Graduate Council

Voting members present: Ryan Contreras, Cass Dykeman, Marie Harvey, Sourabh Apte, Theresa Filtz, Lisa Ganio, Lisa Price
Voting members absent: Bill Bogley, Pat Chappell, Jim Coakley, Claire Gibbons, George Waldbusser
Ex-officio member present: Graduate School – Steph Bernell

Approval of Minutes

• January 12, 2018
  • Cass moved to accept the January 12 minutes; motion seconded and passed with no dissenting votes and one abstention.
• February 2, 2018
  • Cass moved to accept the February 2 minutes; motion seconded and passed with no dissenting votes and two abstentions.
• February 16, 2018
  • Cass moved to accept the February 16 minutes; motion seconded and passed with no dissenting votes and one abstention.
• March 16, 2018
  • Cass moved to accept the March 16 minutes; motion seconded and passed with no dissenting votes and two abstentions.
• March 23, 2018
  • Cass moved to accept the March 23 minutes; motion seconded and passed with no dissenting votes and four abstentions.

Policy Revisions – Lisa Ganio

• Lisa Ganio began the discussion by trying to clarify with Steph what policies are posted/linked to the Graduate School website versus those posted on the Academic Programs and Assessment web site. Question was, “how do these link together?” 
  • Steph indicated that the Graduate School only links to the catalog. If these links are not updated, then it’s the responsibility of the Office of Academic Programs and Assessment.  

1. Options

• Lisa will revise per discussion and send revisions to Vickie Nunnemaker and Caryn Stoess.

2. Graduate Option  

• No revisions were suggested.

3. Posthumous Degrees

• Previously discussed with no suggested revisions.

New Graduate Minor – Ergonomics #101666 – Marie Harvey

• Web version
  • Liaison should be from outside the program. Ryan, on behalf of the Graduate Council, requested in the CPS that originators seek liaison from units and/or colleges from which the elected courses are taught, including the College of Engineering, Human Centered Design, Mechanical, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Psychology and Computer Science.

Forest Ecosystems and Society – Five-Year Graduate Program Review

• Review date: January 12, 2018
• Reviewers: Sourabh Apte, Walter Loveland
  • Reviewer’s Report
  • Self-study Report
  • Sourabh reported that the program is in good shape and the report was well done. Reviewers met with faculty, students and administrators. There are about 35 active graduate faculty, 29 Master’s and 34 PhD students. Due to restructuring, about 10-12 tenure-track faculty have left; there is a good match of ranks in the program. Students appeared to be happy and were pleased with the choices of courses allowed. There were minor recommendations. Faculty have a good research program and faculty with large research programs have 2-3 post docs and technicians per faculty member. One recommendation was to hire additional graduate students as opposed to post-docs. Also recommended courses for graduate students. Need tracking statistics for graduate students following graduation. Concerns were expressed related to the replacement of Peavy Hall. Since there is no undergraduate program, it is natural to hire post-docs; but reviewers stressed the importance of hiring graduate students. Students had no idea what jobs may be available following graduation, and establishment of an industrial advisory board was recommended.
  • One Council member noted the importance of the continuity of post-docs, but supported the recommendation of hiring graduate students.
  • Is there a projection that the new Peavy Hall will provide for expansion of the program? Lisa Ganio responded that no one in the Forest Ecosystems and Society (FES) unit will move into Peavy Hall (all are in Richardson). Faculty felt there was no capacity to grow their program.

Action: Theresa moved to accept the Forest Ecosystems and Society five-year graduate program review as submitted; motion seconded and passed with no dissenting votes and one abstention.

Minutes prepared by Vickie Nunnemaker, Faculty Senate staff