Attendance:  Margret Appel, Joseph Bernt, Kenneth Hicks, Jenny Lau, Bhavin Mehta, Averell Overby, Edwin Rowland, Arvind Singhal, Scott Sparks, Edward Yost, Leona Cibrowski, Bobbi Conliffe, Glenn Doston, Jessica Haigney, Daniel Innis, Roger Radcliff, Josep Rota, Maureen Weissenrieder, Kent Mulliner for Julia Zimmerman, Larisa Zelenskaya

Staff:  Gary Schumacher, Katherine Tadlock, Jennifer Francone

Excused:  Raymie McKerrow, Michael Meyer

Absent:  Mehmet Celenk, Peter Harrington, Rajindar Koshal, Michael Maume, James Bush

Convened:  2:10 P.M.

Chair's Report:  Margret Appel

Appel presented the minutes of the January 12, 2001 Graduate Council meeting for approval.  She suggested amending the minutes by adding the phrase " and when individuals move from nondegree to degree status" on the last page at the end of the sentence beginning "There was also discussion of how to deal".  Haigney moved approval the minutes as amended and Hicks second the motion.  The minutes were approved by voice vote.

Appel brought to member's attention that Ohio University is a signatory on the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) Resolution Regarding Graduate Scholars, Fellows, Trainees, and Assistants.  The resolution states that any offer of financial assistance to a graduate student does not need to be accepted by the student until April 15th (or the Monday after the 15th if the 15th falls on a weekend).  The student may change his or her mind any time until April 15th.  A stipulation in the resolution calls for institutions supporting the resolution to send the resolution with any financial offer made to students.  A copy of the resolution and a discussion of the intent and issues related to the resolution can be found at www.cgsnet.org.

Associate Provost's Report:  Gary Schumacher

Schumacher reported that the announcement of the Eminent Scholar and Incentive awards has been further delayed.  We will hear nothing until early March about Eminent Scholars and information about the incentive proposals will be even later.  The final Eminent Scholar announcements should be in June.

Staff from the Office of Graduate Studies have had a series of six meetings with Graduate Chairs and support staff personnel to discuss graduate contracts and admission processes.  This is part of an effort to improve communication and processing operations between departments and offices with a primary goal of ensuring that students are paid promptly, their tuition scholarships are dispersed quickly, and that admissions materials are promptly handled.  Graduate chairs and support staff have been provided with checklists, guidelines, timelines, and other information to assist in their work.

The Office of Graduate Studies now has a mechanism that will assist departments in monitoring their operating budgets.  Beginning in summer 2001, all tuition scholarships that will be reimbursed will be charged to accounts numbered 23-; these accounts will be kept separate from operating budgets.

The turnout at the modular training programs continues to be low.   Karin Sandell from the Center for Teaching Excellence and  Schumacher are talking about alternative strategies to assist graduate students in meeting teaching duties and learning the faculty role.  One idea is going to departments with tailor-made training programs.

The pull-down menu for submitting electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) is now operative on OhioLink.  A draft has been written of a document on how to complete an electronic dissertation.  The Office of Graduate Studies has made some contacts with students for dissertations to allow us to try out the process.  Individuals can now get to the ETD site directly from OhioLink.  The Computer Services Center is willing to help with the training modules.

Last spring Graduate Council asked Schumacher to discuss the possibility of moving the Graduate Graduation Ceremony to the Sunday following the undergraduate ceremony now that summer session will begin a week later.  Schumacher has had a series of conversations and meetings with President Glidden and others regarding this potential move.  The President requested and reviewed substantial information about the numbers of students influenced, implementation problems, staff problems, and cost.  He has indicated that he does not want to move the graduation ceremony at this time, primarily because of substantial problems in getting faculty and staff to attend or work graduation ceremonies on both days of the weekend.

The cost document is out to departments for the Grant Funded Tuition Scholarship Policy.  A blended rate will be used for the grant applications.  As an additional incentive, Schumacher has also authorized that Graduate Studies will pay the general fee for students covered under this grant for the remainder of this year and next year.

The funding commission will reconvene Wednesday, February 14, 2001.  One item that may be discussed is the funding of applied doctoral programs.  If applied doctoral programs are treated like current doctoral programs, they will not generate any new subsidy.  They may be treated as masters programs and, therefore, receive subsidy.

Report on Faculty Senate Finance Committee Study:  Ken Hicks

Gary Moden of the Faculty Senate Finance Committee conducted a study of how the university has been distributing its funds over the last twenty years.  There has been a shift in the percentage of monies going to the academic area from 54% to 51%. This would equate to almost one hundred faculty positions.  It is hard to track what the money is used for.  There was an increase in money allotted to the Vice President for Research, but this is a good increase because it supports research in academics.  Schumacher noted that concerns over the changes need to be carefully considered.  For example, if there is an increase in financial support for the development area, this may bring in more revenue for the university from donors.  Appel noted that the committee had done a college-by-college breakdown of funding which is available from the Faculty Senate.  Bernt asked if the Finance Committee was planning to do a finer breakdown of where the money is going, especially as there may be more going on in the budget numbers in terms of faculty numbers and salaries.  A growing part of the academic budget is now computer-support personnel.  The question is how far to take the study and what the information means.  Hicks commented that there needed to be a way to get the money back into academics.  Haigney asked what the response to the study was.  Hicks responded that he had not yet heard any detailed explanation from the administration.  Radcliff asked if this change is just a problem with Ohio University or are other universities showing a similar trend or a worse trend.  He also asked about the budgetary implications of the shift to being a Research University.  Haigney noted that there has been a redistribution of faculty among colleges but not a loss of faculty.  Rota commented that there are three possible risks when looking at this information:  (1)  are the same definitions being used throughout the years, (2) Ohio University is different now--these changes could be good or bad, and (3) a static model may be created.  Bernt observed that the increase in enrollment over this time period is not reflected in the report.  Haigney noted that scholarships have moved from the academic pool to the central pool and that this needs to be considered in interpreting the budget numbers.  Glenn Doston and Gary Moden will be meeting with the Provost to discuss this issue further.

Curriculum Committee:  Scott Sparks

Special Education would like to offer a Master in Education at the Chillicothe campus.  The program would begin in fall 2001. The committee recommended approval.  The program was approved with a voice vote.

Sparks updated Council on the program review process.  The first set of programs have gone through the on-site review process.  It was noted that Dan Gulino, chair of the University Curriculum Council (UCC) Review Committee, has been doing a great job.  After the Review Committee has written the report on each program and deans and program chairs have had an opportunity to respond, the report comes to Graduate Council.  Any comments that Graduate Council has will be attached to the report together with an overall rating of the program.  Rota inquired about when the reports will go to the units.  The first draft of the report will go to the department chair and dean and they will have the option of writing a response.  A meeting is set up with the departments before the report goes to Graduate Council.  The final reports should go before the Board of Trustees in the fall.

Policies and Regulations Committee:  Maureen Weissenrieder

Weissenrieder indicated that there were three concerns from Graduate Council regarding the new assistantship definitions presented at the January meeting.  They were:  1.  There was concern that the Administrative Assistant (AA) designation did not apply to the Fine Arts area.  The AA designation was changed back to a Graduate Assistant (GA) designation.  2.  In the examples of GA duties, Graduate Council did not want to support clerical duties for graduate students.  The duties should help the student receive professional training.  3.  The Research Assistant (RA) definition was too traditional and it did not encompass a full range of activities (specifically creative activities).

The modified assistantship definitions were approved by voice vote.

Admissions Requirements Committee:  Joe Bernt

Bernt reported that the committee had found that the following employees had no conflict of interest in pursuing graduate work at the university:  Stephanie Eberle, Douglas Knuth, Candy McBride, John Rhodes, Leroy Scribner, Jason Smith, and Stephanie Szabo. The report was unanimously approved.

Weissenrieder brought up the issue of students switching from nondegree to degree status with little filter.  One problem in monitoring this is that nondegree students may or may not currently be taking classes.  Tadlock indicated that the Graduate Student Services Office is trying to keep track of students who are moving from nondegree to degree status, especially for the degree in the higher education program.  It was suggested when looking at a person with nondegree status for potential conflict of interest, it should be kept in mind that they may move to degree status.

Adjourned:  2:56 P.M.