The meeting was called to order by Dean Douglas Wartzok at 1:35 p.m. Members in attendance were: Shirley Bissen, Allison Hoewisch, Matthew Keefer, Kyungho Oh, Margaret Sherraden, Anne Winkler. Members absent were: Edward Bennett, Ta-Pei Cheng, Richard Cook, Peggy Ellis, Donald Kummer, Thaddeus Metz, Adell Patton, David Rose, Joachim Stoeckler.

I. Minutes of the Meeting

The minutes of the October 20, 2000 meeting were approved.
 

II. Nominations to the Graduate Faculty

Dr. Isham Al-Shehbaz, Research Associate Professor in Biology and Dr. Kenneth Owen, Affiliate Associate Professor in Educational Leadership were approved for Graduate Faculty membership.
 

III. Committee Reports

Admissions and Scholarship Committee - Anne Winkler
On November 9 the committee met. Five members were present and we received very detailed input from two of the three other members. We decided to fund 5 of 6 proposals (in no particular order): Lucia Lohmann, Mercedes Rouges, Juan Fernandez (Biology), Elizabeth Amin (Chemistry), Gabor Balazsi (Physics). We also made an exception and accepted three proposals from biology instead of two because of the extenuating circumstances of one applicant.

As has been the case with previous committees, we raised concerns about the dissertation fellowship instruction form, as well as whether department chairs had been notified of changes.

We came to the following recommendations:

1. The instruction form should indicate the dissertation title. This would be useful in determining if the attached five page description is about the dissertation or some other work.

2. As was agreed upon by the committee last year, we'd like to see a one page discussion in non-specialist language which would explain the project and its significance, along with an explanation of where the research currently stands and when the dissertation is expected to be done. (We also discussed the possibility of a bolded statement that indicated that no proposal would be considered without this information.)

3. The instructions currently ask for a five page document in non-specialist language. As was decided for internal grants requested by faculty, we decided to strike the wording in bold.

Council approved the committee's recommendations. Council also agreed to add to all Graduate fellowship forms a statement that if the guidelines aren't followed, the Graduate School will not forward the application to the committee.
 

IV. Dean's Report

The Graduate Programs Directors met and suggested changes in the D-5, D-10 and the Graduate Student Travel Request forms. The signature of the Graduate Program Director has been added to the D-5. The D-10 now includes the submission of the Survey of Earned Doctorates. The Graduate Student Travel form has been modified to state that it is for professional conferences and that it does not include reimbursement for meals. Council suggested that the Graduate Student Travel form be further revised to include a request for a one or two paragraph statement about why this conference is particularly important for the student's graduate education and a statement about the student's participation at the conference: oral presentation, poster presentation, panel discussant, etc. Finally, when the travel voucher is submitted, the student should attach a copy of the conference program that indicates the student's participation in the conference

There being no other business the meeting adjourned at 2:14 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
 

Matthew Keefer
Vice-Chairperson and Secretary

MK:meh