BINGHAMTONUNIVERSITY
MINUTES OF THE May 10, 2010MEETING OF THE GRADUATE COUNCIL
PLACE:Couper Administrative Building - Room148
PRESIDING:Nancy E. Stamp, Vice Provost and Dean of the GraduateSchool
MEMBERS:Jacques Beaumont,Christopher Bishop, Elizabeth Brown, Michael Conlon, Carmen Ferradas,Mark Fowler, James Fang, Brandon Gibb, Robert Guay, Wayne Jones, William Heller, Sarah Lam, Edward Li, Charles Nelson, Beverly Rainforth, Cagri Idiman; Gamze Bedirharoglu
EX OFFICIO
MEMBERS:Stephen Gilje, Dara Silberstein, Lindsay Tremain
EXCUSED:Wendy Martinek, Andrew Merriwether,Pamela Mischen, Max Pensky, Gerald Sonnenfeld, Nan Zhou
ABSENT:Dina Maramba, Debi Mishra, William Haver, Olga Shvetsova, Pamela Stewart Fahs, Max Pensky
Guests:
- CALL TO ORDER:
Vice Provost and Dean Nancy Stamp called the meeting to order at 3:00 pm.
- MINUTES:
The minutes of the March 15, 2010and April 19, 2010 were approved as written.
- COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Curriculum Committee
This Committee approved the following course:
- MUS 520 Theory Review
- GRD 595 Fundamentals of Budget and Finance
- Proposal for a Graduate Certificate in Local Government in the Department of Public Administration
- Graduate Certificate in German Cultural Studies
The motion was made to accept the new course and graduate certificate proposals and all were in favor. The course proposal in Sociology – “The Worlds Sugar and Coffee Made: Markets, Politics, and Nature” was tabled pending clarification from the department on whether or not this will be taught as a graduate course coupled with an undergraduate course, and if so, how these would differ.
Academic Standards Committee
This committee met on May 3, 2010. The committee reviewed the Carnegie Initiative on the Doctorate, which was a national long-term study conducted by the Carnegie Foundation and represented 44 universities. The results of the survey have resulted assessment tool and have resulted in valuable feedback from faculty and doctoral students. The committee felt that because graduate programs varyso much that the results of the survey should be evaluated in terms ofindividual department’s needs and goals.
Dean Stamp showed a few key slides from the Carnegie Survey in a power point presentation. Discussion ensued as to the importance of career planning with doctoral students, as this was one area of the survey that the students reported needing more help. It was felt that more professional development would be helpful to the students.
Another area of concern was students needing help with defined teaching objectives. Discussion was that each graduate program may have different criteria in defining teaching objectives; therefore, this should be taken into consideration by each program.
In conclusion of the discussion regarding the Carnegie surveys, Dean Stamp stated that she is encouraging programs to volunteer to participate next fall.
Dean Stamp shared with Graduate Council information on the PREP (planning, resilience, engagement, professionalism) program that MichiganStateUniversity designed. They gathered information from all of their programs and created a document that provided information about campus resources for graduate students. Next year, The Graduate School will be collecting data from each department to develop a spreadsheet similar to the PREP program.
Budget Advisory Committee
This committee has not met.
Advisory Committee on Scholarship and Research
This committee has concluded their business for the year.
Clark Fellowship Advisory Committee
The Clark Fellowship Advisory Committee has awarded all of the Clark Fellowship Awards for next year.
Grievance Committee
This committee has not met.
Strategic Planning Committee
This committee has not met, however, Dean Stamp provided Graduate Council with a copy of the Strategic Planning Chart. The Strategic Planning Committee developed this chart many years ago to align with the GraduateSchool’s Strategic Plan and the University’s Strategic Plan. Given the revision of the University’s Strategic Plan, further discussion will continue during the 2010-11 Graduate Council Meetings.
- NEW BUSINESS
Professor Nadia Rubaii-Barrett, (Chair, Department of Public Administration), Laura Bronstein, (Chair, Department of Social Work and Josephine Allen and Dean Patricia Ingraham were in attendance to discuss their proposal to develop an interdisciplinary Doctoral Degree Program in Community & Public Affairs.
Dean Stamp reminded Graduate Council that the first step in developing a new program is the letter of intent. The Letter of intent is then reviewed by Graduate Council and forwarded to SUNY. SUNY will then post the LOI for all the other SUNY campuses for their review and/or comments. She explained that letter of intent does not obligate us to go forward with the proposal, it is simply a notification.
CCPA is made up of Four Departments – Department of Public Administration, Department of Social Work, Department of Student Affairs and Administration, and Department of Human Development. Currently, these departments consist of strictly masters programs. The LOI in CCPA would build on the strength of these departments to create an interdisciplinary program.
Professor Allen stated there was a real need for an interdisciplinary approach in terms of meeting the needs of the community and the current needs of graduate studies.
Patricia Ingraham, Dean of CCPA, expressed her support for the program and felt that it would have an enormous potential for both students and the community.
The motion was made to forward the LOI for the interdisciplinary Doctoral Degree Program in Community & Public Affairsto SUNY. All were in favor.
- ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting was adjourned at 4:00 on a motion by Professor Gibband seconded by
Professor Jones.
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Minutes recorded by Cheryl McGowan,
Secretary to the Vice Provost and Dean
of the GraduateSchool