Minutes Commission on Graduate Studies and Policies 20 April, 1994 3:30 P.M. 206 Sandy Hall Present: Drs. Boles, Boyle, Brooker-Gross, Eustis, Eyre, Merola, O'Brien, Orcutt, Peters, Smith, Stauffer, Vorster, Wokutch, Ms. Bezold Ms. Bohr, Mr. Kahn, Mr. Schell, Mr. Waddill Absent with notification: Eaton, Mitchiner Absent: Aughenbaugh, Burger, Haney, Olin, Stout Visitors: Susan Trulove - Spectrum Representative Marvin Foushee - Registrar's office Representative Dr. Ron Johnson - Business Administration Department Brian Sayre - newly elected GSA officer Michele Huebsch - newly elected GSA officer Robyn Hohauser - newly elected GSA officer 1. Announcements: - Professor O'Brien announced that a reception will be held on April 28 for the Commission on Graduate Studies and Policies and the Commission on Research. Tim Schell introduced the new GSA officers for 94-95: Maureen Bezold - President Brian Sayre - Vice President Michele Huebsch - Treasurer Robyn Hohauser - Secretary Approval of the Agenda - with the addition of item 8b, the agenda was approved. Approval of Minutes of April 6, 1994 - approved as submitted. Course and Program Criteria Committee - Professor O'Brien presented the report of the committee as a draft. Prof. O'Brien stated that Dr. Mitchiner had asked the committee to review their charge. In the draft report, editorial changes were made to the operating policies that the committee used during the academic year. These changes were minor and no major changes made to the charge of the committee. It seemed important that the responsibility for the care and improvement of the processes should also be part of the charge of the committee. Attention to the processes will become more important as we face further institutional reorganization. Next year, this committee will be composed of elected members from college curriculum committees. It is proposed that the committee be chaired by the vice-chair of this commission. It was also proposed that a member of the GSA be a member of this committee. Ninety courses and three programs were acted on during this academic year. The committee has seen alternatives to new programs. Concentrations in specific areas have been considered as well as certificate programs. Next year, it has been proposed that this committee make recommendations regarding these alternative programs and the processing of such. A complete report, including these recommendations and others, from this committee is attached for further review. Graduate Student Relations - Dr. Robert Smith reported that the responsibility of this committee is to receive matters of concern and interest from the Graduate Student Assembly and from the Graduate School and to act upon them appropriately. There were no items submitted to this committee during this past academic year. Graduate Appeals - Dr. Richard Wokutch reported there were no items presented to this committee to act upon during this past academic year. A copy of the committee's final report, which includes recommendations regarding restructuring of the committee, is attached. Degree Requirements, Standards, Criteria and Academic Policies - Dr. Steven Boyle referred the membership to the final report of his committee, which had been distributed earlier in the meeting and is attached to these minutes. In summary, the specific charge of this committee is to deal with the review of on-going degree requirements as well as evaluating the standards and criteria by which the graduate programs are operated. The committee makeup is a balanced group that includes a graduate student representative as well as faculty representatives. Agenda items: a. Proposed changes in the structure of the preliminary and final dissertation examinations committee. The committee felt that there was not sufficient discussion to bring his proposal to a vote. The proposal was tabled and a white paper will be drafted, for release this fall, to stimulate more faculty discussion, so that when the committee does vote, it will be as informed as possible. The proposal, if approved, would significantly affect the way graduate students are examined on both on the preliminary exams and the final doctoral exams. b. Proposed revision 6325 (clarification of late drop policy). The proposal itself was revised to address the late drop policy as it applies only to graduate students. The proposal revision was passed by the CGSP and forwarded to University Council. A charge to this committee is conducting the review, in conjunction with the Graduate School, of standards and policies guiding/conducting of Graduate programs by departments. This review requires a broad expertise to make a fair and sound evaluation of programs. It would be helpful in accomplishing the charge of the committee, if the departments were to perform reviews of their graduate programs much like an accreditation report is prepared for a visiting team of accreditors. The Graduate School, in conjunction with the CGS&P, could then appoint an evaluation team to review the report and then visit the various departments to evaluate graduate programs. Graduate Student Catalog and Program of Study: The determination of which issue of the graduate catalog governs a student's program of study has not been stated in writing. The Graduate School as been asked to amend the next issue of the Graduate Catalog to state that the date of entry governs which catalog a student's program of study. Ah-Hoc Committee on the Graduate Catalog - Dr. Joe Merola stated that the committee was charged with two missions: (1) to review the combined Graduate Policies and Procedures and Course Catalog for any inconsistencies in the policies and procedures listed and (2) to review courses that are listed in the catalog for those that have not been offered in the past three years. Upon review of the Graduate Policies and Procedures and Course Catalog, no errors or inconsistencies were found. However, it was recommended that a new section be written to describe the various permutations possible under the new graduate tuition policy. Retrieval of information on course listings and various statistics proved to be quite a task for the Registrar's Office. The listing that was generated does not contain a significant number of courses. The course listings are attached to this committee's report. Following a review of these courses, the ad-hoc committee made the following recommendations. 1. Several departments had indicated, in 1991, their approval to remove some courses from the catalog. A number of these are still being listed and the committee recommends that these courses be removed from the catalog without any further deliberations. 2. The college representatives to CGS&P should contact their respective college's departments and inform them about these courses and that they will be dropped from the catalog unless a compelling case can be made for continuing them. In addition, departments should be asked to review their prerequisite and sequence courses to insure that any dependence on any of these non-offered courses is resolved. 3. Information concerning 4000 level courses approved for graduate credit should be passed along to CUS for their consideration. 4. Since the Graduate Policies and Procedures and Course Catalog is scheduled to be printed every two years, an ad-hoc committee should be impaneled every two years to review the graduate catalog and course listing. It is also recommended that a graduate student be a member of this committee in the future. 2. Report of the University Library Committee- Joanne Eustis reported that the groundbreaking for the storage facility would be this month and is expected to be completed in January. 3. Graduate Student Assembly Report - Mr. Tim Schell stated that the Graduate Research Symposium would be Friday, April 8. There are 45 poster/demonstrations set up at Squires Student Center. A trip, by GSA representatives, to the northern Virginia campus has been planned to try to alleviate problems they may have with representation by the GSA. 4. Discussion and Committee Reference 8a) Professor R. Wokutch - Study of Graduate School policies relating to IFS allocations and improvements to such policies. Prof. Wokutch stated that this is a proposal for an ad-hoc committee to monitor the impact of the new graduate instructional fee scholarship policy. The concern that has led to this proposal is the lack of CGS&P input into the specifics of the instructional fee scholarships, in particular, tying the instructional fee scholarship into the assistantship allocations without any flexibility. After a brief discussion of committee makeup, there was a unanimous vote to form this committee. 8b) Resolution on Graduate Research Hours - Ken Kahn presented a proposed resolution, to be assigned to a committee next year. The issue is the requirement to register for research hours in the summer and after all research hours are completed on a student's program of study. In particular, this resolution provides that the University administration provide direct benefits to students from the tuition that is paid for research only credits. The resolution was tabled for further review next year. 6. Adjournment - 4:58p.m. Respectfully submitted, John L. Eaton Secretary