GRADUATE COUNCIL

Minutes of the Meeting

April 4, 2003

The meeting was called to order at 1:30 p.m. by Dean Judith Walker de Félix. Members present were: Cody Ding, Ronald Dotzel, Sally Ebest , Alice Hall, Sandra Lindquist, George McCall, Carol Peck, Eduardo Silva, Shiying Zhao,. Members absent were: John Blake (leave of absence), Kathleen Brown, Yael Even, Tom Eyssell, Clinton Greene, Terry Jones, Zuleyma Tang-Martinez.

I. Minutes

Pending a minor correction on page 4, Dr. Silva moved and Dr. Peck seconded to approve the minutes of the March 21, 2003 meeting.

II. Nominations to the Graduate Faculty

The Division of Teaching and Learning requested Graduate Faculty status for Dr. James Wilson, E. Desmond Lee Endowed Professor of Experiential and Family Education and Affiliate Professor in Teaching and Learning. Dr. Silva moved and Dr. Ebest seconded that instead of appointing Dr. Wilson to the Graduate Faculty, Dr. Felix should give Dr. Wilson authority to teach for a period of five years. In the future, if the department wishes to use Dr. Wilson as an outside member on a dissertation committee, a request could be made to the Graduate Dean. Concil concurred.

III. Committee Reports

The committee reviewed the following course proposals and recommends their approval:

MidEd 314/4315 The Middle Level School (change prerequisite; description;

designation)

MidEd 316/4316 Middle Level Curriculum and Instruction (change description,

designation)

MidEd 317/4317 The Middle-Level Child (change prerequisite, designation)

I/D 314/3220 Science for the Middle School Teacher I (add)

I/D 315/3221 Science for the Middle School Teacher II (add)

Anth 315/4315 Senior Seminar in Anthropology (change prerequisite,

description)

Anth 316/4316 Senior Seminar Tutorial (add)

Bio 314/4802 Environmental Physiology (drop)

Bio 322/4823 Laboratory Techniques in Neuroscience (drop)

Bio 351/4501 Flowering Plant Families: Phylogeny and Diversification

(change prerequisite)

Bio 360/4784 Techniques in Electron Microscopy (drop)

Bio 361/4785 Advanced Laboratory for Electron Microscopy (drop)

Bio 362/3322 History of Natural History: Systematics, Ecology, and Natural

History in the Strict Sense (drop)

Bio 382/4302 Biogeography (drop)

Bio 383/4192 Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (drop)

Bio 390/4905 Research (change prerequisite, description)

Bio 414/6802 Advanced Environmental Physiology (drop)

Bio 453/6522 Evolution of Plant Development (drop)

Bio 462/5322 Advanced History of Natural History: Systematics, Ecology,

and Natural History in the Strict Sense (drop)

Bio 482/6302 Advanced Biogeography (drop)

Econ 365/4100 Introduction to Econometrics (change hours, description)

Econ 366/4110 Applied Econometrics (change hours, description)

Econ 367/4130 Econometric and Time Series Forecasting (change hours,

description)

Econ 466/5110 Topics in Applied Econometrics (add)

Math 320/4200 Mathematical Statistics I (drop)

Math 321/4210 Mathematical Statistics II (drop)

PS 340/3400 Organizational Politics (drop)

Council recommends approval of the following courses pending some modifications:

Bio 327/4614 Biotechnology Laboratory I (change prerequisite, description):

Committee has some suggested revision to wording of

description.

Bio 328/4615 Biotechnology Laboratory II (change description):

Committee has some suggested revision to wording of

description.

Bio 371/4712 Biochemistry (change description)

Course needs sign-off from the department of Chemistry.

Bio 483/6192 Applications of Geographic Information Systems (change

hours, prerequisite, description)

Course needs sign-offs from the departments of Education,

Political Science and Economics.

Dr. Ebest moved for the Council to approve the committee report. Council accepted and approved the report unanimously.

Program Development Committee – Eduardo Silva

The committee reviewed proposed changes to the Master of Science in Biology. The changes put into language the program offerings, strengthened requirements for admission to the program, and reduced the number of hours required for a non-thesis option to 30. Dr. Silva moved to accept the proposal pending editing the course numbering on page 3 to reflect the new course numbering. Council approved the motion.

IV. Dean’s Report

The Spring Graduate Faculty meeting will be held on Monday, April 14, 2003 at 3:00 p.m. in 126 J. C. Penney. The agenda will be e-mailed to all Graduate Faculty and posted on the Graduate School’s web site.

One main item of the agenda is the proposed changes to the Rules and Regulations. Dr. Joel Glassman believed there would be no effect on international admissions by changing the minimum TOEFL score to 550 from 500. Dr. Felix distributed a survey she would like to send to faculty about the proposed changes to the rules and regulations before the April 14 meeting. Other questions on the survey deal with assessment of our students, budgetary issues, how the Graduate School is doing, etc. Suggestions from Council were to give respondents a chance to skip over questions of which they have no knowledge. Question 14 deals with students who don’t have the traditional GTA/GRA appointments but have been allowed to get tuition remission and the graduate student insurance. These include Biology students hired through the Missouri Botanical Garden, Education students hired through Student Activities whose work relates to their degree program, and Psychology clerkships who are hired by outside agencies. Since more of these are coming into being, how should they be handled?

Dr. Felix mentioned that there are new trends. We currently help Preparing Future Faculty such as the programs run by Sally Ebest and Peggy Cohen. There is also another trend of re-envisioning the Ph.D. where we are expected to prepare doctoral students for working in the industry.

Council suggested that Dr. Felix provide the rationale for the proposed changes to the rules and regulations so it will be more comprehensible to the Graduate Faculty.

Dr. Peck mentioned that even after reading about the new GRE Writing score and how to evaluate it, she is still not comfortable in analyzing it. Dr. Felix agreed that a session on these types of issues with all Graduate Program Director and advisors would be beneficial. It was suggested that the intensive study days this semester might be an appropriate time to meet.

Graduate Study Information Fair. The Dean asked Council members to spread the word of the upcoming Fair on Monday evening, April 21 from 5-6:30 in the Millennium Student Center. Dr. Felix described the activities and asked Council to try to get faculty and students involved in participating. It was suggested that the Graduate Council e-mail the poster in .pdf and text version to all Council members and to departmental chairs.

Dr. Felix would like to take the procedures out of the rules and regulations and just leave the policies. Dr. Peck also mentioned that often the Bulletin and the Rules and Regulations don’t jive. If they procedures are taken out of the rules and regs, we need to make sure they are available to students. Currently, students are used to going to the Bulletin for their information.

Dr. Felix mentioned that she is writing a TA handbook.

There being no other business, the meeting adjourned at 2:43 pm.