Graduate Faculty Executive Committee

Meeting Minutes, 12. 05.06

Present:

L. Anderson, �M. Gonzalez, J. Governali, J. Hendrick, LeLoup, J. , J. Mosher, �E. Paterson [Voting Members]; �N. Aumann (Provost Representative) D. Margine (Registrar�s Office), Y. Murnane (Graduate Office) [Ex Officio] , J. Walkuski (GFEC Representative to Faculty Senate)

Absent: C. Bell (sabbatical)

1. Meeting Minutes

�� Meeting minutes from 11/28/06 were approved with corrections.

2. Culminating Activity Policy

�� The joint meeting between the GFEC and the Graduate Coordinators to address the proposed culminating activity policy was discussed.� The coordinators completely supported the policy and the position that it should apply to all programs, rather than leaving adoption up to individual departments. The feeling was that an optional adoption policy would create much confusion and not carry the benefits that would be derived from complete adoption by the campus. Based on the outcome of the meeting with the coordinators, the GFEC decided to substitute the statement below for the two questions at the end of the proposal cover page:

As noted above, the Committee believes that the proposed policy would benefit students, graduate programs and the College, but would like additional input from chairs and graduate coordinators before recommending that this become college policy for all graduate programs. Adoption of this policy by the College would require that all programs 1) make their culminating experiences credit generating, and 2) that departments list a "culminating experience continuous enrollment course" as part of their course offerings. The GFEC would develop a common catalog description and framework for the "culminating experience continuous enrollment course" and individual departments could then customize the course to meet their specific needs. The course number "697" has been reserved as a common number to be used by all departments for the "culminating experience continuous enrollment course." The policy and examples of how departments would implement the policy are provided in the attached material.

The proposed policy has been reviewed by a group of graduate coordinators, but the GFEC would like additional feedback from departments before moving forward with the policy. Please respond to the Committee with your viewpoints by February 9, 2007.

The proposed policy will be sent to chairs of departments with graduate programs and graduate coordinators before the end of the semester.� A reminder for reactions to the proposal will be sent during the first week of the spring semester. �Y. Murnane will supply the mailing list of department chairs with graduate programs and coordinators.

A recommendation to include a catalog description for �XXX 697� as part of the proposal was accepted by the Committee.�� D. Margine will develop a draft to be placed in a box at the top of the first page of the proposal.

3. Bill Buxton Letter to GFEC

�� The� Committee discussed the contents of Dr. Buxton�s (Chair, Literacy Department) letter to the GFEC.� The following points and questions were identified for discussion:

�� a. Identification of a registration time period in the middle of the winter break is problematic for faculty/ department participation for a number of reasons (detracts from focus on scholarly activity, raises contractual issues).

�� b. Why is there a difference between remuneration for advisement of undergraduates in the summer and graduate students in the winter?

�� c. Why is it necessary to have two full days for advisement of non-matriculated students when, in the past, 2 � 3 hours on the day before the start of school was sufficient?

�� d. The role of the Graduate Office in advising students needs clarification, as the Literacy Department�s request to advise all students who wish to take Department courses seems to have been overlooked during the summer.�

�� e. Since all winter session courses will be delivered in Studio West in order to save on energy costs, what will be the heating status of faculty offices in other buildings. �Will other buildings be kept at a temperature that will allow winter session instructors (and other faculty members) to work in their offices?

The GFEC discussed each of the issues and decided that the questions raised by Dr. Buxton deserved a more complete analysis than could be accomplished at this point in the semester.� The present approach to non-matriculated registration has been in operation for about three semesters and this would be a good time to evaluate the process and determine if the approach should be continued or another process recommended.� In order to analyze the issues and develop a recommendation, the Committee was asked to review the points raised in Dr. Buxton�s letter and their own experiences with advisement/registration of graduate students.� A list of pertinent issues will be compiled and will form the basis of the Committee�s work in this area during the spring.� Suggested items for discussion should be forwarded to J. Governali for compilation.�

In order to more immediately address the concerns raised by Dr. Buxton, the following plan was recommended:

�� a. Y. Murnane will work with the Literacy Department in establishing an alternative date for advisement and registration of non-matriculated students.

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�� b. A system of registration approval will be developed between the Graduate Office and the Literacy Department which will assure that the Department has approved the registration of any students into its courses.

�� (Note: Y. Murnane indicated that she will work the Literacy Department �� on both of these recommendations.)

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�� c. It was suggested that the Literacy Department might work with the building administrator, Dean, Provost and Union to address the continuing problem of heating in offices and the specific problem of adequate heat during the winter session.

3. �Curriculum Change

�� New Course Proposals

�� FSA 550:�� Education Institute in Western Belize

�� -The course prefix should be changed to SAB, rather than� �� FSA��

�� RECOMMEND APPROVAL (Sent to Provost)

�� PED 525:�� The Use of Curriculum Models for Physical Education

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�� RECOMMEND APPROVAL (Sent to Provost)

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�� Alteration in Existing Course

�� PED 626: Fitness Programming and Curriculum For Schools (course �� number changed to PED 526 and change in catalog� �� description)

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�� RECOMMEND APPROVAL (Sent to Provost)

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4. Graduate Faculty Appointment

�� -Mechtild Nagel (Philosophy Department) was approved for Graduate Faculty status

�� -Agenda �items related to this area for next semester will be clarifying criteria for acceptance to the Graduate Faculty and the schedule for reviewing applications to the Graduate Faculty (i.e., Should application reviews be at specific times during the year or should applications be accepted and reviewed throughout the year?)��

5. School of Graduate Studies Proposal

�� Y. Murnane informed the Committee that the proposal for a School of Graduate Studies has been tabled.

6. Spring Meeting Schedule

�� Committee members were asked to complete the �Possible Meeting Times� grid and forward their suggestions to J. Governali.

Agenda Items:

�� 1. Non-matriculated student registration

�� 2. Graduate Faculty application process

�� 3. Criteria for Graduate Faculty membership

Submitted:

J.F. Governali