MINUTES
Graduate Program Directors
September 1, 2011
3:00 p.m.
Willis Auditorium
Present: Allen, Rose; Arnd-Caddigan, Margaret; Atkinson, Terry; Beck-Frazier, Susan; Bishop, John; Bland, Sondra; Bloss, William; Brown, Carol; Cope, John; Corwin, Teresa; Cox, Kathy; Crawley, Frank; Daniel, Randy; Decker, Jim; d’Honore, Rai; Eble, Michele, Edwards, Bob; Ellis, Maureen; Gemperline, Paul; Jantzen, Chris; Johnson, Cheryl; Mahar, Matt; Mansfield, Chris; McConnell, Tom; Morehead, Andrew; Morris, Alexis; Muller, Dorothy; Muller-Borer, Barbara; Ozan, Erol; Patterson, Belinda; Preston, Ron; Prividera, Laura; Reaves, Leonard, Reaves, Rita; Reid, Jonathan; Sininger, Jason; Tabrizi, Nasseh; Teleki, Jane; Thompson, Bob; Toriello, Paul; Williams, Tina; Woods, Terri and Lester Zeager.
1. Call to order
3:00 PM
2. Workshops for faculty and teaching assistants (Dorothy Muller)
http://www.ecu.edu/cs-acad/ofe/Fall11.cfm
· The Office for Faculty Excellence will be offering workshops for faculty and teaching assistants throughout the fall term
· Workshop categories are ‘Pursuing Tenure and Promotion’, ‘Research and Statistics’, ‘Mentoring’, ‘Winning Teaching Styles and Strategies’, ‘Teaching Online’, and ‘Using 21st Century Tools’
3. Presentation on ECU Language Academy (Rai d’Honore)
· Intensive English-language instruction to international students and professionals
· Classes began in June; 5 sessions are offered throughout the calendar year
· Each session is 8 weeks long and tuition for 1 session is $4,000
· After completion of the highest level of classes offered through ECULA students will have fulfilled the language requirement for admission
· Classes meet five days per week, four hours per day
· Sessions are 8 weeks long
· Oral communication skills, study and note-taking skills, reading and vocabulary, and writing for the college environment
· Placement in classes is based on a written test and a personal interview upon arrival
· Students attend a weekly pronunciation and articulation laboratory that is held in cooperation with the Department of Communication and Sciences Disorder
4. Graduate Curriculum Committee presentation and timeline (Rose Allen)
· Curriculum committee consist of 7 Graduate Faculty members and one graduate student
· Membership is for a term of 3 years in staggered rotation with no more than three new members in any given year
· Members may be reelected
· Committee reviews proposals for new graduate programs, new and revised courses, degree related catalog text changes, and requests to delete, bank and unbank gradate courses
· Committee meets the first and third Wednesday of each month
· Meetings held at 2:00 PM in room 1511 of the Greenville Centre
· All materials for consideration must be received by 5:00 PM, two weeks prior to the scheduled committee meeting
· The submission deadline for the next catalog is March 7, 2012
5. Financial Aid eligibility and course repeatability (Rose Allen)
· Department of Education regulation stipulating students would no longer be eligible for federal financial aid on a third repetition of a course
· This regulation could have a significant impact on thesis, dissertation, seminar courses etc.
· Unit may choose to renumber courses at the same level in a different sequence, increase the number of course offerings by changing course numbers, or create a new course at the same level with no content change
6. Compliance with SACS 18 hour rule for graduate teaching assistants (Rita Reaves & Leonard Reaves)
· SACS Comprehensive Standard 3.7.1
· Graduate Teaching Assistants: master’s in the teaching discipline or 18 graduate semester hours in the teaching discipline, direct supervision by a faculty member experienced in the teaching discipline, regular in-service training, and planned and periodic evaluations
· Certain graduate teaching assistants may be designated as the “primary instructor” for the purposes of entering grades, but may not be the actual “instructor of record.”
· The “instructor of record” is the individual that is ultimately responsible for the delivery of course content and is therefore the individual that is credentialed for teaching purposes.
· The Registrar’s Office has conducted training for certain departments and colleges in the proper use of designating an “instructor of record” when that individual is different than the “primary instructor.”
7. Revised academic integrity policy (Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities, Jason Sininger)
· http://www.ecu.edu/cs-acad/fsonline/customcf/facultymanual/newmanual/part4.pdf
· Faculty member must notify the student in writing of a suspected violations, request a meeting within 7 calendar days of becoming aware of the suspected violation
· The meeting must occur within 18 days of the faculty member becoming aware of the suspected violation. If student fails to meet with faculty member, the opportunity to present their understanding of the situation is forfeited.
· Within 10 calendar days of the initial meeting the faculty member must:
o Notify the student if no violation was found
o Complete the Academic Integrity Violation Form and submit to the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities if a violation is found
· Students may appeal the decision reached by a faculty member by completing the Academic Integrity Violation Appeal Form. Form is reviewed by a three-member panel to determine if it should be forwarded to the Academic Integrity Appeal Board
8. First-Year Graduate Student Survey (Belinda Patterson)
https://ecu.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_1IfCsZKa6xDVhDm
· Purpose of the survey is to assess the student experience in the first year to improve student experience and success
· Survey captures a different audience than the graduation survey or non-returning student and at a different time/stage
· Surveying students while they are enrolled should increase the response rate
· Survey focuses on services and activities within/provided by program and graduate School
· Areas of questions/sections: general demographics; selection/admissions process; mentoring/advising; financial support; program environment; instruction/evaluation/research opportunities; most positive/least positive experience during the first year
· Piloting survey fall 2011 for students admitted through summer 2010 and fall 2010
· First official survey will be administered Spring 2012
· Each spring the Graduate School will survey new admits for the previous year
9. Discussion on Program of Study/student advisory committee membership
· To ensure students are treated fairly and thesis and dissertation submissions are high quality, the Graduate School recommends formalizing requirements for a program of study form which would serve in place of the Pre-Research approval form (the form is currently voluntary)
· A program of Study form would ensure students had obtained appropriate research approvals and formed a valid committee before beginning their work
· This would prevent students from completing their thesis or dissertation and it not being approved (or held for approval) by the Graduate School because of procedural errors
10. Tuition remissions allocations and DE courses
· 2010-2011 the Graduate School allowed students to receive tuition remissions for DE courses on a case-by-case basis when there were no alternative on-campus courses available. This has led to increased costs in the Graduate School’s fixed tuition remission budged because ECU bills differently for DE courses compared to face-to-face courses
· Effective Spring 2012 semester, out-of state tuition remissions will be allocated to units on a dollar basis at the annual rate of $10, 074 per remission
· Units may allocate remissions in fractional amounts and may factor in the additional costs of DE classes when making their remission commitments to students, but must stay within the overall amount allocated to students
· Under this new allocation paradigm, tuition remission are more effectively described as tuition “scholarships”
· Students who register for courses that exceed the amount covered by the out-of-state tuition scholarship will be responsible for covering additional costs at their own expense
· Departments will need to clearly communicate to the student the limitations of the tuition scholarship commitment at the time the commitments is made to a student
11. Sharing credit among programs or when a program change occurs (reference Dual Degree program policy and change of program)
· Dr. Gemperline explained a prior instance where a student earned a cumulative GPA below 3.0; the student transferred to another program within the same department, transferring courses except for the two in which he received an “F”
· Graduate students sometimes take courses outside their program, seemingly, in some cases, to raise their GPA; this situation may warrant consideration of a policy, in order to maintain academic rigor, that requires a GPA of 3.0 for courses within the student’s program, as opposed to the current situation of total GPA of 3.0 currently in place
· The proposed 20% course transfer amount parallels the number of credits allowed for transfer from an outside institution (or, typically, that would transfer to another institution from ECU)
12. Overview of recent policy/graduate catalog changes
· Process for notifying Executive Council and Chancellor of Graduate Council approved changes
13. Adjourn
5:00 PM