Graduate Council Minutes for Meeting

Friday, September 6, 2013

11:15 AM, SSB 549

Members Present:LeAnn Beaty, Scotty Dunlap, Charles Elliott,Dennis Field, Doris Pierce, Gerald Nachtwey,Cynthia Resor,Larry Sexton

Office of Graduate Education and Research:Gerald Pogatshnik, Amber Gray, and Stephanie Cunagin

Members Not Present:Charles Hausman (Prior Notice)

Visitor(s) Present:Barbara McDermott, Karin Sehmann

MINUTES

Consideration of the minutes from May 2, 2013 and April 5, 2013 meeting.
Motion:Field, 2nd: Elliott[APPROVED]

  1. CURRICULUM

Arts & Sciences

Government

Program RevisionMaster of Public Administration (MPA)

Motion: Resor, 2nd: Elliott [APPROVED]

  1. GRADUATE FACULTY

Full:

Name / Department / Next Review
Richardson, Ray / Applied Engineering and Technology / Exempt

Associate:

Name / Department / Next Review
Spigelman, Tracy / Exercise and Sports Science / Fall 2018

Initial Associate:

Name / Department / Next Review
Bishop-Ross, Rachel / Mathematics and Statistics / Fall 2015
Cole, Anthony / Safety, Security, and Emergency Management / Fall 2015
Dunlap, Scotty / Safety, Security, and Emergency Management / Fall 2015
Frederick, Helyne / Family and Consumer Sciences / Fall 2015
Ruhfel, Brad / Biology / Fall 2015

Adjunct/Clinical/Practitioner:

Name / Department / Next Review
Javins, L. Lee / Safety, Security, and Emergency Management / Fall 2018
Staples, Deanna / Safety, Security, and Emergency Management / Fall 2018

Motion: Field, 2nd: Elliott[ALL APPROVED]

  1. STUDENT AFFAIRS
  • None to Report
  1. ANNOUNCEMENTS
  • Graduate School Update: The Dean provided an update on the reorganization of the Graduate School as a result of the Reallocation Task Force. Dr. Rezaie is now the Director of STEM-H and Sandy Willis took early retirement. Pam Daily has taken over Sandy’s colleges and Amanda Ballou took over Carrie Ernst’s colleges. Carrie now takes care of student issues and IT. We are working on making a web portal so that it is easier to apply and applications can be customized per program. Stephanie Cunagin will now work with the curriculum committee and follow up with departments so the graduate school can submit items to CAA.
  • CAA updates: August 22, 2013 CAA Meeting: N/A
  • Syllabus Template: A syllabus template is available online.
  • Enrollment Report: Overall enrollment is up 4.5% and new graduate student enrollment is up 20%.
  • Tuition Rates: Tuition went up 3% for in state students but less for out of state and online students. There is only an approximate $10 difference from standard courses and online courses. In an attempt to attract more out of state students the out of state multiplier has been kept down the last couple of years.
  • The Graduate School orientation was held in August and there were nearly 200 participants. The participants were both new students and new graduate assistants. Lunch was held at the President’s house.
  • At the chair and dean retreat multiple issues were discussed such as looking at the faculty snapshot and looking at how the institution knows programs are efficient. They also discussed how programs vary in terms of credit hour production and how faculty workload is distributed between and in departments.
  • The Dean provided an overview of three policies affecting faculty that are currently undergoing revision. This includes the faculty post tenure review process and work group to make the process more effective. A second policy will examine criteria for closing academic program and associate issues of reassignment or release of faculty. The workload policy and how to take into account theses/dissertations, program coordination and overload use in counting workload was also discussed.
  1. ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION
  • Comprehensive Exam Policy: Currently the Graduate School requires a thesis or comp exam exit requirement. The current GRD structure allows for tracking of students and exit requirement grades. Students are allowed two attempts at the comp exam and if it is failed then the student is dismissed. Students can appeal the dismissal but it is typically only approved if a certain portion of the exam is failed. The Graduate School is looking at revising the comp exam requirement so programs can measure their students more according to their area such as portfolios, capstones, exit interviews and field study work. This would encourage the faculty of each program to determine the appropriate exit competency requirement. Changes in Exit Requirements would follow the normal curriculum approval process and be reviewed by the Graduate Council.
  • Conditional Admission: International Students; Undergraduate Prerequisites: EKU is looking at outsourcing their EELI program to ELS which is an outside company. The company will take over two floors of Commonwealth and will teach international students English language skills. However, in order for this to work the international students must be accepted conditionally into graduate programs so they can begin their academic study once they pass the English equivalency test. International students will still be able to take the TOEFL and IELTS in order to obtain admission into the programs. Students will only be able to obtain conditional admission if they meet the academic standards but have not met the English requirement. The students will also not be able to take graduate level courses until they pass the required exam. ELS is an international company so they have a recruiting presence all over the world. They have a financial interest so they have motivation to engage these students. The test is equivalent to the TOEFL and IELTS. The program will immerse the students in the English languages and ELSwill take care of issuing the I-20s.
  • Undergraduate students may also be able to take advantage of the new conditional admission type. Some programs have a number of undergraduate prerequisites that are required before a student can begin the program. These students obtain admission with the condition that these undergraduate courses are complete. As a graduate student these undergraduate courses are charged at a graduate rate. In the past we have been able to make exceptions and charge undergraduate tuition. However, this is only the case if the student contacted us directly which is unfair to the students who did not. The conditional admission would allow all students who are still working on the undergraduate prerequisites to be charged at the undergraduate rate.
  • Changing the name of the QEP Subcommittee: The QEP subcommittee works on a variety of projects which do not always pertain to QEP. One option for the new name is Quality Improvement Committee. The QEP committee is currently working on a faculty work load study, community building in doctoral programs, and the 4 year evaluation of the Dean of the Graduate School.
  • Four Year Evaluation of the Dean: Dean Pogatshnik completed his 8th year of Dean for the Graduate school and his 2nd 4year evaluation is due this year. The Provost office performs the evaluation but in order to obtain more relevant information that could assist the Graduate School and the Dean in development the QEP committee will be conducting an evaluation as well. The committee with work with chairs and coordinators to survey the individuals who have the most interaction with the Dean. Surveys and focus groups are a potential evaluation technique.
  1. ACTION ITEMS
  • Election of Chair: Dennis Field nominated and approved. Motion: Resor, 2nd: Beaty [Approve]
  • Graduate Council Student Member: In the past student members were nominated by SGA. However, there are very few graduate students involved in SGA. Instead the Council is going to open up the nominations to the departments and they can suggest students for the committee. There should be two student members on the committee.
  1. GRADUATE COUNCIL SUBCOMMITTEES REPORTS
  • QEP Subcommittee:Members: Doris Pierce (chair), Charles Hausman, Student member, and TBD
  • Student Affairs Subcommittee: Members: Charles Elliott (chair), TBD, TBD, and Student member
  • Curriculum Subcommittee: Members: Cynthia Resor (chair), Gerald Nachtwey, and Wardell Johnson
  • Faculty Subcommittee: Members: LeAnn Beaty (chair), Scotty Dunlap, and Larry Sexton
  1. OTHER

Next meeting: October4, 2013

  1. ADJOURNMENT

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