UAA Graduate Council Minutes
Friday, October 14, 2016 / 1:30 PM -2:30 pm / RH 204
UAA's Graduate Council advises the Dean of the Graduate School in policy matters and promotes general advocacy of programs throughout the University community. The Council reviews, determines, and recommends policies for graduate programs. Its members consist of graduate chairs, directors, and a graduate student representative.
Members:
☒ / Jennifer Stone, Chair / ☐ / Mary D Allen,Vice Chair / ☒ / Amanda Walch / ☒ / Anthony Paris / ☒ / Bogdan Hoanca
☐ / David Stevenson / ☒ / Ed McLain / ☒ / Gloria Eldridge / ☒ / Grant Sasse / ☒ / Greg Protasel
☐ / Hannele Zubeck / ☐ / Jennifer Burns* / ☒ / Jill Janke / ☐ / Jim Fitterling / ☒ / Liz Synder
☒ / LuAnn Piccard / ☒ / sally Carraher / ☒ / Tim Jester
Graduate Student Rep: / ☒ / Brionne Elkins
Graduate School: / ☒ / Helena S. Wisniewski / ☒ / Elisa Mattison
Ex Officio: / ☐ / Anthony Paris
(GAB) / ☐ / Cathy LeCompte
(CTC) / ☐ / Jane Shelby
(WWAMI) / ☐ / Patricia Linton
(CAS)
☐ / Paul Deputy
(COE) / ☐ / Rob Lang
(COEng) / ☒ / Simon Kattenhorn
(Geology) / ☐ / William Hogan
(COH)
Registrar/
Admissions / ☐ / Lindsey Chadwell / ☒ / Cathy Ewing / ☐ / Peggy Byers (alt)
*Biology alternates: Cheryl Wilga, Jonathan Stecyk
1) Roll Call and Approval of Agenda/Approval of Minutes
a. Liz move to approve minutes. Grant seconded. Minutes approved.
2) Remarks/Report from Chair
a. List complete of items we completed last year (see below). This shows that we did a lot last year and are hoping to continue making progress this year.
b. Reached out to GAB for direction about a comprehensive catalog review by this group. We initiated some catalog changes last year and realized it was a bigger project; want to complete this for this upcoming catalog.
c. Met with Grad School to talk about the year and create a productive dialog between faculty and administration.
3) Reports:
a. Dean’s Report (Helena Wisniewski)
· Overview of the Grand Challenges from the President of the United States Power Point presentation.
· All start-up companies submitted to a national competition and one of the UAA companies won! Went to Washington for a demo day with potential partners and investors and the feedback was very positive.
b. Director’s Report (Elisa Mattison)
· Reminder: theses are due no later than December 1st and projects are due no later than December 9th. There are no thesis or project extensions for fall.
· November 4th – deadline for continuous registration credit.
· No longer a signature page for thesis. Instead, there is a new title page and a form. Look under the graduate school forms page at the website.
· All students must complete the Research Compliance and Intellectual Property Form in the beginning of the student’s life cycle - that must be signed off on by the student and the PI and record it in OnBase. This is proactive – showing that both read the form. Even if you have a determination that says no further action is required on the research IRB form. This includes a statement that the student has gone through the responsible practice of research.
· Examples: mistakes by the PI can put the student in danger or stop graduation because the right training is not happening or the right approval is not provided.
· This is just to show that every student has been informed of the rules.
· There is a concern by members of the Graduate Council that there was a lack of discussion about how to solve the issues of the examples provided and that the form should fall in. Should this fall under the committee that deals with forms for the Graduate School?
· Before, there was a committee was working to make it voluntary and yet it appears to be mandatory.
· The Dean is comfortable with new ideas coming forth but at this point this is how the Graduate School can support the student to know that the advisor has covered the research aspects of their education. The Director is suggesting that we use this until December and then analyze or make adjustments to the form. This is not GAB because it is not policy, it is a process to support a catalog policy.
c. Registrar’s Report (Lora Volden)
d. Graduate Student Report
· Welcome to Brionne Elkins from the Psychology PhD program who will be our student representative this year.
4) Old Business:
a. Overview of New Admissions System (Cathy Ewing)
· New application system: Gateway to UAA
· Applicants create new account; not the same as single sign on
· Graduate student experience will be ready on Monday
· Students upload all documents to system
· We can review documents even if application is not complete
· Information goes into OnBase, and an email will be sent to department contact once GARF is generated
· There will be a checklist site
· Program coordinators should communicate with their Admissions person and they will work with specialists
· Which semester(s) you want students to be able to apply to (all semesters or specific semesters)?
· What items you want students to submit?
· Program-specific questions?
5) New Business:
a. We will discuss the proposal to remove inactive students and workgroups next month.
Graduate Council Workgroups 2016-2017
2015-16 Graduate Council Year in Review
Jennifer Stone, Chair, Graduate Council
· Transitioned to a smaller administrative structure
· Established regular communication between Graduate Council leadership and Graduate School administration
· Tabled the issue of Graduate Faculty status, placing the decision of whether to have Graduate Faculty and how to handle the process in programs
· Coordinated with GAB to clarify the relationship between GAB and Graduate Council
o Met with GAB chair and administration
o Joint meeting with GAB
o Established agreement to share communications, hold a shared meeting annually, and flag important issues for each other
· Finalized the Exit Survey and developed a plan for implementation
· Supported a solution for students moving from one program to another
· Changed from a signature page to a title page and completion form
· Changed thesis margins
· Moved fall thesis deadline to allow for careful review
· Documented problems with IRB and recommended possible solutions for improving the IRB review process
· Initiated catalog changes for reinstatement and incompletes, which prompted a more extensive review of catalog copy
· Updated the Graduate Council Bylaws