GRADUATE COUNCIL

Minutes of the Meeting

December 13, 2002

Dean Felix called the meeting to order at 1:30 p.m. Members in attendance were: John Blake, Kathleen Brown, Sally Ebest, Tom Eyssell, Clinton Greene, Alice Hall, Sandra Lindquist, George McCall, Zuleyma Tang-Martinez, Eduardo Silva, Shiyang Zhao. Excused absences: Cody Ding, Yael Even, Carol Peck. Absent: Ron Dotzel, Terry Jones.

I. Minutes

The minutes were approved pending a change in the chair’s name of the Program Development Committee to Eduardo Silva and adding a line for the beginning of the Rules and Regulations Committee report.

II. Nominations to the Graduate Faculty

Council reviewed the nominations of Deborah Henry, Instructor in the Honors College and History department and John Hoover, Director of the Mercantile Library and Adjunct Professor in History. George McCall moved to approve and Eduardo Silva seconded the motion. Council approved their membership into Graduate Faculty.

III. Curriculum and Instruction – John Blake

The committee again noticed that the proposed changes were already put into the Bulletin without being reviewed by Graduate Council.

The committee reviewed the following course proposal changes and recommended to approve them:

Ed Rem 455/6732 Advanced Theory and Practice in Program Evaluation

Cns 420/6040 Group Procedures in Counseling

Cns 460/6800 Rehabilitation Counseling

Cns 461/7802 Theory and Practice of Clinical Hypnosis in Counseling

Cns 494 Guidance Practicum II (drop)

Council moved to approve the following course proposals pending some corrections:

Cns 425/6520 “Family Counseling” prerequisite – which is correct?

Bulletin Listing Proposed Change

CE 482/6280 CE 482/6270

Cns 426/7000 “Advanced Theories of Counseling and Family Therapy” – which is correct:

Bulletin Listing

CE 411(6010) and CE 423 (6500), CE 482 (6280) or 485 (6370) or consent of instructor

Proposed Listing

CE 411 (6010), CE 423 (6500), and CE 482 (6270) or 485 (6370), or consent of instructor

Cns 462/7040 “Counseling Women Toward Empowerment” – which is correct:

Bulletin Listing

Cns Ed 410/6000, 411/6010 and Cns Ed 482/6270 or 485/6370

Proposed Listing

Cns Ed 410/6000, 411/6010 and Cns Ed 482/6270 or 485/6370 or consent of instructor

Work Load Report – The committee reviewed the draft report prepared by a committee in the College of Arts and Sciences. The report was vague on how to get credit for mentoring students. Up to 3 hours could be allocated to teaching graduate students and up to 3 hours for individual instruction.

Program Development Committee – Eduardo Silva

There was no committee report but Dr. Silva mentioned he was trying to develop some graduate certificates. One would be an interdisciplinary Political Science certificate with Tropical Ecology and Conservation. The other would be an interdisciplinary Latin American Studies graduate certificate. If courses need to be offered every two years to avoid being dropped, how would one handle the enrollment issue? How would he make contact with companies to find students interested in these programs. Council gave Dr. Silva some suggestions.

Rules and Regulations – Zuleyma Tang Martinez for Ron Dotzel

The committee discussed the regulation that no more than 4 hours of dissertation research can be taken before the dissertation proposal is approved. Biology students take more hours than other department. The faculty is considering creating pre-dissertation research and dissertation research hours in order to comply with the regulation. A suggested alternative was to eliminate the rule with each unit setting their own standards.

Another discussion item by the committee was the composition of a dissertation committee. What constitutes an outside person? Would it be better to require an outside person that could be either outside of the department or outside of the University and not require a person outside of the department? Why would someone from another department want to serve on a dissertation committee when they don’t receive any credit for it? Why is there a minimum of 4 members on a committee? Would it be better to make a general Graduate School rule and let departments decide? If the wording becomes lax, the dissertation chair could be the only person from the unit on the committee. Chair may not have enough expertise, could be more outsiders than university people. Prefer not to have regulation wide open; maybe more structure. Or could the unit write its own guidelines, which would need approval by the Graduate School dean? Another issue related to requiring students to complete all of their course work before candidacy is approved. It was suggested that Council members look at other schools’ web sites for policies.

IV. Dean’s Report

Doctoral Faculty. The dean handed out information on previous discussions and proposals regarding doctoral faculty.

Dean’s Proposal: Eliminate the designation of doctoral faculty.

Rationale:

· UM-St. Louis is becoming increasingly more research extensive and our faculty more capable of directing doctoral study.

· Dividing faculty into haves and have-nots causes unnecessary morale problems.

· It is not a system-wide designation so we must have instituted it ourselves and can change it ourselves.

· With increasing approaches to program outcomes, quality is reviewed more frequently than when the doctoral faculty designation was started.

· Fewer administrative staff and regular faculty require us to use time more efficiently; if the doctoral faculty designation has outlived its time, then faculty have one less review to prepare.

· Protection of junior faculty from the burdensome role of chairing dissertations should be part of the mentoring process in the units.

Counter Proposal

Assuming that some programs have a need to distinguish between graduate and doctoral faculty, maintain the designation but make the review of doctoral faculty less tedious and contentious.

Background (thanks to Mary Ellen Heckel)

There is no mention of the doctoral faculty in the Collected Rules and Regulations or the Faculty Handbook of the UM System, UM Academic Affairs or UMC web sites. UMKC does have a listing of doctoral faculty. UMR only shows doctoral faculty status on their graduate faculty listing.

The UMSL Graduate School Rules and Regulations state:

“Membership in the Graduate Faculty is required as a prerequisite for being considered for the Doctoral Faculty. Nomination and approval are required by the department, Dean, Doctoral Faculty Selection Committee, Dean of the Graduate School and Chancellor. Membership in the Doctoral Faculty carries with it the right to chair doctoral dissertation committees, and consists of a renewable five-year term.”

Option one: Eliminate the designation and require units to submit quality indicators as part of their five-year and/or accreditation reviews.

Option two: All tenure/tenure-track ranked faculty with the position Associate Professor or higher would automatically be a member of the doctoral faculty. Renewal would be based on the post-tenure review process.

Any Assistant Professors or non-tenure track faculty members who wish/require doctoral faculty status must apply for membership in the doctoral faculty and following current procedures. Renewal would also follow the current process.

Option three. Tie appointment to the doctoral faculty with the ATP review by the Dean of the Graduate School. Renewal would also follow the current process.

Option four. Keep status quo.

Discussion ensued as follows. Doctoral faculty status may a benefit if we want to replace retiring doctoral faculty. Option 1 is not a good option IF the department has more work. Dr. Felix noted this option that this is already included in the five year review process as ‘quality of doctoral dissertations’. Options 2 and 3 would refer to post-tenure review. It there really a post-tenure review process that’s actually used? Dr. McCall gave background on the doctoral faculty status. It made the individual accountable instead of the department. It had been a university wide policy with appointment being reviewed at the system level. It then was decentralized to the campuses. It was suggested that students should be able to choose their dissertation advisors and not base it on who has doctoral faculty status.

It was suggested that Option 1 be changed to:

Option 1A. Eliminate the designation.

Option 1B. Eliminate the designation and require units to submit quality indicators as part of their five-year and/or accreditation reviews.

Dr. Felix asked Council to discuss these options with their department faculty.

Budget Issues: The Dean distributed a document from Larry Westermeyer showing the number of graduate assistants by fiscal year, academic unit and department over the past 10 years. We’ve increased over the 10 year period from 183 assistants in FY92 to 292 assistants in FS 03.

Graduate Assistants’ average salaries nationwide range from $6480 for Master’s students to $9640 for Doctoral students (CGS Communicator, November 2002). UMSL’s 9 month appointments average $11,000 for doctoral students and $8,500 for master’s students. This year there are 156 doctoral and 123 Master’s graduate assistants. We’re above the national average especially with our mean cost of living. The handout also shows the national average on student loans in percentile and in dollar amounts.

Insurance Issues. Some students on campus are upset about the discrepancy between insurance coverage available for international students vs insurance available for domestic students. The international students pay about $204 for a better insurance plan whereas our students pay $468 for less coverage. The reason for this discrepancy is that insurance for international students is mandated and therefore allows for a better and cheaper package from the insurance company. SIU-C requires all graduate students to show proof of insurance. On our campus, only Nursing students are required to show proof of insurance. What would be the issues for your students? Our campus is different from the others – Kansas City and Columbia have hospitals that are considered as the first visit. Our health center is not considered as the first visit. The Dean asked Council to think about how mandating insurance would affect the units and the students. The Dean would like to create a Task Force to look at this issue.

Graduate Enrollment. Graduate school applications for WS 03 are down by 3%.

Recruitment. The Dean distributed an article from Dave Klostermann about students wanting certificate programs in order to meet job requirements. Feedback regarding an open house has been positive. The plan is to hold the open house in the late afternoon or evening in conjunction with the undergraduate open house. The dean asked for volunteers to serve on a planning committee. Tom Eyssell agreed to serve and it was suggested that Dr. Felix contact Mary Troy for her assistance.

Policy changes from the System:

Differentiation of Course Fees. System will change the cost of courses. At the graduate level, 70% of them will be at the current base rate, 20% of the courses must be at the mid-expensive range and 10% of the courses must be at the highest rate. Vice Chancellor Durham wants faculty recommendations for criteria as well as process. Dr. Felix would like a subcommittee to look at Council’s position and present it to Dr. Durham. Questions were: are these fees to be differentiated by course or by degree program? Market model vs. cost model. Cost model would be larger classes and thus cheaper. Seminars with lower enrollment would have a higher cost. Would courses be required or electives? Some students may choose courses based on cost.

Presidential Guidelines on Faculty Workload. The guidelines are expected to be sent to the President in the spring. Dr. Durham will seek input from different groups and then ask the Council of Deans to recommend a campus policy. The dean handed out the Nursing policy on faculty workload. Dr. Lindquist clarified that the policy relates more to teaching load than credit for mentoring doctoral students.

There being no other business, the meeting adjourned at 3:20 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Mary Ellen Heckel for

Carol Peck

Secretary/Vice-Chairperson