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GRADUATE COUNCIL MINUTES

February 19, 2009

MEMBERS PRESENT

Voting: Professors C.R. Geren, D.W. Finn, D.A. James, J.B. Kerr, T.W. Martin, M.B. Orr, L.C. Purcell, F. M. Scheide, P.R. Selvam, M.R. Thomsen; Ms. S. Sweeney; Mr. B. Winston

Non-Voting: Professors D.L. Graham, B.E. Hinton, P.R. Koski, J.R. Young: Ms. S.L. Theiss

MEMBERS ABSENT

Voting: Professors A.E. Ellstrand, C.H. (Banks) Hughes, L.M. Webb

Non-Voting: Professors C.H. Adams, W.P. Curington

GUESTS  Professors K. Grover; K. Kacirek; Ms. L. Mosesso; Ms. T. Fisher

The meeting was called to order at 2:00 p.m. by Chair Patricia Koski

  1. Minutes for the December 18, 2008, Graduate Council meeting stand approved, as no changes were suggested.  The Council did not meet in January, but did approve by e-mail graduate faculty applications and course changes.  The December minutes of the Graduate Council and those course changes and graduate faculty recommendations approved in January by e-mail may be found at http://www.uark.edu/depts/gradinfo/dean/gradcouncil/minutes/index.html.
  2. Dean Geren told the Council that he, Provost McMath and Richard Hudson, Vice Chancellor for Government Relations, transported our White Papers to Washington DC earlier in the week and met with the federal representatives. He also reported that the University will receive between $1 and $1.75 million for Razorback Transit. Also, there will be a $4 billion increase in funding to NSF for social and behavioral sciences.
  3. Professor Koski reported that Claretha Banks Hughes, a member of the Council, received the Outstanding Assistant Professor Award from the University Council for Workforce and Human Resource Education.
  4. Professor Koski reported on the activities of the Academic Appeals Subcommittee and the Teaching Assistant Effectiveness Advisory Committee (TAEAC).  A report for the TAEAC, prepared by Diane Cook, is Attachment A.  The Academic Appeals Subcommittee approved an appeal from a student to be allowed to register after the 11th day, when there was no University error preventing the registration.
  5. Lynn Mosesso, director of the Office of International and Graduate Recruitment and Admissions, spoke about a new portion of the GRE test, called the Personal Potential Index, which will be released this summer.  More information about this test can be found on the website of the Educational Testing Service (www.ets.org).
  6. Old Business:  Professor K. Grover brought back to the Council a proposal for course and hour changes to the Ed.D. degree in Workforce Development Education (WDEDED).  Professor K. Kacirek was also in attendance.  The proposal was approved unanimously and will go next to the Faculty Senate (Attachment B).
  7. There was no new business.
  8. At the request of a department head, Professor Koski clarified the language in the policy for removing graduate faculty status.  The policy says “reviews of and request for revocation of graduate faculty status will be the responsibility of the graduate faculty of the program” (Graduate Council, October 15th, 1998).  Professor Koski explained that the intent of the Council was that the term “program” refers to the department as a whole, not a subpart of the department based on academic degree program.  Therefore, reviews of and a request for revocation of graduate faculty status should be conducted by the department faculty as a whole.  Where the faculty member is appointed to an interdisciplinary program, the program faculty will serve this role. 

    As part of this discussion, Professor T. Martin asked the Council to reconsider the policy on requiring emeritus faculty to reapply for graduate faculty status.  The current policy will be e-mailed to Council members and is included here as Attachment C.
  9. The Council continued the discussion, begun in December, about whether the Graduate School should calculate grade point average, for probation and graduation, only on those courses being presented for the current degree (Attachment D).  After sharing information from various sources and constituencies, it was agreed that there is not enough support for this proposal to move forward, and the discussion ended.
  10. After removing three courses (HIST 4583, HIST 518V, PSYC 6343) from the lists, the Council approved those in Attachment E to remain inactive and those in Attachment F to be deleted.
  11. The Council approved the course change report from the University Course and Programs Committee contained in Attachment G.
  12. The Council approved the course change proposals listed in Attachment H, pending approval by the UCPC.
  13. The Council approved the graduate faculty requests contained in Attachment I.

The Council was reminded that we will meet in Old Main 525 in March.

There being no other business, the Council adjourned at 3:30 p.m.

Submitted by: Patricia R. Koski, Chair

Approved by: Collis R. Geren, Dean

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