University of Nevada, Reno Graduate Council

Meeting Minutes, December 12, 2002

Members Present:

Jennifer Greer, Chair and Journalism

Marsha Read, Associate Dean of the Graduate School

James Winn, A&S, Fine Arts

Dana Edberg, Faculty Senate Representative

Brent Bowman, Business

Kathryn Obenchain, Education

Jeri Bigbee, HCS

Rangesan Narayanan, Agriculture

Stacy Burton, A&S, Humanities

Jeff Thompson, A&S Science

Peter Krumpe, Medicine

Members Absent:

Linda Brinkley, VP for Research and Dean of the Graduate School

Richard Davies, A&S, Fine Arts

Banmali Rawat, Engineering

Marilou Woolm, President, GSA

Scott Tyler, Mines

Guest:

Vincent Catalano, Department of Chemistry

Michael Peters, recorder

Susan Henthorne, GSA Advisor

1. The Chair called the meeting to order at 1:30 and directed that the standing reports proceed with all motions deferred pending a quorum.

Standing Reports

2. Graduate Dean: Read reported that she had just returned from the Council of Graduate Schools conference in Washington, D.C. where there had been extensive discussion regarding the implementation of the SEVIS reporting requirements and the impact upon international students. I-20 authorizations for visas will have strict time limitations that will not be able to be extended. Currently, our OISS uses a standard 3 years for master’s students and 6 years for doctoral students. These may have to be modified to accommodate actual time-to-degree figures.

Quorum attained at 1:35. The Chair called for a motion to approve the previous meeting’s minutes. MOTION (Winn/Read): That the council approve the previous meeting’s minutes with corrections. Motion approved unanimously.

3. The Chair invited Dr. Catalano from the Chemistry department to present a recommendation that the Council revise the policy requiring doctoral candidates to have successfully passed their dissertation defense in order to participate in the hooding ceremony at commencement. Catalano described a recurring situation where doctoral students will defend early in the summer and actually graduate in August but would like to be able to take part in the May commencement exercises rather that having to return to the University in December. Discussion ensued. MOTION (Narayanan/Krumpe) That the Council approve a revision of the doctoral hooding policy. The new policy would read, “Doctoral students must successfully pass their final dissertation defense before being eligible to participate in the hooding ceremony. Any exception to this policy must be in writing and present a reasonable rationale for granting the exception. This request for exception must be signed by the dissertation advisor and full advisory committee membership, the graduate program director and approved by the Graduate Dean. (additional language in bold-face) Motion passed, 10 yes, 1 no.

4. Subcommittee report on Out-of-State Tuition Waivers: Winn reported that grants-in-aid for students who were not graduate assistants could only be provided if departments were able to raise Development funds from sources outside the university. Since the Regents would not approve grants-in-aid to non-graduate assistants, it would be up to individual departments to raise such funds, which does not appear either viable or likely.

5. GSA Report: Henthorne reported that GSA would be receiving about a $14,000/year windfall from President Lilley’s authorizing a per credit allocation from tuition fees to compensate for the shortfall in bookstore monies due to the shift in percentage of undergraduate/graduate students. The possibility of constructing a new student union at the same time as the new library would cause a significant increase in student fees.

6. Faculty Senate Report: Edberg reported that the senate had extensive discussions on the break-up of the College of Arts and Sciences and the process for evaluating the rationale for the separation into two colleges. Reasons for the separation include 1)with a reduction of state funding in the future and more reliance on outside funding, splitting the college would facilitate such fund-raising by sharpening the identity of each college particularly amongst alumni, 2) each smaller college would be easier managed, and 3) each college would have a stronger, more unified voice. Opposing reasons include 1) most faculty don’t want it and 2) it will be expensive (about $250,000), 3) will hinder interdisciplinary work, and 4) Core Curriculum would be split and have no identifiable home. Edberg noted that graduate assistantships are not intended or expected to be lost in the split.

7. C&C Report: Greer distributed hand-out describing the kind of curricula changes that C&C believes the Graduate Council should review prior to consideration by C&C. This included:

The Graduate Council must approve requests for new graduate programs, graduate certificate programs, and substantial changes to existing graduate programs before they go to the University Courses and Curriculum Committee. Substantial changes include the addition or deletion of any required course, the addition or deletion of options or tracks within a program, changes in the number of required credits, and changes in the thesis/dissertation, comprehensive exam, or professional project. After review at the college level, requests by a graduate program should be submitted to the Provost’s Office which will then route them to the Graduate Council and the University Curriculum Committee.

C&C tabled modifications to the BS/MS in Biotechnology because the proposed changes had not been approved by the college C&C.

The electronic general catalog will start in fall, 2003 and be updated every six months so that modifications approved by C&C will be more readily promulgated.

One modification for the Council’s consideration was a change to the class/lab ratios for nursing courses. These changes are to align these ratios with national accreditation requirements. MOTION (Burton/Edberg) The Council approve changes to these nursing courses. Motion approved unanimously.

Old Business

8. Time Extension Policy: Read clarified the interpretation of the policy on approving time extensions for course work for advanced degrees. Extensions may be for up to 1 year: since the time limitation for master’s degrees is 6 years, the one year extension would allow course work that is up to 7 years old; since the time limitation for doctoral degrees is 8 years, the one year extension would allow for course work that is up to 9 years old. Also, these out-of-status courses should not constitute more than 1/3 of the credits required for the degree.

9. Role of Graduate Council: Brinkley, Read, Greer, and Burton will meet with the Provost to discuss modifications in the Graduate Council’s role in program review. Interdisciplinary programs have never been reviewed and perhaps the Council could be helpful in determining priorities as to what programs should be doing regarding program review.

10. The next meeting of the Graduate Council will be held on February 13, 2002 at 1:30 in the Alan Bible Room of the Getchell Library.