GRADUATE COUNCIL
Minutes of the Meeting
The meeting was
called to order by Dean
I. Minutes
Dr. Eduardo
Silva moved to accept and Dr. Cody Ding seconded the motion to approve the
minutes of the
II. Committee Reports
Curriculum and Instruction Committee – Therese Macan
The committee reviewed and recommended approval of the following course proposals.
CCJ 6435 “Gender, Crime and Criminal Justice” (add)
Econ 5052 “Microeconomics for the School Curriculum” (add)
Hist 5008 “Advanced Railroads in American Life (add)
Phil 5561 “Graduate Formal Logic” (add)
Phil 5595 “Thesis Research” (change)
PS 7499 “Dissertation Research” (change)
Psy 7442 “Seminar: Cognitive and Behavior Therapy” (change)
Chem 4814 “Special Topics in Chemistry” (change)
SW 461 “Human Services Leadership & Management (drop)
SW 6160 “Advanced Interventive Strategies Across the Life Span (add)
Eng 4630 “African American Literature Prior to 1900” (add)
Eng 4660 “African American Literature Since 1900” (add)
Eng 4910 “Studies in African/African American Literature, Criticism, and Diaspora (add)
The committee reviewed the documents changing the current Rules and Regulations into “policies” and “procedures”. A few changes have been suggested and will be forwarded by Dr. Blake to the Dean.
Program Development – Eduardo Silva
The committee asked the chair of the Communications department to provide a revised rationale to the changes in the M.A. Communication program for addition of a non-thesis option. The committee recommends approval of the rationale and recommends the proposal be forwarded to the Senate C & I for action.
Discussion ensued on whether all Master’s programs should have a capstone experience. How do we measure the quality of our programs if no capstone experience is required? Should this be a requirement for future review of Master’s programs? Should we require a capstone experience but then have ability to waive it? Should we look at our rules and see what minimums we want to set and then allow departments to go beyond those minimums?
Some department must meet the needs of students – professional track vs. academic track. If the student is in the workforce doing research for 10 years but needs the degree to advance, then only coursework would be needed to gain the appropriate knowledge. There was some concern that a student with a capstone experience M.A. and a student without a capstone experience M.A. would look the same on paper. Others suggested that the employers of these graduates would know the difference.
Council accepted the committee’s report to approve the MA communication and forward to Senate C & I.
The program committee is working on changing sections of the Rules and Regulations into “Policies” and “Procedures”. Dr. Silva noticed that the policies do not mention the forms, when they are due or how to complete them. Dr. Felix is preparing a handbook with this information. There will also be a guide on thesis and dissertation preparation. These documents will be provided to advisors and students.
When reviewing the policies, Dr. Tang-Martinez noted that Biology uses a separate advisor and chair for dissertation committees. Council suggested that the department conform to the graduate policy but use the separate chair and advisor as an in-house matter.
An additional item for the program committee is review of residence requirements.
The Dean mentioned a workload policy where faculty would be credited with workload for chairing, co-chairing dissertations or working with a student from another department. Dr. Macan will pursue this with Dr. Blake and his committee.
Rules and Regulations – Sandy Lindquist
The committee should have a report in December.
III. Dean’s Report
Strategic Plan. The Dean suggested Council might want to post some ideas on the Chancellor’s strategic plan website. The Dean will resend Council the suggested outline that stemmed from the brainstorming session. Council should expect to plan and refine that outline at the December 12 Council meeting.
Electronic submission of
dissertations/theses. Betsy Sampson, Academic Evaluator in the
For the first
stage of the project, selected departments will be chosen
and student participation will be voluntary. Students who wish to participate
will submit their dissertations/theses electronically to the
Supplemental Fee. The dean distributed the latest policy draft for our campus. The policy is elective. Departments will charge $26 more or $44 more for clusters of courses. In Fall 2004, the MBA program will implement the revised fee structure. The proposed distribution is that the College will keep 50% of the generated funds, and the other half will be split between Academic Affairs and the Chancellor. Council stressed that one cannot just say that courses which are more expensive to offer should be charged higher fees. This could turn into a disadvantage if students couldn’t pay those higher fees.
Online application and PeopleSoft Changes. Later this month, undergraduate admissions will go live with PeopleSoft. In June 2004, graduate application processing will be on-line with PeopleSoft. In preparation for this, the Dean met with the IFC chair at UMKC. He has developed an on-line application that is currently used and will be used in conjunction with PeopleSoft. The dean is also looking into the possibility of electronic submission of letters of recommendation and supplemental materials required by programs. The implementation of PeopleSoft should make it easier for program directors to access information on prospective students and automatically trigger letters for prospects.
Spring Graduate Faculty Meeting. The Dean would like to schedule the Spring Graduate Faculty meeting at a time that does not conflict with major conferences. Council is to send her any upcoming conference dates in March or April so that an appropriate meeting date can be chosen.
Graduate Fair. Last April, about 60 people attended the first Graduate School Fair. The graduate students who presented their research posters were enthusiastic about participating and wish to do so again. The dean may combine the Graduate Fair with a similar event put on by the Office of Multi-Cultural Relations. The Dean asked Council what time line for the next Fair would fit in with their recruiting plans.
Proposal to Senate C & I. The Dean suggested streamlining proposal review. The Senate would continue to review new degree program proposals. Currently, the UMKC Senate does not review course proposals. On this campus, both Council and Senate review graduate course proposals. The current Senate C & I chair is willing to propose this policy change to the Senate, if Council agrees. Council agreed that streamlining the process could be beneficial. One advantage to Senate review is there is always someone from the department available who can answer any questions or concerns.
Tuition Remission Budget. The dean distributed the current budgets for
graduate fellowships, in-state tuition remission, and non-resident fee
remission. We expect to have a combined
deficit of over $117,000 in the fellowship and tuition accounts. We expect to have a deficit of $818,000 in the non-resident
account. Because the Chancellor’s office
will provide us with an additional $750,000 from the increase in fees, the
total deficit this year will be $186,000.
The Dean clarified that the supplemental fees for students receiving
tuition remission will be waived. The second part of the handout showed a
breakdown by department of GTAs, GRAs
and Graduate Instructors and the amount of tuition provided by the
The meeting adjourned at
Respectfully submitted,
Therese Macan
Vice Chairperson and Secretary
TM:meh