Attendance:  Catherine Axinn, Joseph Bernt, Duncan Brown, Scott Carson, Leona Cibrowski, Eddith Dashiell, John Day, Walter Dekeseredy, Judith Edinger, Katherine Jellison, Peter Johnson, David Juedes, David Kidder, Jerrel Mitchell, Averell Overby, Marilyn Poeppelmeyer, Josep Rota, Scott Sparks, Michael Willits, Julie Zimmerman

Staff:  Michael Mumper, Katherine Tadlock, Anne Walker

Excused:    Harvey Ballard, Charles McWeeney,

Absent:   Todd Hoffman, Velugula Hemkumar, Robert Roe, Maureen Weissenrieder,

Guests:  (none)

Convened: 2:00 p.m.

v      Chair Report:  Joe Bernt, Chair 

-- Comments:

ü       Joe opened the meeting recognizing new and returning members. Committee assignments were made.  (see handout)       

ü       A motion was made to approve the 06/13/03 minutes. (approved)

ü       A second hand out was distributed regarding the number of Graduate Programs in Ohio.  Joe remarked that there are six graduate programs up for review this year, “Math” and “Business” being two of them. Six members of Grad Council are needed to form a committee for this.  Joe asked that you email your intent to him.  (see handout)

1)    Associate Provost for Graduate Studies Report:    Dr. Michael Mumper

       (see handouts)

ü       MCKEE HOUSE MOVE:  Consolidation of Graduate Appointments, Graduate Student Services and Minority Graduate Student Affairs has been completed.  Stop by anytime.  There will be an open house on Thursday, November 6^th, from 2:00 – 5:00 pm. There is a nice conference room that can seat 12 comfortably with an internet connection and tools you might need for a meeting. Council was invited to use this room and to contact Anne for any scheduling purposes.  

ü       Training has been taking place with various Grad Chairs by invitation.  This is to review their procedures and the procedures of Graduate Studies, to work towards the goal of more awareness and efficiency between these areas.

ü       Enrollment is stable in Athens but has dropped at the regional campuses. 

ü       RACGS -- There have not been any meetings yet. Two programs are under review, one being a PhD in Chemical Engr., but are not scheduled for the first meeting.

ü       New application fee: The increase from $30.00 to $45.00 has been approved, however, no decision has been made yet as to when this will go in to effect. It may be that the best time will be the fall of 2004-2005

ü       Minority Graduate Recruitment (see handout) will have visitation weekend the end of October. Dan Williams is doing this and we hope there will be good success from this regarding minority enrollment.

ü       Enrollment Management Task Force – Per request of the President and the Provost, this task force will be put in place to look at the balance of undergraduate and graduates. Who should determine it and where should we be moving. There are three priorities in mind:

a) Set up an Advisory Committee -- This committee has been set up to obtain several things.

ü       On-line graduate contracts to facilitate the process and make this a smoother process for everyone, particularly the graduate students. We are not sure when this will be available yet. There are meetings taking place with the committee along with a future meeting with payroll.

ü       On-line graduate applications -- as with on-line graduate contracts, the advantage will be that certain information will be directed to Graduate Studies, the department and SIS, to better inform and streamline the process.

ü       Staff changes -- (see handout) Taking the staff we have at Graduate Studies and make it so whoever has an application sees that particular application all the way through, including the graduate contract process. Training will be necessary and the idea again, is to streamline the process from the time the student applies to grad school until the time they leave.

b) Graduate enrollment and recruitment - 

ü       We will be looking for input from Tootie Overby and Joe Bernt.

c) Problem Solving – (see handout) Need to bring the amount of fee waivers awarded in line with fee payers.

2.  Director of Graduate Student Services:  Dr. Katie Tadlock:  (see handout)

üStaff Changes -- We are moving towards a case management staff of four people to handle domestic and international applications.  This will provide a better work flow and cross-training as well. Also we will be hiring a “temporary” application evaluator to help during our busy season.

ü             Graduate Catalog -- The catalog for the 2003-2005 will be available the end of October. There are still old catalogs left.  The shipment of the new catalogs was delayed due to the move to McKee House.  New programs are reflected in the catalog.  Catalogs are no longer being mailed, though GSS never mailed Internationally.  The graduate application materials have been removed from the back of the catalog.  They can be downloaded on-line at the GSS site.

Much discussion arose regarding the catalog in terms of when courses are added to the catalog; that perhaps some have not been approved curriculum yet or are just proposed courses.  Katie stated that the editor is just assuming that whatever information he receives from a college is updated.  Joe Rota commented that he had a student that wanted to take a course that wasn't really offered.  Maureen commented that the curriculum process and the grad catalog process were separate entities, which need to be cross referenced.  She mentioned that perhaps the UCC could send information to file so we can have updated information before the printing is done. Duncan Brown commented that he would not want the UCC making the decisions about what curriculum is used. Michael Willits suggested that we track down who is involved in the process and develop a central depository for this type of information.

ü             Michael Willits --  Katie is working with him (see green handout)

regarding Grad Council consideration reference the policies of returning graduate students. Michael said the James did most of the research, so he is not sure at this meeting whether or not he looked at other schools. Maureen brought up the issue of GPA. 

The issue of second chance students is to design a policy that would help the student who had to leave because of life's realities and not because of a low GPA. Katie mentioned that the second chance  processes are already in place, concerning withdrawal from the university and the fact that e.g. if a student fails engineering they can go to Math and be admitted provisionally.  Maureen stated that then you have the issue that the student can not receive any financial aid on a conditional admission. Joe Bernt thought it would be much better to see what the student's problem actually was.  Gerald Mitchell stated that this is different between UG and Graduate level and is there a question of maturity?  Edith asked if Katie would want full disclosure and yes, Katie did.  Michael stated that regardless of the maturity level, things do happen. He welcomed any comments he received at this meeting and will bring it back to council.

***Joe Bernt stated that this issue will now go forward to the Policy and Regulations Committee. 

ü             Contact List -- An extensive contact list of Grad Chairs is being done.  Also GSS is using the NOTE screen on the SIS system to provide more proficiency.  You might check the NOTE screen for example, if the student has a HOLD on their account; e.g. for registration due to not having an I9 done. 

3) CURRICULUM COMMITTEE REPORT: Scott Sparks, Chair

ü             No report at this time.

4)    POLICY AND PROCEDURE : Marilyn Poeppelmeyer, Chair

ü             No report at this time.

5)    ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS: Catherine Axinn, Chair

ü             No report at this time.          

6)    GRADUATE STUDENT AFFAIRS and FELLOWSHIPS:  Peter Johnson, Chair

ü             No report at this time.

7)    PLANNING and STRATEGY COMMITTEE (ad hoc):  Tootie Overby, Chair

ü                   No report at this time.

8)    NEW BUSINESS:  No new business at this time.

There being no further business, motion for adjournment was made and seconded at 3:15 p.m.

Next Meeting:   Friday, Nov. 14^th, 2003

                        334 Baker Center