Meeting Minutes, March 28,
2006
Members
Present:
Kathryn
Obenchain, Chair and
Marsha
Read, Associate Graduate Dean
Matt
Leone, HCS
Aaron
Santesso for Michael Branch, CLA-Humanities
Charles
Coronella for Victor Vasquez, Engineering
James
Sundali, Business
John
Nelson, COS
Ron
Phaneuf, Faculty Senate
Michael
Peters, Recorder
Members
Absent
Tracy
Veach, Medicine
Glenn
Miller, Agriculture
Susan
Henthorne, GSA Advisor
Duane
Karna, CLA – Fine Arts
Stacy
Gordon,
Guests
Jennifer
O’Neil
1. The Chair called the meeting to order at 2:30
and pending a quorum invited the council to discuss reapportionment of
representation on the council. Among the
issues raised was the idea of representation for interdisciplinary
programs. The council decided to discuss
the issue with their respective deans and Brenner volunteered to raise the
issue at the next dean’s meeting.
Quorum
attained at 3:00.
Old
Business
2. Approval of February 2006 meeting: The Chair invited the council to review the
previous meeting’s minutes and called for a motion to accept them. MOTION: (Nelson/Leone) To accept the previous meeting minutes. Motion passed unanimously.
Standing Reports
3. Associate Dean’s Report: Read reported that the GSA awards night would be help April 21, 2006 and that the advanced degrees commencement exercises would take place Friday, May 19, 2006 and would include the awarding of honorary degrees and special awards.
4. GSA President: Johnson reported on some specifics of the GSA awards night and noted that due to a shortage of faculty judges, a number of awards would have to be adjudicated by graduate students. Also, GSA elections for council seats would take place April 21. Johnson noted that a recent ASUN/GSA combined event took place as a ski trip. Finally, that GSA would like to see if dental and eye care insurance could be available for graduate students in the future.
5. Graduate Dean: Brenner reported that there was a new initiative to increase funding for graduate students by way of assistantships and fellowships and that the Regents had established a new committee to look at increasing TA positions. Brenner will explore ways of spreading monies around to different programs, though some monies may have to be targeted to specific programs.
6. Faculty Senate: Phaneuf reported that the by-laws revisions
had been approved. Also, that the senate
had appointed a task force to examine the proposed Enterprise Resource Planning
software system and make an assessment of is applicability. He reported that selected candidates for the UNR
presidency would be visiting the campus within the next few weeks. Finally that at last week’s Regents meeting
at UNR the senate showcased the cooperation between the
7. Courses and Curriculum: Read reported on the consent agenda (attached) approved by the subcommittee and recommended approving the agenda. MOTION: (Read/ Coronella) Approve the C&C consent agenda as submitted. Motion passed unanimously.
8. Liaison for Mathematics Program Review: Nelson volunteered to serve as liaison if the review took place in the fall, 2006 semester.
9. Proposed Policy for Specialization and Areas of Emphasis within Graduate Programs: The council discussed the issue of establishing criteria for approving proposal for creating specializations within established graduate degree programs. The term “specialization” refers to a specific subset of courses within an established degree program which when completed would be reflected on the student’s transcript. One proposal was to define specialization as a course of study, cohesive and distinct, consisting of 12 graduate credits, 6 of which are taken at the 700-level. MOTION: (Santesso/Nelson) That council members discuss this issue with their constituents so that a decision on a policy could be made at the next council meeting. Motion approved unanimously.
8. There being no additional business, the council adjourned at 4:00. The next meeting will be held on April 25, 2006 at 2:30 in the JTSU Ingersoll Senate Chamber.