GRADUATE COUNCIL

Minutes of the Meeting

September 19, 2003

The meeting was called to order at 1:30 p.m. by Judith Walker de Felix. Memberes in attendance were: Joe Carroll, Alice Hall, Wesley Harris, Bill Kyle, Sandra Lindquist, Therese Macan, Zuleyma Tang-Martinez, Nancy Shields, Eduardo Silva. Members absent were: Cody Ding, Carol Peck, Richard Wright, Shiying Zhao. Rajiv Sabherwal resigned and will be replaced.

I. Minutes

Dr. Therese Macan moved to accept and Bill Kyle seconded the motion to approve the minutes of the August 22, 2003 meeting.

II. Miscellaneous

Commencement. Dr. Felix distributed proposed changes to commencement procedures and asked Cindy Vantine from University Relations to discuss them. In order not to limit students to guest tickets, it was proposed that four commencements be held on one weekend in January. The commencements will be divided by college, with the graduate students in their respective college. Dr. Felix will award degrees to the graduate students at each of the four commencements. There will be a separate commencement speaker at each ceremony but only one honorary doctorate awarded. The January commencement will be held in the Performing Arts Center.

Serendipity Day. The University will hold its first Serendipity Day on Saturday, October 25, 2003 from noon to 5 pm. Building representatives will organize activities. Dr. Felix suggested using graduate student participation in poster presentations. The Research building atrium will have student presentations, several mini presentations and a looping powerpoint presentation. There will be greeters at each of the six campus’ entrances who will distribute a campus map and a schedule of events. There will be advertising on TV and radio, flyers will be distributed around the community and postcards will be mailed. It was suggested that any additional postcards might be shared with the campus community for their mailing lists.

III. Committees

Dr. Felix distributed the current listing of Council’s committee membership and asked someone to chair the Rules and Regulations committee. Dr. Sandra Lindquist agreed to chair and said Peggy Ellis agreed to fill the Nursing vacancy on the Admissions and Scholarship committee.

Dr. Felix is working on a web site for Senate course and program proposals. Currently, Senate program forms do not conform to the CBHE form. Dr. Felix mentioned that course and program proposals will not be forwarded to the Graduate Council or Senate Curriculum committees until they are in correct format. Many times, a cross-listed course does not have its counterpart submitted. The intent of the web site is to use forms on-line and one day submit them electronically. Dr. Felix also broached the question whether graduate course could be exempt from Senate review due to the review received by Graduate Council.

IV. Dean’s Report

Dr. Felix will be sending a survey to departments and Graduate Program Directors asking how they select TAs and what types of support they give their TAs. The Graduate School wants to see if it can fill a niche of unmet TA needs.

There was discussion at the Senate meeting regarding the Michigan ruling on discrimination and how it relates to our current recruiting practices. The UM System does not believe that any changes are necessary to current practice. There is an article in the Chronicle and information on the CGS’ Graduate Deans’ list serve about this subject. Dr. Felix will send this information to the Graduate Program Directors, Graduate Council, and Graduate Chairs. Council also suggested that Dr. Felix place this information on the Graduate School web site.

Dr. Felix distributed information on revising the current Graduate School Rules and Regulations. She has attempted to separate the rules and regulations into “policies” and “procedures”. Currently, not all rules and regulations are being followed. Council is to decide if these regulations need to be revised in order to aid with compliance.. One example of non-compliance is dissertations. Some arrive in our office a couple of weeks after the proposal is submitted, which leaves virtually no time for suggested changes/improvements. Other possible discussion items for change: should we require entrance examinations of all programs; should there be a requirement on the length of a master’s thesis?

IP Grade. At the August Council meeting, there was a discussion of an IP (in progress) grade. Some Council members said they routinely give letter grades as the student takes dissertation hours; others said they thought it was a Graduate School rule that delayed grades had to be awarded until the dissertation was finished. Council suggested the Rules and Regulations committee review this issue. Council also suggested Dr. Felix verify that an IP, AU or delayed grade would not cause problems for international students or students receiving financial aid.

Transcript Requirements. International students often have difficulty in receiving transcripts from all universities attended and even from receiving more than one official transcript from the B.A. granting institution. Dr. Carroll suggested wording such as “all data even if on a cumulative transcript”.

ESL requirement. The chair of the Chemistry department has asked Council to review the necessity of the ESL requirement. There is a State statute that requires testing of international teaching assistants’ English proficiency. Dr. Felix will send the transcript and ESL requirement issues to the Admissions and Scholarship committee.

Graduate Council representation. With the changes in the number and make-up of colleges on campus, it was suggested that the composition of the Graduate Council be reviewed. Currently, the 15 seats are distributed based on the number of graduate faculty in each college, with each college being given a minimum of one seat. Dr. Felix will ask the Rules and Regulations committee to review this policy.

Dr. Felix will send out policies and suggested changes to the various committees of the Council and ask them to report to the Graduate Council.

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

Respectfully submitted,

Therese Macan

Vice-Chairperson and Secretary

TM:meh