Graduate Council Meeting
Minutes
January 11, 2002
Attendance: Joseph Bernt, Mehmet Celenk, Howard Dewald, Katherine Jellison, Bhavin Mehta, Paula Popovich, Marilyn Poeppelmeyer, Edwin Rowland, Edward Yost, Leona Cibrowski, Eddith Dashiell, Glenn Doston, Daniel Innis, Charles McWeeney, Josep Rota, Maureen Weissenrieder, Derek Bleyle, Holly Rivers.
Staff: Raymie McKerrow, Katherine Tadlock, Jennifer Francone
Excused: Walter Dekeseredy, Julia Zimmerman
Absent: Harvey Ballard, Averell Overby, Arvind Singhal, Scott Sparks, Bobbi Conliffe, Roger Radcliff, Danielle Johnson.
Convened: 2:12 P.M.
Chair’s Report: Cibrowski moved and Rowland seconded to pass November’s minutes. The minutes were passed. Chair Bernt wanted to discuss two policy matters that Dr. McKerrow brought before Graduate Council: the awarding of posthumous degrees and an appeal involving the twelve hours of transfer credit for master’s degrees. Bernt decided that the University had a policy on posthumous degrees at the graduate level in place and that is that we do not award posthumous degrees since we do not have a policy stating otherwise. Bernt decided that we will not write a policy on posthumous degree awarding unless someone on Graduate Council requests that we do so. Chair Bernt spoke with several people on campus regarding the appeal of the twelve hour transfer policy who recommended it be appealed to the college involved first before it would come before Graduate Council.
Associate Provost for Graduate Studies’ Report: Dr. McKerrow and Dr. Tadlock are proposing revisions in the Graduate Catalog relating to masters and doctoral level policies and procedures, as well as the creation of a new ‘Certificate’ policy. Drs. McKerrow and Tadlock have drafted policies to give to the Policies and Regulations Committee. They want to meet with the committee to discuss the policies. University International Council has decided any proposal going before them with a graduate component would also come before Graduate Council. Dr. McKerrow is working on procedures on how this would work and for which programs. This will also help to keep Graduate Council informed on international graduate issues.
The Graduate Studies Office will be scheduling sessions with Graduate Directors and support staff in the coming month. These sessions will be an opportunity to review current procedures, discuss recent payroll and other issues, and present updates on Electronic Theses and Dissertation processes.
The Proposal Development Plan for the Doctorate in Physical Therapy is undergoing review at the Regents Advisory Committee for Graduate Study (RACGS). There is a new Masters of Science in Nursing proposal that will be undergoing internal review. The Doctor of Audiology final proposal is being developed and should be presented to RACGS for review later this academic year.
The Office of Graduate Student Services will continue to monitor application and admissions issues. The impact of any changes in visa clearance processes is still unclear. Drs. McKerrow and Rota will be composing a memo addressing the issue of international student recruitment. It is currently speculated that it could take six months to get a visa. Graduate Student Services is currently seeing visa change requests made in October just now being approved. The memo will recommend to graduate chairs to be mindful of the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) policy date of April 15. It is recommended that the admission process be started early because international students will need to apply for visas by February 1st to have a chance of being here for fall quarter. Dr. Rota stated that the CGS policy does not prevent early admissions. The Center for International Studies has two admissions deadline dates to help with decisions. If a department waits until after April 15, international students will most likely not make it here by September 1st. Departments should implore international students to accept early but tell them that they can change their mind. With the new laws, universities will need to send papers to the embassy instead of directly to the students. This will reduce the number of visa forms around because a student could get several forms from different universities. However, this does add time to the visa process. Students will need to schedule an appointment with the embassy and this could be as much as six months out. The embassy will perform a background check and the student will have to decide on one university before a visa will be granted. Universities will need to report to INS the international students who have arrived on campus, otherwise INS will try to find the students and handle as appropriate. The Council of Graduate Schools will need to talk about their policy and how it will affect international students. The policy is designed to protect students. It is recommended that departments might consider making more offers than they have to help insure enrollment. The Office of Graduate Studies will try to help cover any additional tuition scholarships if a department gets all of their recruits.
OhioUniversity is one of five institutions participating in a collaborative graduate program funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF): the Appalachian Collaborative Center for Learning Assessment and Instruction in Math (ACCLAIM) will enhance math instruction. The five-year grant is for $10 million and includes University of Tennessee, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and MarshallUniversity.
Preliminary projections for student enrollment show a normal drop from Fall to Winter, with the decrease somewhat less than usual. Once numbers have firmed up, Dr. McKerrow will share those with you. There are no obvious reasons why this year’s enrollment numbers are down. It could possibly be a cycle issue with certain programs going offline. Another issue is that OhioUniversity is not in an urban area and therefore we will probably not see a boost in enrollment due to the declining economy. Other universities in Ohio are seeing their enrollment numbers increase.
Budget proposals are due next week. Dr. McKerrow will be arguing for more support for stipends, as well as for a reduction in the general fee amount for students on graduate contracts. Now is a critical time to implement a general fee reduction due to the continual increase in tuition charges. The Provost is very interested in making this happen in this budget cycle.
Ad Hoc Committee on Graduate Student Rights and Responsibilities’ Report: The committee’s purpose is to took into graduate student rights and responsibilities. Drs. Popovich and Tadlock met to discuss the list of issues sent to Dr. Popovich by Chair Bernt. Drs. Popovich and Tadlock discovered that most of the issues are addressed by some source somewhere within the university; however, it is difficult to know where the information is. Dr. Popovich recommends that a web site be created compiling the information and getting the information out to students. The site would also have Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). Dr. Weissenrieder commented that faculty senate is addressing the issue of students rights on paper publications. Dr. Popovich commented that most students expect to find this sort of information on the web. The committee will begin to compile FAQs and other topics. The Office of Graduate Studies will be in charge of creating the web page. Chair Bernt said that his concern is that information important regarding graduate student rights and responsibilities be located in or accessible at a single location and a web site would serve this purpose well. He thanked Dr. Popovich for her committee’s work thus far.
Admission Requirements Committee Report: The committee reviewed Sandra Baker, James Epstein, Kristin Mazzeo, William Mullins, Erin Shannon, Sarah Hina, Donald Sebera, Timur Skeini, and Kumika Toma for potential conflict of interest. It was passed that no one had a conflict of interest.
Policies and Regulations Committee Report: The committee is to review three policies: rights of teaching assistants, and employment of graduate student employed on graduate assistantship contracts. The committee would like to go over their charge and meet with Dr. McKerrow before presenting anything to Graduate Council.
New Business: Dr. Tadlock presented information on application trends. She stated that applications seem delayed this year. Applications usually begin to come in about a week before Christmas until about the end of January.
Dr. Dewald was wondering if there was any way that departments can find out sooner when students are transferring either to another department or institution. Dr. Tadlock stated that there was no mechanism in order to track transfers. She noted that Alan Boyd’s office handles the paperwork for international students (i.e., visa changes). It was noted that this can cause problems with graduate contracts.
Adjourned: 3:14 P.M.
