Faculty Senate

Graduate Council Meeting Minutes

October 8, 2008

GBB 202, 12:10-1:00 p.m.

Members Present: L. Ametsbichler, R. Baker, R. Bolton, L. Frey, T. Herron, J. Hirstein,  K. Meusel, N. Moisey, M. Moore, G. Quintero, C. VonReichert C. Watson, C. Winkler

Members Absent/Excused:, G. Stanley, M. McGuirl

Ex-officio members Present: Associate Provost Brown

The meeting was called to order at 12:10 p.m.

The 9/24/08 minutes were amended and approved.

Communication:

• The following is a preliminary count of curriculum items received for review. Several subcommittees met last week for initial review.

There was a question regarding the distribution of proposals.  The Humanities Subcommittee is reviewing proposals from the Fine Arts, but the member from Drama/Dance is on the Professional Schools Subcommittee.  It seems odd.   The distribution guidelines were reorganized several years ago to more equitably distribute the work load.  If subcommittees feel they cannot adequately review curriculum items then they should ask for assistance from faculty in that area, or bring the issue to the Council for discussion.

It was also questioned whether 400 level courses should have prerequisites.  There is no policy that requires this.  For the most part the issue is discipline specific and courses should be reviewed on a case by case basis.

• A communication was sent yesterday to academic chairs soliciting nominations to the MIS Advisory Committee. Nominations thus far include:

Mike Mayer, History
Clem Work, Journalism
James Randel, Music
Jeff Greene, Political Science
David Moore or Louise Economides, English.

Paul Silverman, Psychology

Rafael Chacon, Art

            The Committee should be representative and include 6 or 7 faculty.

• The Council will not be reviewing proposals for research awards this fall because there is no money to grant awards.

Business Items:

• The following schedule was established for subcommittee consent agendas.

• The Physical Therapy program review document was reviewed and approved. The internal review was very thorough.
• The Council discussed the UG/ Dual listing issue. In the past dual listing was prohibited. However, there does not seem to be a current regential policy that addresses the issue. Chair Moisey is following-up with Registrar Micus.
  
  The larger issue is having enough resources for quality graduate education. Graduate students in UG courses are not exposed to analytical discussion. It is not clear that dual listing would address this issue. Students feel that the current system waters down their transcripts. Some departments use independent study to accommodate graduate students in undergraduate courses. Potential problems with dual listing include dual credit and faculty claims that they are teaching two different courses.
  
  Other than program review, there is no monitoring of the current UG system once the course has been approved. In dual listing each course would have the appropriate requirements for the level of the course rather than a graduate increment.
  
  If the Council decides that dual listing is a better approach to the issue, Associate Dean Brown will draft a policy and present it to the Provost for input.

Good and Welfare: None

The meeting was adjourned at 1:00 p.m.