the due process to proceed at the program and College levels. Need to look at the process at the College level because the letters for the students were not sent out until Jan 16. VJ Agarwal commented that responses to students at the College level needs to be quicker as it has resulted in being rushed at other levels to meet the Feb 29 deadline for the international students to appeal.

                                                           ii.      Motion (Dixon/Reineke) to cancel the March 7th meeting to allow everyone to attend the Celebration event. Passed (11-0-1)

    1. Introductions: Chris Bakkum introduced Mai Jong. She is a student in the Student Affairs Administration. She will observe Grad Council and will be available to assist the Registrar’s Office with graduate council requests.
  1. Committees for reviewing Grad Faculty folders. Bill Schwan appointed:
    1. CBA- Tom Kuffel and David Reineke
    2. CLS- Kasi Periyasamy and Rob Dixon
    3. SAH- S.N. Rajagopal and Ashley Burrows
  2. RSEL Committee. Bill Schwan appointed Tim Donahue, Gary Gilmore, Jonathan Majak and S.N. Rajagopal.
  3. Reviewed Draft Resolution Handout
    1. Anticipated presentation to Faculty Senate on March 6.
    2. Growth, Access and Quality has passed and should provide resources at the undergrad level. There is no provision to add funds to the graduate level.
    3. VJ Agarwal still needs to clarify the numbers for the differential tuition and segregated fees. He plans to meet with Sharon Radtke.
    4. Gary Gilmore supports the resolution, but suggested a title, “Resolution for Graduate Student Capacity Development.” No action taken
    5. Reminder that the Academic Initiative is administered by the Academic Initiative Oversight Committee. The Initiative funds four broad activities: academic advising center, research, multicultural/diversity and international studies. The inclusion of graduate students into this initiative was last minute.
    6. Some of the graduate students in the Student Affairs Administration have GA positions in the Advising Center to help with advising.
    7. Grad students have a line in the budget now, which is a step in the right direction. Members want control of the monies that are generated by graduate students rather than rely on the Oversight Committee.
    8. VJ Agarwal cautioned the members that we need to move forward and work within the parameters of the past decisions. We can not dwell on the past and expect changes to be made.
    9. Lise Graham brought to the attention of the Grad Council that there needs to be some further work to the document. Any further suggestions can be forwarded to VJ by Feb 29th.
  4. Discussion of the policy on providing “I’s” for classes. Generally these expire after a year, as long as the student is enrolled. For a thesis, the “I” can stay much longer. The Registrar’s office offered the option of a “PR” (in progress) for the thesis grade. There was a motion (Burrows/Donahue) to consider this at the next council meeting. Discussion points:
    1. Does two semesters = 1 year?
    2. The new computer system can not accommodate us, which raised concerns about who is in charge of the educational programming?
    3. Does the supervisor need to check to make sure some progress is being made in the semester to provide the PR grade?
    4. Consensus that anything to help program directors track and manage the GRC 799 would be welcome.
    5. What happens after 7 years to the PR grade?
    6. Question called: 11-0-0 to place on the next agenda.
  5. Meeting Adjourned 11:00 am.

 

Respectfully Submitted,

Rob Dixon

 

C:        Graduate Council Members

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