GRADUATE COUNCIL

November 15, 2002

Minutes of the Meeting

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

I. Minutes

The minutes were amended to include Sally Ebest as excused absent from the September meeting. Tom Eyssell moved and Carol Peck seconded to accept the amended minute and Council approved them unanimously.

II. Nominations to the Graduate Faculty

Council reviewed the nominations of Dianne Ferguson, Adjunct Professor and Jacqueline Savis, Adjunct Associate Professor of the Division of Teaching and Learning. After discussion of their qualifications, Kathleen Brown moved and Cody Ding seconded to approve their nominations to the Graduate Faculty and Council approved their appointments unanimously.

III. Committee Reports

Admissions and Scholarship

Dr. Terry Jones submitted his report via e-mail as he was unable to attend. The report follows:

“At its October 18 meeting, the Committee present (Gary Bachman, Yael Even, Kathy Haywood) decided to seek advice from each graduate program director on four issues. These are:

1. Should the seven existing admission categories (matriculated - regular, restricted, provisional, nonmatriculated – nondegree, education certification, intercampus exchange; postdoctoral) be reduced to a small number (e.g. matriculated and nonmatriculated)?

2. In what ways can the Graduate School Application on the UMSL web site be improved?

3. Currently Graduate School applicants must submit transcripts from all higher education institutions they have ever attended. Should at college/departmental discretion, this be reduced to transcripts from all institutions form which they have received a degree?

4. Effective October 1, 2002, the Graduate Record Examination General Test has eliminated the analytical section and added an “analytical writing” segment. What implications does this have for each college/department?

I have sent a request to graduate programs directors, asking them to reply by November 22, 2002. I will distribute these replies to committee members shortly after that date.

We will meet Tuesday, December 3 at 3pm (location announced later) to discuss these items.”

Dr. Peck suggested Graduate Program Directors may need more information before they can answer question #4. Dr. Felix suggested having a short session on what the changes are to the GRE. Also, the GRE scores are NOT to be totaled. They are stand-alone indicators. Dr. Felix will relay these items to the committee chair.

Curriculum and Instruction – John Blake

The committee reviewed the following courses:

Opt 508 Human Anatomy and Physiology (drop)

Opt 508/8010 Gross Anatomy, Physiology and Disease Processes I (add)

Opt 509/8010 Gross Anatomy and Physiology and Disease Processes II (add)

Opt 584/8760 Harvester Eye Center Patient Care (add)

JCE 322/4220 Pre-Stressed Concrete Design (add)

JCE 385/4350 Bridge Analysis and Design (add)

JME 351/4510 Computer Controlled Manufacturing (add)

Nrsg 326/4723 Nurse Externship

Nrsg 424P/6526 Advanced Health Assessment for Pediatric Nursing Practice add)

Nrsg 427/6520 Pharmacology for Advanced Nursing Practice (add)

Nrsg 427P/6528 Advanced Pharmacology for Advanced Nursing Practice (add)

Nrsg 414/6114 Evidence Based Nursing (change)

Nrsg 412/6112 Nursing Research Methods (change)

SecEd 328/3328 Art Education: Theory to Practice (add)

The committee noted that some course proposals from Optometry, 584 (8760) and 510 (8110), are already in the Bulletin even though Council has never seen them. The Graduate School staff learned that an error in Bulletin processing caused the mishap. The committee also noted that course proposal #509/8010 was in the Bulletin but with a different bulletin description. Dr. Peck agreed to find out which description is correct. The committee would recommend either version of the description. Council voted to approve the committee’s report to accept all course proposals.

The committee also was charged with reviewing use of equivalency credit for graduate students. The request was initiated by an e-mail from Dean Burkholder and Dr. Gordon Anderson. There is concern that faculty are not getting course credit when equivalency hours are used. The committee will review this issue once they see the report from Dean Burkholder’s committee.

Another charge to the committee dealt with the number of courses offered versus the number of courses cancelled. Larry Westermeyer ran a report that showed only 2.5% of all courses were cancelled. This problem may be up to individual departments to handle.

Dr. Eyssell asked if the Graduate School ever looked at attrition rates. The answer was no. Dr. Greene noted that Economics students’ attrition would be higher because many of their international students are exchange students and therefore would not complete the M.A.

As an informational item, Dr. Felix mentioned that Vice Chancellor Durham is concerned about continuous enrollment. One thought would be to require it throughout a student’s career instead of once candidacy has been achieved..

Dr. Dotzel mentioned the rule that graduate students cannot receive a grade of “D”. He believes that instructors should be allowed to give an appropriate grade based on performance and that “D” should not be excluded. Dr. Felix will refer this to the Program Development Committee.

Program Development Committee – Eduardo Silva

The committee reviewed four proposals:

· *Post MSN Nurse Practitioner Certificate (new)

· Change in degree requirements for Physics and Astronomy

· 2+3 BA/MA in Political Science (new)

· Ed.S. in Marriage, Couple and Family Counseling/Therapy (new)

· Bulletin changes for Ed.S. in Marriage, Couple and Family Counseling/Therapy (change)

The committee recommends approval of all of the above proposals. The one exception is the proposed Ed.S. in Marriage, Couple and Family Counseling/Therapy. The committee recommends that sign-offs from the departments of Psychology and Social Work be obtained before forwarding to the Senate. There is no point in forwarding the bulletin changes for Education until the Ed.S. has been approved.

Dr. Felix noted that it would be advisable if the departments of Social Work, Psychology and Counseling Education would meet and discuss times when a blanket approval might be acceptable. In the past, there has been an unwritten agreement that Psychology and Counseling Education do not need sign-offs.

It was mentioned that graduate certificates could still be forwarded to CBHE since they are sent as an informational item. But there is a moratorium on forwarding new degree programs. Dr. Felix said she hoped that more graduate certificates would be initiated. There are a lot of potential students who may not be interested in a master’s degree but would be interested in an 18 hour specialized certificate program.

The committee moved to approve the first three proposals and Council approved them unanimously.

Kathleen Brown moved to approve the two proposals related to the new Ed.S. degree pending sign off from representatives of Social Work and Psychology. If those sign-offs are approved, Graduate Council would recommend approval. Cody Ding seconded the motion. Carol Peck made a friendly amendment to use e-mail to poll approval of the Graduate Council once the sign-offs were obtained. Dr. McCall asked about the section ‘will this affect other departments’? This box was not marked and should be changed to ‘yes’ if we are requesting sign-offs. Council also suggested that the Senate forms should state that a sign-off would be required if any courses from another department were included. Dr. Brown reworded her motion to include the amendment as “Move to approve the Ed.S. proposal and the proposed bulletin changes pending sign offs from the representatives of Social Work and Psychology. If the sign-offs have been obtained, then Dr. Felix would poll Council via e-mail on whether or not to approve the proposals.” Council approved the motion.

Rules and Regulations Committee – Ronald Dotzel

The committee was asked to review proposed changes by Dave Klostermann on certain sections in the Rules and Regulations. They are as follows:

Section 3.3:

Current Wording: paragraph 1 “Degree credit is allowed for institutes, workshops, clinics, and extension courses only if they are offered by a Missouri public university.”

Proposed Wording: “Degree credit may be allowed for institutes, workshops, clinics and Continuing Education courses only if they are offered by an appropriately accredited institution of higher education.”

Rationale. “Extension” is an anachronism and ‘university extension’ is prohibited by Federal law from offering credit courses. Re: limiting to just ‘Missouri public universities’. The committee felt it would be more appropriate to change the wording to an accredited institution of higher education.

Current wording in section 3.3, paragraph 4: “A student who completes a workshop course while not enrolled in the Graduate School may not subsequently include the course as part of a degree program. Inclusion of the workshop credit in a graduate program is subject to the approval process inherent in the filing of a degree program. In instances where workshops are offered on a credit/non-credit or pass/fail basis, such credit may not be applied to a graduate degree.”

Revised wording. For those already enrolled in a graduate program, inclusion of the workshop credit is subject to the approval process inherent in the filing of a degree program. In instances where workshops are taken on a credit/non-credit or pass/fail basis, such credit may not be applied to a graduate degree.”

Rationale: These (first) two sentences seem to be contradictory. The first sentence was deleted and the second was revised slightly. The third sentence changes ‘offered’ to ‘taken’.

Current wording: Paragraph 6. …”Participation in an intensive workshop ordinarily constitutes full-time graduate study.

Revised Wording: delete this sentence from the paragraph

Rationale: Sentence doesn’t make sense.

Section 4.8

Current Wording: …After initial enrollment, students must enroll for at least one term each calendar year to remain in good standing. Students not meeting this enrollment requirement will be dropped from the Graduate School and required to re-apply for admission if they subsequently wish to continue…

Revised Wording: After initial enrollment, students must enroll for at least one term each calendar year to remain in good standing. Students not meeting this enrollment requirement will be dropped from the Graduate School and will be required to submit the Request to Re-enroll form.

Dr. Dotzel ended his report to the Council. Dr. Silva seconded the recommendation to approve the committee’s report and Council approved it unanimously. The revisions to the rules and regulations will be forwarded to the Graduate Faculty for their vote.

IV. Dean’s Report

Graduate Equivalency Credits – The Dean distributed information on this issue. The chart shows the percentage of graduate equivalency credits for each department offering doctoral degrees. Is there a way to get workload credit for dissertation hours without students paying? The answer seems to be ‘no’. Another problem is that if students are required to enroll in 9 hours instead of 6 (GTAs), this will cost the Graduate School more in tuition dollars. The handout also shows policies for doctoral students at other universities and some possible suggestions. Dr. Felix asked that Council share this with their colleagues.

GTAs Insurance Issues – Students have come to Dr. Felix about their unhappiness with the insurance program offered to GTAs/GRAs by the University. They do not feel that the coverage is very good. They are unhappy that they have to pay the full amount ahead of time and they are surprised that UMC covers 100% of their GTAs insurance subsidy whereas UMSL only covers 25%. Dr. Felix asked Bill Payton of UM and the insurance representative to come and speak with the Biology students. The group will meet again to discuss answers to some of their questions. Dr. Brown suggested Dr. Felix contact CSD for their guidance since they have done a lot of research on insurance companies.

The Fall Graduate Faculty meeting has been scheduled for Monday, December 2, 2002 at 1:30 p.m. in 126 J. C. Penney. Since we had such a difficult time trying to schedule a meeting when the executive committee could attend, Dr. Felix asks that everyone bring their calendar to the December Council meeting so that a time could be found to schedule the Spring Graduate Faculty meeting.

Legal Changes. The Dean distributed an article on ‘Litigious Students and Academic Disputes”. Universities are being treated like businesses and that brings up liability issues. There is a notion on campus that perhaps students should be asked to sign a liability limit waiver when they are admitted.

Collaborative Graduate Programs - the concern about the growing number of for-profit agencies offering post-baccalaureate programs appears to be moving from faculty discussion groups to administrative offices. One example is described in the attached Chronicle article. The full NAS report can be found at http://books.nap.edu/books/0309808640X/html/index.html/

Some universities are banding together to offer collaborative programs. The Dean attended a session held by the Great Plains Interactive Distance Education Alliance. They are interested only in niche programs where they have one or two faculty members with expertise in high-need areas but too few local students. Could this be a model for some of our small programs to explore? More information is at http://www.gpidea.org. The students register, pay fees, obtain advising from their home universities. The courses are offered at a higher cost and the fees collected are distributed as such: 75% goes to the teaching institution; 12.5 % goes to the advising institution; 12.5 % goes to the alliance.

The Missouri Coordinating Board of Higher Education has designed some draft procedures for program approval – after they lift the moratorium. The section on collaboration (attached) makes it clear that all new programs will have to justify why they are not collaborative. Most legislators think that this makes sense under the current budget.

Some at UM-St Louis have proposed using technology to make their current programs more accessible. CBHE rules on distance education allow us to offer all of an approved program by Web and up to 49% by ITV. Senate rules require their approval.

One traditional way to collaborate is through on-campus interdisciplinary programs. The Graduate School can serve as an incubator for inter- or cross-disciplinary programs. The Health Informatics program has been moved back to the Graduate school for further development. In addition, some science faculty is meeting to determine what new interdisciplinary fields we might want to explore with current resources. Also, faculty in Biology has mentioned the need for Latin American Studies.

Questions for Council: How should we make faculty across campus aware of these opportunities? Other suggestions?

Dr Felix has met twice with an interdisciplinary sciences faculty group. They are discussing ways to develop programs that fall between or across departments. Dr. Felix will send the minutes of these meetings to anyone who is interested or get a group together to discuss such collaboration.

Peterson’s Guides – Dr. Felix distributed last year’s version of the University’s Petersons’ Guides document. She asked the group to send Mary Ellen suggested updates to the document.

The meeting adjourned at 3:40 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Carol Peck

Secretary and Vice-Chairperson

CP:meh