Graduate Council
Minutes of the Meeting
Dean Judith Walker de Felix
called the meeting order at
I. Minutes
Dr. Tom Eyssell
moved and Dr. Ta Pei Cheng seconded the motion to approve the minutes of the
II. Nominations to the Graduate Faculty
The credentials of Dr. Kent Farnsworth, Affiliate Professor in Higher Education and Dr. Kristi Walker, Affiliate Assistant Professor in Public Policy Administration were reviewed by Graduate Faculty membership. Dr. Farnsworth’s position will be changed to the Community College President in Residence once the position has been fully approved. Dr. Cheng moved and Dr. Eyssell seconded the motion to approve their membership. Council approved the motion unanimously.
III. Committee Reports
Curriculum and Instruction – The Dean reported that Provost Cope is working with the Senate C & I committee to consider streamlining the current approval process.
Program Development – Dr. Cheng will meet with his committee in about two weeks to discuss several pending changes in degree requirements.
Rules and Regulations – The Dean reported for Bill Kyle, Chair of the committee. Dr. Kyle conducted committee business while out of the country via e-mail. The committee was asked to review the policy of filling vacancies on the Graduate Council (section 2.2). The current policy does not work since rarely is there a second nominee for any given position.
Current wording:
2.2. When a vacancy occurs on the Graduate Council, the Graduate Council shall fill it with a replacement from the same college or division of Arts and Sciences. The Council shall designate as the replacement that member of the Graduate Faculty who received the largest number of votes of those not elected to the Graduate Council at the last election.
The committee agreed that the second sentence (in italics) of the current statement should be dropped. The committee motion was approved unanimously. The revision will be presented to the Graduate Faculty at the fall semester meeting.
IV. Dean’s Report
The Dean will
order reproductions for the group of “10 ways to make sure your effort to achieve
diversity is legal.” It deals with the
Supreme Court’s decision in the
Admissions Criteria.
·
GPA. The
requirement of a 2.75 GPA for admission to
· GRE scores. Even though the GRE test has been rewritten, some students still do not score well due to cultural differences. One department requires the GRE but doesn’t want the students to take the test until they’ve achieved 12 hours.
· TOEFL. The TOEFL is under review. Our policies were rewritten recently and took out score expectations. We wanted to keep the flexibility for admission but leave it vague currently because we don’t know what the new test will be.
Recruiting International Students. How do we handle the problem of recruiting international students? Change in social security card requirement seems to be another stumbling block to getting good students here. Students who aren’t hired won’t be able to get social security cards. What do we do about students receiving Fellowships, outside funding, or funding from their countries? Another problem is that some students are on student visas and therefore can’t work. It puts them in a Catch 22 situation.
International Teaching Assistants. A
At the University of Texas, TAs are required to go through sessions provide by the Teaching and Learning Center as well as pass an English test before their PAFs will be processed.
Dr. Harris said students complain every year – it is inherent in the process. Most Chemistry students who teach are international students and will never speak English perfectly. The Chemistry department has to hire ITAs in the first semester but cannot use them in a teaching position. Instead, they are relegated to the store room or used as a tutor. The Chemistry faculty will deal with their students’ non-perfect English and will help them along the way because they need these students for research.
It was suggested that CAD staff give the department chair a rating of each student’s ability, in pass or fail format instead of a letter grade.
Dr. Cheng suggested that we have to make the ESL process serve the departments and not become adversarial. Perhaps the Graduate Program Directors should meet with the CAD staff to come to a better understanding of the issue.
Quick Admit
Update and IP Grade. The
Graduate
Faculty Meeting. The group agreed to
hold the Graduate Faculty meeting on Tuesday, November 30 at
The meeting adjourned at
Respectfully submitted,
Mary Ellen Heckel for
Therese Macan
Secretary and Vice Chairperson