Graduate Council Meeting Minutes
February 8, 2008
Attendance: Joseph Bernt, Joanne Bray for Judith Edinger, John Day, Howard Dewald, JoAnn Dugan, Andrew Escobedo, Kamile Geist, Jennifer Horner, David Juedes, Hans Kruse, Jody Lamb, Christine Mattley, Brian McCarthy, Mike Prudich, Josep Rota, William Shambora, Katherine Tadlock.
Excused: Catherine Axinn, Dominic Barbato, Judith Edinger, Tim Heckman, Aimee Howley, David Mould, Chester Pach, Animesh Rathore, Robert Staron, Wanda Weinberg, Peter Wickman, and Yinjiao Xu.
Convened: The meeting was convened at 2:05 pm.
1. Approval of Minutes of the January meeting
The minutes from the January 11th, 2008 meeting were approved.
2. Chair’s Report (David Juedes)
A. Candidate Forums: David encouraged members of the Graduate Council to attend the forums for the candidates for the VP for Research/Dean of Graduate College. He said that two candidates have already been on campus and two more are slated to arrive next week (11th and 12th of February) and the following week (19th and 20th of February).
B. Task Force on Centers of Excellence in Graduate and Professional Education: David told members that the progress on the questionnaires for the self-study has been slow and steady so far. He said that he expects to present a meaningful draft of the questionnaire to Graduate Council at the next meeting.
3. Remarks by Katie Tadlock
A. GERB Awards: Katie informed members that the two awards were made to the Creative Writing Program in the Department of English and to the Nanoscale and Quantum Phenomena Institute. The money made available to them is going to be added to their base budget.
B. Mini-GERB: Katie informed members that the Provost has asked that this initiative move forward. The focus is on the regional Masters and fee-paying Doctoral programs. The programs will receive one-time-only program enhancement money.
C. Graduate College Task Force: Katie said that during the last few meetings the Task Force has been focused on identifying metrics and they will share some of this information at the Founder’s Day celebrations.
D. CGS—April 15th deadline: Katie said that questions have arisen about enforcing the deadline for students starting their programs in the summer. She clarified that departments can ask students to make a commitment at an earlier date, if the starting date of the program is in the summer. She added that, per CGS, “A few months ago we had a similar inquiry about the interpretation of the resolution for offers to begin in the spring session. As you know, the language in the resolution is for the next academic year. There is probably general agreement that a spring term is in the same academic year as the previous fall term. Some institutions treat summer terms as the beginning of a new academic year and some as the end of the academic year starting previous fall. So, the strict interpretation of the resolution depends upon how your institution treats the summer session”.
E. Dean/VP Interviews: Katie informed members that Dr. Paul Sanberg and Dr. Jack McIver have already been on campus. Dr. Mark Welker and Dr. Rathindra Bose will be on campus on the 11th and 12th and 19th and 20th of February respectively.
F. Enrollment Update: Katie informed members that graduate applications are up by 267 from last year at this point in time. Out of those 234 are international applications.
G. Graduation Fair: Katie informed members that a graduate fair will be held on April 15th and 16th. This is modeled after similar fairs at other institutions. The focus of the fair is on graduating seniors, but it is intended to be a one-stop affair with the Bursar, Registrar, Alumni, and Public Occasions offices all being represented there. Staff members from the office of Graduate Studies will also be there to answer questions and provide information about participation in commencement to doctoral students. A major change from last year is that the academic regalia will now be available for pick up at Baker Center rather than Memorial Auditorium.
H. Five Year Academic Plan: Katie brought member’s attention to the handout about the five year plan in the packet. She said that the document lists increasing strategic investment in targeted graduate education and professional programs, investing in financial support for graduate students, and strengthening research and creative activity in targeted areas as some of the objectives.
4. New Business
A. Policies and Regulations Committee (Dissertation Filing Fee): Brian McCarthy presented the proposal on behalf of the committee that the filing fee be paid by the students starting Fall 2008. David asked who would collect the fee. Katie said that the fee will be paid at the time of the submission of the dissertation and the Thesis and Dissertation Services office will collect the fee.
Graduate Council approved the proposal for the fee to be charged to the graduating students with two members dissenting. Two members voted against the measure: Joeseph Bernt and Chester Pach (as communicated by David Juedes).
David informed members that the proposal will now be sent to the Provost for her approval.
B. Admissions Requirements Committee (Conflict of Interest): Per the recommendation of the Admissions Requirements committee, Graduate Council approved the management plan proposed by the department for Greg Polgar’s conflict of interest case.
C. Curriculum Committee (MBA program in China): Per the recommendation of the Curriculum Committee, Graduate Council approved the proposal for the MBA program to be offered in association with the International College of Beijing at China Agriculture University.
Andrew asked about the credentials of the faculty who will be hired in China. John said that the faculty will go through an approval process. Katie said that the North Central Association also needs to be informed that OU will be offering this program in China. She added that this process can happen at the time the campus processes of approval are taking place.
The meeting was adjourned at 2:40 pm. The next meeting is on March 14th, 2008 in the Governance room in Walter Hall from 2 to 4 pm.
