Attendance: Margaret Appel, Joseph Bernt, Mehmet Celenk, Tiao Chang, William Condee, Douglas Green, Kenneth Hicks, Donald Jordan, Averell Overby, Scott Sparks, Daniel Innis, Patrick Washburn, Gary Schumacher, Leona Cibrowski, Kent Mulliner for Julia Zimmerman, Bobbi Conliffee, Larisa Zelenskaya, Adam Weaver

Staff: Gordon Schanzenbach, Jennifer Francone

Excused: Rajindar Koshal, Donald Miles, Maureen Weissenrieder, Jessica Haigney, Josep Rota, Glenn Doston, Jenny Lau

Absent: Richard Miller, Jerrel Mitchell

Guests: Ann Paulins, Martin Tuck, Marti Schwartz

Convened: 2:08 P.M.

Chair’s report: Last month’s minutes were voted on and passed. Ken Hicks commented that he felt that Graduate Council this year had been very effective. It took a stand with the conflict of interest case and passed several policies that help graduate education at Ohio University. He is proud of what Graduate Council accomplished this year.

Chair Hicks passed out for review the procedures for Conflict of Interest. The language at the top of the document was for reference only and was taken directly from the Faculty Senate handbook. He noted that any changes to that language would need to be made through Faculty Senate. Joseph Bernt passed out an alternate version of the procedures. Joseph Bernt felt that his proposed document deals with the balance between administration and faculty. Under his document, administrators and faculty are encouraged to take courses and even degrees, but degrees should not be in their own college. Bernt also felt that the line is drawn at the power relation between the potential student and the department. Ken Hicks expressed concerns that the language would not be acceptable to the administration. Bernt agreed to have the terms academic chairs and directors removed from the top portion of his document. Ken Hicks stated that he feels Graduate Council is there to make policy and that it should spend less faculty time on procedural issues such as this. Council voted on and passed the amendments. Council voted on and passed the procedures for Conflict of Interest.

Associate Provost for Graduate Studies’ Report: The Provost has made a decision on the investment component and the decision will be released to the press on June 2, 2000. The two proposals recommended were from Condensed Matter and Surface Sciences in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and Clinical Health Research in the Department of Psychology. Both programs had very strong support from the committee. The Associate Provost for Graduate Studies will write the document for the Board of Regents recommending the two programs. At Ohio University, the approach to the Investment Component was to fund fewer programs initially and add more programs later. During the 2000-2001 academic year, funds will be available through the Office of Graduate Studies to help units bring in outside aid in building better proposals. There will be an additional competition during the academic year 2001-2002.

The incentive fund and eminent scholar proposals are out to the committees. The committees will meet on June 8 and will have recommendations to the Provost by June 15, 2000. Letters of intent for both proposals are due at the Board of Regents by July 1, 2000.

Computer Science’s final proposal will be going to the Board of Regents within the month. The program should be up for approval by the Board by early fall.

Two years ago a committee reviewed the issue of finals and graduation. The committee recommended moving the beginning of summer session back a week so graduate graduation could be moved to Sunday. The Faculty Senate passed the request to move summer session back a week. Beginning next summer, summer session will begin one week later. The benefits to moving graduate graduation to Sunday is that it will be easier for parents to attend and there would be no conflict with exams. Graduate Council voted on and approved supporting moving graduate graduation to Sunday.

The TA orientation committee passed out an informational report to Graduate Council on its findings regarding TA orientation and training. They were charged with trying to understand what happens at Ohio University for TA training. A survey was sent to all departments and they discovered from the survey that there was quite a variance between departments about TA training and orientation. The committee recommended that an orientation be held for one day before the fall quarter begins. This year it will be held on August 31. During the orientation, there will be breakout sessions that deal with different issues. Throughout the year, additional modules will be held for TA’s. This fall orientation is to be held in addition to any training done by the departments. The Center for Teaching Excellence is handling the orientation training. In following years, the date will be announced well in advance so it can be sent out with offers to incoming students.

Gary Schumacher has charged the Policy and Procedures Committee to better define the terms GA/TA/RA. The Board of Regents and Ohio University would like better definitions for tracking purposes. The committee is to make its recommendations by Mid-fall next year.

At the Funding Commission, there was discussion on changing how to count education and business students in Ph.D. programs. The currect procedure overestimates doctoral enrollment. The Regents are also concerned about tuition scholarships without service, but OGS stipends should help to negate the concern at Ohio University. The classification funding model that was being considered in the spring is currently on hold.

Committees:

Curriculum: The School of Human and Consumer Sciences wants to offer a master’s degree with a child and family studies major at the Zanesville campus beginning in the fall quarter. They have 25 students who are interested. The program is improved because they will be offering it over a three year period versus the two year period they used in the past. The courses will be taught on-load. Regional Higher Education is helping with faculty. Their target is primarily full-time employees in the human studies field. They are only offering one cohort at a time to keep the quality high. The program was voted on and approved.

The Department of Sociology and Anthropology wants to offer a master’s degree with a concentration in criminology on the Chillicothe campus beginning in the fall quarter. The courses would be taught on overload. All courses required are the same as what is required at the Athens campus. There are 112 people interested in the program. They are primarily in the law enforcement industry. Each course would be taught one day a week and there would be one course per quarter. The program would take three years to complete and would include summer quarter. The program was voted on and approved.

New Business: There are proposed changes for the Faculty Handbook being brought forth to Faculty Senate regarding University Curriculum Council. The changes regard procedures for program name changes, relocation, and new major codes. The Provost’s office has agreed with the changes. The guidelines will be on the web for departments to view so they know the proper procedures.

Adjourned: 3:30 P.M.