GSAB Minutes

September 26, 2011

Greenville Centre 3:30-5:00 pm

Members Present: Behm, Mike; Decker, Jim; Ericson, Richard; Gallagher, Margie; Gemperline, Paul; Hough, Monica; Kasperek, George; Mott, Vivian; Pressler, Jana; Schwager, Paul; and Terry West

Members Absent: Eble, Michelle; Stevens, Marc; Prividera, Laura; and Tony Thompson

Guests: Armstrong, Robin; McConnell, Tom; Patterson, Belinda; Ries, Heather; and Russell Rogers

Ex-Officio Members Present: Allen, Rose; Griffin, Linner; and Mark Sprague

Ex-Officio Members Absent: Dave Cistola

  1. Call to order

3:32 PM

  1. Approval of GSAB minutes

Approved

  1. Graduate Curriculum Committee Minutes 9/7/11 (Rose Allen)
  • Dr. Gemperline announced that effective fall 2011, once curriculum changes are approved by the GSAB, they will be forwarded to the Academic Council by Dr. Mageean for approval by the Chancellor

Action Items, all approved

  • Revision of admission requirements: Master of Construction Management
  • Editorial revision of departmental text: Department of Construction Management
  • Proposal of new courses: GIFT 6400, 6500, 6600, 6601
  • Revision and renumbering of existing courses: SPED 6104, SPED 6401, SPED 6402, SPED 6403
  • Notification of intent to plan: MAEd in Gifted Education
  • Deletion of existing courses: INTE 6200
  • Deletion of existing prefix: INTE: Interdepartmental
  • GCC meeting items discussed and voted on separately from above items
  • Proposal of new PhD concentration in Medical Physics
  • Revision of existing degree: PhD in Biomedical Physics

Suggestion by Dr. Linner Griffin for the development of a generic description of an integrated PhD/MS for the Graduate Catalog (with a more detaileddescription to be found in the program section of the Catalog) so if a program offers an integrated degree program there will be an appropriate classification for it in the Graduate Catalog. Dr. Gemperline and Dr. Griffin will work to draft definitions of accelerated, integrated, and joint degree programs for the Graduate Catalog.

Discussion regarding the addition of an Integrated PhD/MS degree in Medical Physics (Dr. Michael Dingfelder):

  • MS in Applied Physics concentration is not accredited
  • MS in Medical Physics concentration is accredited
  • Terminal degree in Medical Physics is the MS
  • Students must graduate from accredited programs to be eligible for residency and board certification
  • MS and PhD will be awarded simultaneously
  • Department of Physics wants to prevent students (enrolled concurrently in the MS and PhD program) from dropping out of the program after earning the MS degree. Students are enrollinginto the PhD program for the financial support offered to doctoral students and leaving the program after earning the MS degree (tuition is paid for the PhD but not the MS)
  • Issue surfaced after BS students were allowed entry into the PhD program (if BS students were not admitted, enrollment would decline)
  • Instance of a PhD student intentionally failing the candidacy exam to drop out of the program with the MS
  • Students dropping out of the PhD program can still get a MS degree in another concentration depending on completed coursework
  • Students dropping out after earning the MS degree will be responsible for paying the tuition for thesis credits
  • Approved both items (1 abstention)
  1. Updated tuition remission memo
  • Template changed to ‘graduate tuition scholarship’ so students are aware of the out-of-state tuition remission amount of money being applied to tuition is based on face-to-face courses
  • Added language indicating that theamount of money available for graduate courses is related to student’s program of study
  • Funds taken away from graduate assistantships due to budget cuts
  • In the future, tuition remissions will be monitored more closely by the Graduate school (out of state tuition expenditures)
  • Dr. Gemperline will bring the topic of differential tuition billing for on-campus and DE students up at the next Academic Council meeting
  • Dr. Gemperline asked Dr. Gallagher to identify examples of courses that GA’s are required to take that aren’t offered though face to face instruction
  1. Review of probation policy and implementation
  • Students on probation that do not have above a 3.0 after 9 credit hours attempted (even if incompletes were given) will be dismissed unless an extension with justification is requested by the department
  • In the future the Graduate School will consider incomplete and withdrawals in data reports
  • A class dropped after census day counts as attempted.
  1. Review of Graduate Enrollment Trends
  • Distributed table shows 3 year trends of students applied, admitted, and enrolled
  • Enrollment for new students is down 6.7%
  • Steep declines in the College of Education and in non-degree student applications
  • Robin Armstrong examining possible scenarios for decline of non-degree students (ex: shorter application deadline)
  • Dr. Gemperline noted the quality of the graduate student body has been impacted since the new 2009 admission standards have been in place
  • In 2010-2011 the total numbers of admissions applications and enrolled students dropped while at the same time GRE scores were raised
  1. Adjourn

5:08 PM

Next meeting Thursday, October 13th 2011

Rivers 208

Respectfully submitted,

Amy E. Tripp