Graduate Council Meeting

October 23, 2009

Regents’ Room

MINUTES

Members Present: Andrew Carnie, Molly Hunter, Dennis Doxtater, Eliane Rubinstein-Avila, Rose Ylimaki, Gautam Gowrisankaran, Steven Dvorak, David Chisholm, William Epstein, Kathie Insel, Zhao Chen, K. Tsianina Lomawaima, Katherine Morrissey, Ivy Pike, Jose Alvarez, James Johnson, Priya Sundareshan, Andrew Comrie, Dianne Horgan

Members Excused: Gail Varin, Maria Teresa Velez, Chuck Hutchinson, Lisa Ordonez, Timothy Secomb, Carl Maes, Nathan Cherrington, Stephanie Fryberg, Matthew Cordes, Andrei Sanov, Betul Ozkan, Suzanne Knosp

Invited Guests: Michael Arnold, Director, Engineering Management, Systems & Industrial Engrng; David Talenfeld, President of GPSC; Jack Schmitz, Dept. Head, Veterinary Science & Microbiology

The meeting was called to order at 3:05 p.m. by Chair Carnie and a member sign-in list was passed. The minutes of the August 2009 meeting were approved as read.

Dean’s Report. Dean Comrie reported that the Graduate College is up approximately 30-40 graduate students after being down in numbers of graduate students for the past three or four years. We are graduating people faster than we are bringing them in. We are financially supporting about the same number of TA’s, however, because they are funded through many different sources.

Student Rights and Responsibilities. Guest David Talenfeld, President of the Graduate and Professional Student Council was present at the meeting to bring the Student Rights and Responsibilities document before the Council and to seek its endorsement. He stated that it would be more clear to students what resources on campus are available to them if they were all addressed one document rather than students having to seek out the information from several sources. This issue has been a concern of the GPSC for many years and although a student bill of rights was submitted last year, nothing had been resolved on the issue. After further discussion and with the understanding that the Graduate Council was not endorsing the contents of the Student Rights and Responsibilities per se but simply endorsing them, the vote was taken. The Graduate Council gave its conceptual endorsement of Student Rights and Responsibilities, with the caveat that there are still edits needed to be made, with a vote of 18 in favor, 0 opposed, and 0 abstentions.

Proposed Change to Grievance Procedure. Grievance Committee – 12 faculty, 4 members of the Council, and 8 grad students. The Grievance Committee most likely will not meet on many grievances as most are resolved at the Associate Dean of the Graduate College level. The strategy is to try to negotiate the solution rather than find fault. If a grievance goes to the committee, they do not have decision-making authority but would have authority to make a recommendation to the Dean regarding a grievance.

A hearing committee would be selected from the standing grievance committee and would result in 3 faculty, 3 graduate students, and 1 faculty. The Committee will be chaired by a faculty member of the Graduate Council. The motion passed with 17 in favor and 1 abstention.

Report from Task Force on 2nd PhDs. Current Graduate College policy allows for 2nd master’s degrees if the majors are substantially different; however 2nd PhDs are not addressed and the Graduate College is seeing more requests for these. Associate Dean Horgan provided background on this issue and the Council reviewed suggested additions in the requirements for the doctorate section of the catalog to cover this circumstance. A couple of minor edits were suggested to the draft (e.g., changing one sentence, “Applicants who already have a doctoral degree may not be given preference for admission or for financial support”, to “Applicants who already have a doctoral degree may not be given special preference for admission or for financial support”). The motion to approve the suggested addition to the catalog to address 2nd PhDs was made by Member Lomawaima, seconded by Member Chisholm, and passed with 18 votes in favor, 0 opposed, and 0 abstentions.

Wait List Policy Questions from Mosaic Team. Associate Dean Horgan asked the Council if they wanted to waitlist graduate courses as PeopleSoft can develop that option. After discussion, the Council voted 18 in favor of turning down the option (with 0 opposed and 0 abstentions) as wait listing graduate courses is unnecessary.

Reorganization of University Commencement Ceremonies memo. In September of this year the Academic Personnel Policy Committee voted unanimously to reorganize University Commencement ceremonies to be held on Saturday and Sunday, and College Commencement ceremonies to be held on Friday evening. Associate Dean Horgan brought this before the Graduate Council for discussion. Member Sanov made the motion to approve the reorganization of University Commencement ceremonies. The motion was seconded by Member Dvorak and the motion carried with 17 in favor, 0 opposed, and 1 abstention.

Engineering Management MS -- request to create a new degree. Guest Michael Arnold provided background to the Council for this request. He indicated that major technical employers have expressed great interest in engineers who a business education and/or background. Discussion followed, including whether Engineer Management could be offered as an option in the regular SIE MS degree program rather than a new degree. Also, concern was expressed that the new degree request did not have the endorsement of the Eller College of Management. Guest Arnold indicated that he would follow up on that issue and the Council tabled further discussion on this request until an endorsement was received. Associate Dean Horgan indicated that if the Council members had additional concerns or questions about this request in the meantime, to let her know.

Architecture MS -- distinguish the non-accredited Master's program in Architecture from the accredited program by changing the degree title of the non-accredited program from Master of Architecture to Master of Science in Architecture. Associate Dean Horgan presented this proposal from Architecture. The Master of Architecture would be a design degree and the M.S. in Architecture would be a research degree. After discussion the motion to approve was made by Member Chen, seconded by Member Chisholm, and passed with 18 in favor, 0 opposed, and 0 abstentions.

Natural Science for Teachers MS – The name and CIP of the existing program are M. S. in General

Biology (26.0101, Biology/Biological Sciences, General). This request is to change the name and CIP

to M. S. in Natural Science (Concentration) for Teachers with four major concentrations: Biology,

Chemistry, Earth Sciences, and Physics; CIP: 13.1316, Science Teacher Education/General Science

Teacher Education, a program that prepares individuals to teach general science programs, or a

combination of the biological and physical science subject matter areas, at various educational levels, and to transfer the program from the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology to the science Teacher Preparation Program. If the program change request is approved, it is expected that students will enter the program in 2010. After discussion, Member Chisholm moved to approve the request. The motion was seconded by Member Rubinstein-Avila and passed with a vote of 18 in favor, 0 opposed, and 0 abstentions.

Veterinary Biomedical Science MS/BS – request to add to 2009/2010 Strategic Plan. Guest Schmitz, Dept. Head of Veterinary Sciences & Microbiology provided background information to the Graduate Council about as proposed veterinary medical education program at the University of Arizona, in cooperation with the Center for Veterinary Health Sciences at Oklahoma State University (OSU). The preclinical veterinary medical curriculum (years 1-2) will be taught at the UA. They would receive a bachelor’s degree in Veterinary Biomedical Sciences after year-1 of the curriculum and a Master of Veterinary Biomedical Sciences upon completion of year-2 at UA. Students enrolled in the program would automatically be accepted and enrolled into the program at OSU for the clinical curriculum in years 3-4). Upon completion of years 3-4, the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine would be conferred by OSU. Students in this program would do the coursework but not a thesis, and would also do an externship. This program was not included in the 2000/2010 Academic Strategic Plan but if approved by ABOR to be added, there’s a high probability that the program will be implemented within the year. Member Morrissey made the motion to endorse the conceptual agreement. The motion was seconded by Member Lomawaima and was passed unanimously with 18 in favor, 0 opposed, and 0 abstentions.

Computational Science and Engineering GIDP Doctoral Minor – disestablish (action item). The motion was made by Member Insel , seconded by Member Chisholm, and passed with 18 in favor, 0 opposed, and 1 abstention.

Information Items

Chair Carnie and the Graduate Council discussed Certificate processing and Associate Dean Horgan informed the Graduate Council that the proposal for a multidisciplinary minor, approved by the Graduate Council in 2008, is now an option for Ph.D. students who may want to construct a minor from more than two programs.

The next meeting of the Graduate Council will be in the Regents’ Room on November 20, 2009 at 3:00 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Linda Nultemeier

Graduate Council Secretary