Graduate Council Meeting Minutes, January 19, 2017 – Approved by council on 3/9/17
Start: 3:40 p.m. End: 4:23
In attendance: Brian Bercier, Michael Leamy, Jim Alicata, Deborah Stone, Anne Howard, Daneen Deptula, Megan Krell, Renee Scapparone, Kathleen Morrissey, Lisa Grimm, Viera Lorencova
Not in attendance: Nancy Murray, Brady Chen, Bruno Hicks
Presenters and guests:Lael Lavery, Sonya Prince, Jennifer Berg, Daniel Sarefield
Started with review of meeting minutes from October 6, 2016 meeting since November meeting cancelled and December rescheduled. (Had been missing from the agenda)
Motion to accept minutes: M. Leamy, Seconded by: D. Stone, Vote: nine in favor, two abstentions.
Review of Proposals:
GCE #16-17-01–Program Change - presented by J. Berg.
Proposal is for the removal of the Master of Arts in Teaching Mathematics to be removed from the graduate catalog. J. Berg stated that the program has been defunct for last 10 years and this is required by DESE.
Motion to accept proposal: M. Leamy, Seconded by: D. Stone, Vote: All in favor.
Motion made by B. Bercier to review proposal GCE # 16-17-06 next to allow guest presenter a chance to leave earlier.
Motion to approve move proposal #06 forward: D.Deptula, Seconded by L. Grimm, Vote: All in favor.
GCE #16-17-06 – Program Change – presented by D. Sarefield.
Proposal is for the removal of the Masters of Arts in Teaching History program from being offered and from the graduate catalog. It has had declining enrollments in past few years and since there is also a Master of Arts in History, so the two programs are in competition. The hope is that the MAT program removal will help strengthen the MA in History program. Students will be allowed to get their needed licensure but this will be more in line with what they will need as History teachers.
Motion to approve made by A. Howard, Seconded by: D. Stone, Vote: All in favor.
GCE #16-17-02 – Policy Change – presented by B. Bercier.
Motion to review J. Alicata, Seconded by L. Grimm
Proposal is to remove the GRE, MAT, and GMAT as admission requirements for all graduate programs. In 2014, the Education department removed this requirement from almost all of their programs. This proposal will follow suit and remove this requirement for the rest of the programs. It is felt that this is an expensive, high anxiety testing that is not an accurate indication of the student ability. This will be for both domestic and international applicants.
Attached to this proposal is emails from all department heads supporting proposal as well as edits to be made to graduate catalog once approved.
*Noted by Megan Krell that on page 4 of the new catalog description needs to be updated to remove the word guidance from the School Guidance Counseling programs to read as School Counseling programs as this name change was done last year through graduate council and change was missed in catalog.
Motion to approve with friendly amendment to catalog description: M. Leamy, Seconded by: L. Grimm, Vote: All in favor.
GCE #16-17-03 – Policy Change – Presented by B. Bercier.
Proposal is to redefine full-time, part-time, and half time graduate course load requirements
Graduate course load is currently defined as follows:
Graduate students must register for a minimum of nine credit hours in fall and/or spring to be considered full-time. Course load for part-time status is less than nine credit hours; halftime status is five credit hours.’
Proposal is to redefine graduate course loads as follows:
Graduate students must register for a minimum of six credit hours in fall and/or spring to be considered full-time. Course load for part-time status is less than six credit hours; halftime status is three credit hours.
The rationale behind this change is that most graduate students work full time or have multiple jobs while pursuing degrees on top of familial responsibilities and a smaller course load requirement is more reasonable. A side benefit is that students will qualify for loans with threecredits, as this would be considered half-time status. This will not change the definition for undergraduate evening students, as they fall under federal regulations, or for international students, as Sevis set their requirements.
Request is also made in proposal to implement for summer sessions rather than waiting for Fall 2017.
Motion to approve: J. Alicata, Seconded by: M. Leamy, Vote: All in favor.
GCE #16-17-04 – Policy Change –Presented by Brian Bercier.
Proposal to change criteria for Academic Probation and Graduate Dismissal for Graduate Students.
Current policy for probation: A student will be placed on probation if in any semester the student's graduate GPA falls between a 3.0 and a 2.75 cumulative average.
Proposed Change: A student will be placed on probation if in any semester the student's graduate GPA falls below a 3.0 average.
Current policy for Dismissal: If the graduate cumulative average of a student on probation remains between 3.0 and 2.75 for two consecutive enrollment periods.
Proposed change: If a student on probation remains below a 3.0 for two consecutive enrollment periods.
The rationale behind this proposal is that the current wording does not address students that have semester GPAs falling under 2.75, but have cumulative GPAs over the 3.0 and therefore creates a loophole. The suggested change made under the program dismissal is so that it is in line with language and requirements of probation.
There is a discussion amongst council regarding proposed change to the dismissal portion as it does not clearly state whether it is in regards to the semester, or cumulative GPA.
Suggestions made to amend change to read as follows:
If a student on probation has a semester GPA below a 3.0 for two consecutive enrollment periods, regardless of cumulative GPA.
Motion to approve with friendly amendments: D. Deptula, Seconded by: M. Leamy, Vote: All in favor.
GCE #16-17-05 – Program Change – presented by Anne Howard.
Proposal is to remove SPED 8174 Behavior Analysis in Applied Settings from the Special Education M.Ed. Guided Studies Professional Concentration.
SPED 8174 was part of the Behavior Analyst Certificate program back when it was a five-course sequence, but program was revised to a six-course sequence to meet national standards and this course was eliminated. It was originally offered as a choice between taking SPED 7410 Advanced Strategies for Teaching School Aged Children with Emotional or Behavioral Challenges, orSPED 8174, Behavior Analysis in Applied Settings. This proposal is more of a catalog and plan of study clean up, as this course no longer exists.
The revised plan of study will offer students the choice of taking SPED 7410, or take a course from the Behavior Analyst Certificate Program if accepted and enrolled (SPED 8013, 8028, 8029, 8032, 8033, and 8034).
R. Scapparone brought to attention of council that this proposal is missing signatures from Department chair who has been away on personal matters. Motion made to have Anne Howard sign on behalf of Nancy Murray as they had worked on proposal together. Motion to approve A. Howard signing on behalf of department chair made by: B. Bercier, Seconded by: M. Leamy, Vote: All in favor.
Motion to approve proposal: M. Krell, Seconded by: D. Stone, Vote: All in favor.
New Business:
-Brian Bercier presented information from recent professional development day Alberto Cardelle spoke about what the Deans do at the University and he was wondering what the role of the Academic deans was in regards to graduate council proposals.
Currently the deans are not involved in the process of graduate council proposals but they could be an asset to the process. As scholars and administrators, they might be able to see a broader scope of how the proposals could affect the rest of the university, not just one faction. Alberto asked Brian to bring this to the council and perhaps talk about how we could incorporate the deans in the process. Brian suggested that perhaps there is a line added to proposals that signifies that the appropriate dean has reviewed proposal.
L. Grimm and A. Howard both spoke of the benefit of having the Deans involved in some manner as they have opportunity to help keep programs in line with strategic plan and can see needs and issues across several programs.
The discussion continued about how to incorporate the deans in the process and D. Deptula raised question regarding departments/programs that have more than one dean. Discussion and different ideas were talked about such as: if adding signatory line might cause delay, asked about just sending minutes instead of actual proposals but realized that they would be received after council has met, and finally the thought was perhaps emails could be sent with agenda and proposals but issue is that there is no guarantee that they are viewed by the appropriate party.
Council decided that perhaps a check box that can be initial by appropriate dean might be best solution. It would not be in the approval section but similar to where there is check off box for additional materials like old and new plans of study. B. Bercier will bring back discussion result to the next Dean’s meeting and then relay their response at next GC meeting. If council votes to approve we can make change when updating next year’s proposal forms.
-Last item on agenda is in regards to Scholarships. L. Lavery reviewed old process on how applicants submitted with paper documents and there were usually very limited applicants for the Deans Graduate Scholarship and the Dorothy Holmes Toporeck Scholarship. In the last two years, the process has changed significantly with all applicants applying on Academic Works. This has increased the number tremendously. The first year, L. Lavery and the former Dean of GCE worked to sort through applicants to verify that they met criteria and then present the council with qualified applicants and the amount of money available for each scholarship. The second year the applicants were again sorted and spreadsheets were submitted to council with applicants and decisions made on who and how much money each individual would receive, council voted, and L. Lavery sent letters to recipients, notified Alumni office, Student Accounts, and Financial Aid. The deadline for applicants is 2/20/2017 this year and L. Lavery will review all applicants and submit results and total numbers available for each scholarship at the March 9th meeting. All decisions must be final by 3/20/2017.
-No further business bought forward. Motion to adjourn meeting by D. Stone, Seconded by: L. Grimm, Vote: All in favor.
Meeting adjourned at 4:14 p.m.