University of Nevada, Reno Graduate Council

Meeting Minutes, September 9, 2004

Members Present:

Scott Tyler, Chair and COS, Mackay School of Mines

Marsha Read, Associate Dean of the Graduate School

Kathryn Obenchain, Education

James Winn, CLA, Fine Arts

John Nelson, COS

Tracy Veach, Medicine

James Sundali, Business

Ron Phaneuf, Faculty Senate Representative

Donica Mensing, Journalism

Jessica Muehlberg, President, GSA

Members Absent:

Stacy Burton, CLA, Humanities

Matt Leone, HCS

Banmali Rawat, Engineering

Stacy Gordon, CLA, Social Sciences

Rangesan Narayanan, Agriculture

Guests

James Richardson, Graduate Director, Judicial Studies

Ian Curley, National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges

Dana Edberg, Chair, Accounting and Information Systems

Mark Simkin, Professor, Accounting and Information Systems

Michael Peters, recorder

Old Business

1. The Chair called the meeting to order at 2:38 and invited the newly convened council members to introduce themselves. After introductions and pending arrival of the provost for the external program review reports, the chair took up the New Business portion of the agenda.

2. Approval of May 2004 Meeting Minutes: Chair invited a motion for approving the previous meeting’s minutes. MOTION: (Read/Nelson) To approve the minutes of the May 2004 meeting. Motion passed unanimously.

3. Sub-committee Volunteers: Read presented the issue that the Graduate Student Services Implementation Team has requested a representative from the Graduate Council serve on the team which meets the second Wednesday of each month to consider initiatives to improve graduate student services. After discussion, the Chair indicated he would query all council members to identify a volunteer to serve in this capacity.

4. Fact Sheet for Distribution to Chairs/Directors: As an initiative to improve the dissemination of information and decisions deriving from Graduate Council deliberations, the Chair proposed sending out a brief, bullet-statement type fact sheet to department chairs, program directors, and college deans. The council heartily approved this idea.

Standing Reports:

5. Graduate Dean’s Report: Read reported on the initial graduate student enrollment figures for Fall, 2004, indicating a modest increase in overall enrollment, particularly in doctoral students and a slight decrease in international student enrollment, much in line with national enrollment figures now available on the Council for Graduate Schools website.

Read also indicated that the Graduate School would be strongly encouraging students graduating this academic year to file their theses and dissertations via the new Electronic Thesis and Dissertation (ETD) option available on the Graduate School website. It is hoped that the successful implementation of this option will lead to the mandatory submission of ETDs by the Fall, 2005 semester.

The new Directors of Graduate Studies Workshop will be offered Friday, September 17, 2004 from 9 – 12 in the Ross Hall conference room. All graduate directors are welcome.

6. GSA Report: Muehlberg reported that a new graduate student survey would be conducted this semester to gather data so as to identify needs, assess current services, and assist in the development of programs and services for graduate students.

She also indicated that the Rights and Responsibilities statement introduced at the previous meeting was being revised to incorporate the Council’s recommendations and would be distributed to the Council once completed.

Muehlberg expressed GSA’s interest in assisting graduate programs conduct more effective recruiting of students and invited faculty and programs to forward suggestions on how GSA might do this.

7. External Program Review Reports: Upon the arrival of the Provost, the Chair called for the presentation of the external program review reports.

Read presented Stacy Gordon’s report on the Human Development and Family Studies program review. Nelson reported on the Atmospheric Sciences program review. Copies of their assessments and recommendations were provided to the Provost for his action.

8. In response to a question from the council regarding the Board of Regents’ faculty workload study, Dr. Richardson explained that university officials had been successful in negotiating a change to the language which allowed for faculty in doctoral programs to have a six credits per semester workload.

9. New Degree Program – MS in Information Systems: Dana Edberg and Mark Simkin from Accounting and Information Systems briefed the council on the proposed degree and fielded questions from the members. The proposed degree would be regarded as a terminal degree for individuals working in industry although the doctorate would remain the terminal degree for academic positions. The new degree would require additional resources, i.e. two additional faculty members and would introduce 10 new courses. MOTION: (Nelson/Sundali) To support approval of program and forward recommendation to the university courses and curricula committee. Motion approved unanimously.

10. New Degree Program – MS in Justice Management. James Richardson, Ian Curley, and Jane Robinson briefed the council on the proposed degree and responded to questions from the council. MOTION: (Winn/Nelson) To support approval of the program and forward recommendation to the university courses and curricula committee. Motion approved unanimously.

11. There being no further business, the council adjourned at 4:10. The next meeting will be on Thursday, October 14, 2004 at 2:30 in the conference room on the second floor of the Student Services Building.