Graduate Council

Voting members present:  Bill Bogley, Ryan Contreras, Lisa Ganio, Lisa Price
Voting members absent: Sourabh Apte, Pat Chappell, Jim Coakley, Cass Dykeman, Theresa Filtz, Claire Gibbons, Marie Harvey, George Waldebusser
Ex-officio members present: Graduate School – Jennifer Brown, Steph Bernell
Guests: Sherm Bloomer, Rosemary Garagnani, Dorthe Wildenschild

Review and Approval of March 16, 2018 Minutes

Action: No action due to no quorum

Tuition Conversation – Sherm Bloomer, Director, Budget & Fiscal Planning

• The OSU Board of Trustees wants to increase tuition by no more than 4.5%.
• What drives costs? Growth and discrete commitments – the university will set aside $5M every year for deferred maintenance to achieve a goal of $45M to work with. If enrollment growth stops, the budget will become very challenging.
• The University Budget Committee recommends tuition rates.
• The budget is based on 28,000 students in Corvallis. Additional growth could come from the Portland area. There is also a market for certificates, short courses, etc.
• Are graduate and retention rates a variable? What would an immediate 10% graduation increase mean? Sherm responded that it’s budget negative, the University is not geared up to do that and there is not the demand. If more students were retained, resources would be moved to upper division courses.
• Sherm noted that revenue, state funding and enrollment are all lagging.
• What is the current undergraduate tuition? About $10,500 for resident and $30,000 for non-resident students.
• Where is the anticipated growth coming from? Sherm responded from online or different locations, although there is some room for thoughtful growth in Corvallis.
• Will Corvallis and OSU Cascades budgets stay separate? Sherm felt that no one knew what Cascades would evolve into when it started, and expectations of what Cascades will cover have not been formalized. Must coordinate curriculum. It matters when promotion and tenure is being considered.
• Regarding potential for growth and revenue, is it felt that Portland is an easier place to target? Sherm noted that programs are in place and the demand is in Portland.
• As the potential for growth diminishes, has OSU looked at pathways or experiences that might be attractive to people in 50 years – perhaps a different way of learning? Sherm indicated that Liberal Arts degrees have a broader appeal for employers than a specific degree. There is a social aspect at a university for students in terms of maturing – there is value in that.
• There are different models in the world, including scientific and professional aspects; various models could be looked at. There is interest in Liberal Arts honors colleges; an Honors College could be started overseas.
• One noted that the College of Agricultural Sciences had 12 politically motivated positions in the last year and none aligned with the Strategic Plan, and none had teaching components. They would like to see a complimentary reduction in other areas – can’t be all things to all people.

IELA Discussion (continued)

1. English Language Testing Equivalents
2. Responses to Graduate Council Questions (previously distributed)

• Jennifer noted that this is proposed as a two-year pilot; Cambridge will score the test and INTO will proctor.
• Some don’t like the fact that the IELA is connected to a for-profit organization.
• There is a governance issue between OSU and INTO. An email was sent to Roger Nielsen (Executive Committee liaison) on behalf of the Graduate Council regarding the lack of involvement in relation to the way in which the undergraduate IELA was implemented.
• Will initial minimum OSU scores be changed or retained? Scores will be recorded for all four tests during the pilot period.
• Elena Sapp and Rosemary Garagnani will conduct an assessment during the pilot.
• There was interest in measuring metrics once students are outside the pathway.

Action: Due to a lack of quorum, a vote will be taken in Spring term – the motion should include the beginning and ending dates for the pilot.

Organic Agriculture Online Certificate #100609

1. Executive Summary Document
2. Course Development Schedule
3. Observations from Rosemary Garagnani:
   1. I do not see a total credit hour requirement. They show required courses equaling 12 credits and a list of electives, but do not specify how many elective credits are required;
   2. Admissions criteria are not stated; and
   3. They mention enrolling international students, but to do so, students studying from abroad must be able to complete 100% of the coursework online. It is not clear whether that is possible.

• Ryan provided some background information:
  • OREI funding was received; the outreach portion of the grant is the online certificate. It was felt there would be a lot of interest.
  • There is a lack of detail related to credits, and problems with admissions.
  • It’s stated that there is no other online organic agriculture certificate, but there actually are other online certificates of this type.
  • There are no related admission requirements.
  • There needs to be a checklist of the information that must be submitted.
  • There are associated pre-reqs that are not online.

Action: This will be discussed during Spring term to identify additional concerns before returning to the proposer.

Internships

• Send college materials to Lisa Ganio who will compile the responses/concerns and distribute to the Council.
  • College of Agricultural Sciences had no flags.
  • Education had no issues following clarification from Ryan.
  • College of Liberal Arts had no major comments.
  • College of Science will have additional information to share at the next meeting.

Matters Arising

• Lisa had a procedural question related to requests to review policies. Because she has received an additional request for review from Academic Programs and Assessment, should the Graduate Council wait and consider all together? The consensus was to consider requests as they arrive.

• Dean Brown recently met with a student regarding international graduate students who have curricular practical training (CPT) – should students, particularly international students with F1 visas, be required to enroll and pay for the 3-credit hours if they are away on internship?
  • What administrative or academic resources are used while on CPT? These include library, administrative resources, and could be faculty oversight and/or assessment.
  • The student claims that most PAC-12 institutions cost about $700, but OSU costs about $2000 (due to the 3-credits) – this becomes a burden. Many units rely on credits for staffing purposes.
  • International students must be enrolled and OSU institutes a 3-credit rule.
  • An undergraduate student can do an internship for zero credits – unsure whether they must also pay tuition.
  • Is the cost appropriate?

Minutes prepared by Vickie Nunnemaker, Faculty Senate staff