University of Nevada, Reno Graduate Council

Meeting Minutes, September 11, 2003

Members Present:

Stacy Burton, Chair and A&S, Humanities

Marsha Read, Associate Dean of the Graduate School

Bob Ives for Kathryn Obenchain, Education

Jeri Bigbee, HCS

Dana Edberg, Faculty Senate Representative

Donica Mensing, Journalism

James Winn, A&S, Fine Arts

John Nelson, A&S Science

Tracy Veach, Medicine

Banmali Rawat, Engineering

James Sundali, Business

Scott Tyler, Mines

Jessica Muehlberg, President, GSA

Members Absent:

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

Richard Davies, A&S, Social Sciences

Rangesan Narayanan, Agriculture

Non Members attending:

Susan Henthorn, GSA Advisor

Michael Peters, recorder

Hilary Case

Kevin Gaw

Old Business

1. The Chair called the meeting to order at 2:35 and invited the members to introduce themselves. After introductions, the Chair invited a motion to approve the previous month’s meeting minutes. MOTION: (Nelson/Bigbee) To approve the May 2003 Graduate Council meeting minutes. Motion approved.

2. Response from Provost on Role of Graduate Council in Program Review (attachment): Council discussed the Provost’s response, specifically the suggestion that the entire Council consult with the Provost to develop the conclusions and recommendations for each program review in that this might be an unwieldy tasking for the Council. Suggestions included,

- the Council preparing guidelines for review to be used by a council representative in assessing a particular program review so as to ensure consistency and quality of review.

- ensuring that the council’s representative is not from the same college as the program under review.

- that the council designate a subcommittee to handle program reviews in much the same way as the council once had a subcommittee assigned to review applications to graduate faculty status.

The council decided to invite the provost to a council meeting to discuss these issues.

3. Associate Graduate Dean’s Report: Read reported that the Graduate School was scheduled to move to the Student Services building on September 22, 2003 and that the move would be accomplished with as little disruption as possible. In addition, she reported that applications for graduation should be on-line early in October to be used for the May, 2004 graduation cycle. Finally, she reported that the Graduate School’s document imaging system was up and that training was continuing to bring programs on board so that admissions transactions would be handled electronically.

4. GSA Report: Muehlberg reported that GSA had established two new committees, one to look at international students issues and one to develop mentoring programs for graduate students. In addition, she reported that GSA was completing work on the Graduate Student Rights and Responsibilities document and were looking at a proposal to establish a Graduate Student Center in the student union.

5. Courses & Curriculum Report: No report.

6. Faculty Senate Liaison Report: Edberg reported that the Senate was working on cleaning up the university by-laws and Code. In addition, the Senate discussed the issue of modifying faculty evaluations to include a “Needs Improvement” category between “Satisfactory” and “Unsatisfactory.”

7. Policy on how long to maintain records on students who are admitted, enroll and then drop out: Peters asked the Council for their input on how long student records should be retained after a student ceases to enroll. While the issue will be eliminated through document imaging, the consensus of the Council was that records should be retained for the time limit on course work for that degree, i.e. 6 years for master’s degrees and 8 years for doctoral degrees.

8. Hilary Case and Kevin Gaw from the Counseling & Testing Center arrived and briefed the Council on the newly created dissertation writing support group. The group is intended to provide an outlet for students to air their experiences in conducting research and writing their thesis or dissertation. It is not to provide assistance in actually composing the dissertation or thesis.

9. Reapportionment with Reorganization: The Chair proposed that with the impending creation of the College of Liberal Arts and the College of Science, the Graduate Council reapportion representation on the Council by simply moving current seats on the Council to the new colleges. Of the current four seats assigned to the College of Arts and Sciences, three would be retained by the College of Liberal Arts (Social Sciences, Fine Arts, and Humanities) and one (Sciences) would be allotted to the College of Science. Additionally, the College of Science would receive the current seat allotted to the College of Mines as the Mackey School of Earth Sciences and Engineering is incorporated into the College of Science. Motion (Rawat/Winn): That the Council inform the deans of the decision to maintain the current number of representatives on the Council and move the particular seats to the new colleges. Also, the Graduate Dean will, within two years, consult with the deans of the new colleges to determine whether this reapportionment is satisfactory. Motion approved.

10. Selection of Courses & Curriculum Representative: Read volunteered that as it appeared that a revision of the C&C representation would require the membership of the Associate Dean of the Graduate School, she would serve additionally as the Council’s representative.

11. Other new business: Rawat raised the issue of some international students not acquiring sufficient proficiency in spoken English to successfully orally defend their thesis or dissertation or to pass oral comprehensive examinations. Associate Dean Read will query the graduate directors to determine the extent of the problem and report back to the Council.

Bigbee asked if the last year’s subcommittees were still on track to report on their activities and the Chair reported that the Burton/Obenchain subcommittee will submit their report at either the October or November meeting.

The Chair encouraged Council members to forward ideas, comments, suggestions, etc. to the Chair or Associate Dean as soon as possible rather than waiting to bring them to the next meeting.

12. There being no further business, the Council adjourned at 4:00. The next meeting will be October 9, 2003 at 2:30 p.m. in the Alan Bible Room of the Getchell Library.