Minutes Commission on Graduate Studies and Policies 3 May 1995, 3:30 P.M. 206 Sandy Hall Present: Drs. Brown, Chaloux, Eaton, Ehrich, Hitchingham, M. Johnson, R. Johnson, Lovingood, Merola, Mitchiner, Mullins, Peters, Rohr, Stout, Wokutch, Ms. Bohr, Mr. Sayre, Ms. Tank, Mr. Waddill Absent with Notification: Ms. Haney, Dr. Stauffer. Absent: Dr. Brooker-Gross, Dr. Burton, Dr. French, Ms. Hohauser, Dr. LaBerge, Dr. Sina, Dr. Worner Visitors: Marvin Foushee - Registrar's Office Representative Susan Trulove - Spectrum Representative 1. Announcements - no announcements 2. Informational Handouts - NAS Report on Graduate Education in the Sciences 3. Approval of the Agenda - approved as amended. 4. Approval of the Minutes of April 19, 1995 - the minutes were approved as submitted. 5. Committee Reports: Graduate Student Appeals Committee - no report. Graduate Curriculum Committee - Dr. Lovingood stated that the minutes of the last meeting are as follows: Graduate Curriculum Committee April 27, 1995 Attending: Mike Ellerbrock, Donald Elson, Karen Hult, Bob Brown, Ron Kander (for Dr. Reynolds), Dean Stauffer, Stephen Smith, Marvin Foushee, John Eaton 1. New Course - VM 6524 - Veterinary Medical Sciences was approved. 2. New Course - VM 5474 - Veterinary Neurobiology was approved. 3. New Course - VM 6514 - Advanced Equine Reproduction was approved. 4. New Course - COMM 4384 - Criticism of Public Communication was approved. 5. New Course - CE 5074 - Construction Engineering: Means and Methods was approved. 6. Revised Course - EDVT 4234 - Curriculum for Career and Occupational Education was approved. 7. Revised Course - EDVT 4244 - Methods of Teaching in Career and Occupational Education was approved. 8. Revised Course - EE 4205-4206 - Electronic Circuit Design was approved. 9. Revised Course - EE 4234 - Microelectronics was approved. 10. Revised Course - EE 4405-4406 - Control Systems was approved. 11. Revised Course - EE 4535-4536 - Microprocessor Design was approved. 12. Revised Course - MGT 5334 - Managing Change Through Leadership: Individual and Team Development was approved. 13. New Course - MGT 5384 - Ethical Dimensions of Leadership was approved pending review by CPAP. 14. Revised Course - MGT 5714 - Human Resource Staffing and Development was approved. 15. Revised Course - MGT 5724 - Compensation and Rewards Systems was approved. 16. New Course - MGT 5744 - Employee Relations was approved. 17. New Course - MGT 5754 - Dispute Resolution Techniques/Simulations was approved with editing of Learning Objectives. 18. New Course - MGT 5804 - Strategic Leadership in Technology-Based Organizations was approved. 19. New Course - MGT 5814 - Entrepreneurial Leadership was approved. 20. New Course - MGT 6384 - Topics in Business Ethics was approved. 21. New Course - MSCI 5494 - International Operations and Information Technology was tabled for revisions. 22. Course Deletions - Anerobic Microbiology 5004-5054 approved to delete from catalog. A decision was made by the committee for the final meeting to be held on May 11th at 3:00 for review of the courses/proposals that have been received recently. Course & Program Criteria Committee (Graduate Curriculum Committee) Final Report - Academic Year 1994-95 I. MEMBERS: Vice-chair, CGS&P - Rebecca Lovingood, Chair College Curriculum Committee Representatives: M. Ellerbrock, AGRI; S. Gartner, ARCH; K. Hult, A&S; R. Brown, BUS; D. Elson, EDUC; W. Reynolds, ENGR; D. Stauffer, FWR; J. Beamish, HR; S. Smith, VMSC; Administration: M. Foushee, Registrar's Office; J. Eaton, Graduate School II. Charge (Commission on Graduate Studies and Policies 2.10.94): Review new and revised courses and degree programs. Criteria to be considered in the review process include compliance to established guidelines and procedures, potential overlap and conflict with other courses and programs, academic quality and relevance, resources needed, and available supporting courses and programs. III. Summary of Year's Activities: A. Meetings - Eight meetings - December 1, January 19, February 9 and 23, March 23, April 13 and 27, and May 11. B. Courses Considered Approved - 130 Deleted upon request of department - 7 C. Programs Considered New programs approved - 2 Program revisions approved - 3 V. Recommendations A. Have college representatives and chair identified before the end of Spring Semester in order to begin work early in the Fall. B. Encourage Colleges to provide briefing for their representative before sending course or program proposals forward. Submitted by Rebecca P. Lovingood, Chair The committee's reports were accepted as submitted. DRSCAP Committee - no report. Graduate Student Relations Committee - no report. Ad Hoc Committee on IFS policy: Dr. Ron Johnson stated that the work of this committee has not been completed for the year. Ad Hoc Committee on Extended Campus Graduate Programs: Dr. Bruce Chaloux stated that an information copy of the Commonwealth Campus proposal has been shared with all commission members. Copies of this proposal have also been shared with the Provost's staff and with the College Deans and the responses have been positive. The final draft of the proposal will be brought to this commission at the first meeting in the fall semester. Academic Integrity Committee: Dr. Merola stated that the committee was organized as a co-committee of representatives from CGS&P and COR. The committee was charged with two tasks: (1) to formulate a conflict of interest policy that would put the university into compliance with federal regulations (2) to begin discussions on the general topics of academic interests, conflict of interests and conflict of commitment. The Conflict of Interest Policy was discussed throughout the governance system and adopted during the University Council meeting on March 6, 1995. The college representatives of the commissions were asked to discuss the general topics of academic interests, conflict of interests, etc. within their individual colleges and departments. At this point, many responses have been collected and will be distributed to committee members to contemplate over the summer months and discuss in the fall semester meetings. 6. Graduate Student Assembly Report - Brian Sayre stated that this is a transition period to bring in the new officers. The Travel Fund and GRDP application forms have been distributed and are due in July. He thanked the commission, on behalf of the GSA, for it's support throughout the year. 7. University Library Committee - Dr. Hitchingham noted that the Library will be doing a budget and materials review and an assessment of serials. 8. Discussion and Committee Reference: 8a. Action on Recommendation for Chair-Elect: Dr. John Burton was elected unanimously. 8b. Report from the Graduate Honor System: Mr. Danny Waddill, Chief Justice of the Graduate Honor System, stated that the Graduate Honor System has been handling 8-10 cases per year for the past few years. Most cases involve cheating and plagiarism. This year, however, three cases have involved falsification of research data or credentials. In light of these violations, Mr. Waddill feels that the Committee on Academic Integrity will serve a useful purpose and this is something that is needed. The Graduate Honor System Constitution is found in Appendix III in the Policies and Procedures and Course Catalog. Knowledge of these rules are the complete responsibility of the student. One standard applies to all graduate students regardless of the varied backgrounds. The Honor System tries to education in-coming students as much as possible especially in the fall. The Honor System representatives speak to the large groups at orientation and ask that they be invited to all departments. Mr. Waddill stressed that all violations should be submitted to the Honor System for investigation. 8c. Graduate Assistantship Contract: Dr. Martha Johnson stated that problems with not having standardized appointments for graduate assistants have been of concern for approximately ten years. The problems have been recognized by the graduate commission since 1990. When this issue was originally studied by the commission, it was considered a "truth in packaging" issue. The Student Relations Committee devised a standard letter for department use in 1991. The same issue came to the commission in 1992 and the written offer letter was studied again. The problems, that were being addressed by the commission's work in drafting these letters, have never been effectively dealt with. Dean Johnson listed many areas that need to be covered in an offer letter to individuals who have been given assistantships. Dr. Johnson circulated a draft contract as a guideline to begin discussion on a template that can be used university wide. The Personnel Appointment Committee has reviewed this draft for use in the BANNER system. Currently, BANNER cannot review the in-basket system that is used for assistantships. When the BANNER system is implemented the procedure for processing assistantships will be changed and that will necessitate the use of these contracts. From an audit point of view, a signed appointment contract must be developed and in place in the departments at the time of BANNER implementation. A committee will study this contract during the summer months and Dr. Johnson requested that volunteers contact her to serve on the committee. 8d. Final Comments by the Chair: Dr. Merola stated that, at the first of the year, Dean Peters asked that this commission not dwell so much in minutia but to deal with substantive issues. Dr. Merola said that he feels that the commission met that charge for this year. Dr. Peters stated that he wanted to re-enforce the issue that the National Research Council ranking of Graduate Schools is scheduled to come out late this summer. This is conducted every twelve years. This ranking will be fairly controversial because one of the things that will be examined will be the comparison of departments from this university to departments at other universities within this state. This will not be used as an internal documents, state coordinating councils will be studying this document. Dr. Peters also said that he expects that CGS&P will examine some aspects of that report. 9. Adjournment - 4:32 Respectfully submitted, John L. Eaton Secretary