Graduate Council

Voting members present: Sourabh Apte, Bill Bogley, Pat Chappell, Ryan Contreras, Theresa Filtz, Lisa Ganio, Marie Harvey, George Waldbusser
Voting members absent: Jim Coakley, Lisa Price,
Ex-officio members present: 
Guests: Stephanie Bernell, Julie Gess-Newsome (via phone)

Approve October 12, 2017 Minutes

• Ryan will request a clarification from Jim Coakley

2017-2018 Program Reviews and Awards Assignments

• Ryan will send the assignment list to Vickie for posting online.

Epidemiology Minor – Marie Harvey

• Online Proposal
• PDF Proposal
  • The courses have been approved.
  • The minor has received significant interest from students both within and outside of the college. A transcript visible option is being requested. The proposal has 24 credits: 18 required credits and 2 elected courses.
  • Regarding the required courses, it was noted that there are required statistics courses that are not in the minor. Marie will add either the pre-requisite or equivalent.
  • Because there is no liaison from the listed colleges where students may come from, Marie will request that those liaisons be included.
  • Feedback to originators – this is a big minor, is there a way to streamline the minor and reduce the total credits to 18?

Action: Marie will request changes to clarify the prerequisites, request liaisons and note the issue with the large number of credits.

Bioinformatics – Bill Bogley

• This is part of the new Data Analytics proposal from Statistics. There are similarities and differences with the existing ST 565 and the proposed ST 566. The proposed course is much more extensive, but the learning outcomes are more flexible.
• It was noted that ST 565 is a graduate level course in a fairly technical subject level with pre-requisites at a high level. The Data Analytics degree is online for those who do not possess a high level of Statistics. The courses are similar. One Council member felt that ST 565 has learning outcomes that are not articulated.
• Could there be a sentence in the course description explaining the difference between ST 565 and 566?

Action: The Council is supportive of the course. However, Bill Bogley will request adding a sentence that the target audience is students seeking an MS in the newly established Data Analytics degree.

Fisheries and Wildlife Program Review – Theresa Filtz

• Reviewer’s Report
• Site visit: April 10, 2017; Internal reviewers: Jim Coakley, Theresa Filtz
  • The reviewers felt it was a solid program; an incredibly active and vibrant program with high enrollment; likely the premier online program in the nation. There are no opportunities for on-campus students to participate in the online program. There are sites and students in both Corvallis and the Hatfield Marine Science Center. Overall recommendation: expand as resources allow. There is a subset of recommendations about which external reviewers felt strongly, but they are OSU issues, not Fisheries & Wildlife issues, i.e., how can students be tracked if there’s not multi-year funding, facilities issues, etc. These are known issues at OSU. The unit has been carrying a budget deficit for some time. Issues the unit can address: highly specialized courses with low enrollment – recommendation is to review curriculum to determine need or turn it into a workshop, etc., and an external recommendation that courtesy faculty involved in teaching need to be reviewed in some way.
  • External reviewers were great during the review, and were told they were responsible for writing the review, but all three disappeared without writing a review. The Graduate Council review team member wrote the report.  The expectations need to be more uniform and the honoraria should not paid until the report is submitted. Steph will discuss these suggestions with the dean.
  • One Council member questioned whether faculty were satisfied with how the funding is distributed. Theresa indicated that faculty did not address this issue, however, they did note that Ecampus courses are not funded the same as in prior years.
  • Should the university vs. unit issues be separated? Steph noted that the Graduate School is working on a template, including areas where there are university issues for which there is little opportunity for fixes.

Action: Assuming that the unit has had an opportunity to fact check, Marie moved to accept the Fisheries & Wildlife program review; motion seconded and passed unanimously.

The Graduate Council chair should convey to Maureen Childers when Graduate Program Review Reports have been approved.

Action: Ryan will advise Maureen and the program director that the Fisheries and Wildlife report has been approved.

Ryan asked whether there is a document that can be posted online indicating the status of the program reviews.

Action: The Graduate Council will discuss an online presence with the Graduate School.

Pharmacy Program Review – Lisa Ganio

• Reviewer’s Report
• Site visit: May 22-23, 2017; Internal Reviewer’s: Lisa Ganio, Marie Harvey
  • External reviewers were impressed with the self-study; the overall recommendation was to expand the program. Recommendations: find additional funding to support first-year students; encouraged the college to form a donor base and identify alumni; would like a more focused branding of various aspects of the program, including updating the web pages; and, because the program has facilities in different buildings across the university, the college needs to continue stressing to the university the importance of better facilities. Because there seemed to be relatively little administrative support in the office for the graduate program, the reviewer’s suggested revamping the administrative support. There were questionable survey results related to how students felt about the program, but program faculty felt that this was not correct and students upheld the program when reviewers met with them. The reviewers also discussed developing a sense of community between the Corvallis and OHSU offices, and suggested obtaining a motor pool vehicle to facilitate weekly check-ins with both groups. An additional recommendation was that students be more exposed to regulatory law.
  • Was there a distinction of where to expand the program? It was noted that professional students don’t go through the Graduate School.

Action: Moved to accept the review report; motion seconded and passed unanimously with one abstention (from Pharmacy).

Transfer Credit Policy

Postponed to an upcoming meeting.

1. Discuss exception request for 19 (instead of 15) credits toward MS degree
2. Transfer of Pass/No Pass of courses taken at OSU into MS program of study
3. Transfer of courses taken at graduate level that met requirements of BS/BA

Minutes recorded by Vickie Nunnemaker, Faculty Senate staff