STANDARD XI - GRADUATE PROGRAM --- EDITED DRAFT 6/2/97

Table of Contents:

11.1 - Introduction

11.2 - Graduate School Organization

11.3 - Graduate Funding

11.4 - Graduate Faculty

11.5 - Graduate Program Data

11.6 - Graduate Students

11.7 - Graduate Student Support

11.8 - Program Review

11.9 - Facilities

11.10 - 12 Month Calendar

11.11 - Summary of Recommendations

To fulfill the university's mission in education, research, and public service, the graduate faculty encourages students to develop the skills of intellectual inquiry and critical analysis. It trains them in both the disciplinary and interdisciplinary skills necessary for problem solving, and fosters a dedication to creative thought and the search for knowledge. Postbaccalaureate study has been offered at the university since 1887, and the university awarded its first advanced degree in 1903. The activities of the graduate faculty and students in research and scholarship reinforce the mission of this land-grant university.

UNR graduate curriculum now includes over 65 master's programs, including the M.A., M.S., M.Ed., M.M., M.B.A., and M.P.A; three Ed.D. programs, the M.D./Ph.D. program; and 29 Ph.D. programs. Graduate programs have grown in number by 16.6% from 78 in 1990 to 91 in 1996. Many of these programs are housed in departments or colleges. Others are interdisciplinary in nature. Indeed, the greatest growth in regular graduate student enrollment is occurring in the Interdisciplinary programs with a growth rate of 131.4% over the reporting period.

Contributing to enrollment growth overall are:

--the Medical School at a 45% increase;

--the College of Engineering at +22.1%;

--the College of Arts and Science at +17.1%; and

--the College of Education with an increase of +9.9%.

Showing losses are:

--the College of Business Administration (-31.4%);

--the School of Mines (-30.5%);

--the College of Human and Community Sciences (-3.8%); and

--the College of Agriculture (-0.08%).

Some of these changes however, are due to restructuring of programs and transfer of units between colleges (See Standard V).

The formal process and procedures for implementing new advanced degrees, courses, and curricula are detailed in the Board of Regents Handbook, Chapter 14 (See Appendix XI-1 for excerpts).

Currently, administration of Scholarship and Research (Standard X) and the Graduate School (Standard XI) fall under the same umbrella in a de facto arrangement. As noted in the self-study of 1988, the position of Dean of the Graduate School is combined with the position of Associate Vice President for Research. The position of Associate Vice President for Research was elevated to Vice President for Research (VPR) in 1996, and at that time the decision was made to separate the position of VPR from the Dean of the Graduate School. The separation has not been implemented. At the present time, the Dean of the Graduate School is also the Vice President for Research.

The Dean: The Dean of the Graduate School is responsible for graduate education at UNR. The Dean reports to the Vice President for Academic Affairs. The duties of the Graduate Dean include: development, promulgation, and support of the bylaws of the Graduate Faculty and the Graduate Student Association; coordination of the Graduate Council; and administration of day-to-day business of graduate students' degree progress. The Dean is also responsible for graduate assistantships, and university-wide orientation and training programs for teaching assistants.

Research and graduate education are intricately interwoven. An organization in which a single Vice-President is responsible for research and graduate studies has certain advantages. This is particularly true at UNR, where there is at present no separate budget for graduate studies. With respect to the budgeting of graduate studies, nothing has changed since 1988. Most of the operation of the Graduate School is funded not by state funds, but from indirect cost recovery from grants funds managed by the VPR. Without increased state funding for the UNR Graduate School, many programs administered by the Graduate School could be negatively affected were the Graduate School separated from its major source of funding, the office of the VPR. Thus it is not clear that, as recommended in 1988, a separation of the Graduate School from the Office of Research would be beneficial.

Inorder to ensure an appropriate marriage of research and graduate education, however, parallell administrative structures for research and graduate studies should be established. For example, the VPR might supervise two deans who would each have responsibility for overseeing operations in a single area. Such a structure would facilitate more sustained attention to the growing needs of graduate education at UNR.

The Associate Graduate Dean: The Dean is currently assisted by the Associate Dean of the Graduate School whose responsibilities include: graduate student recruitment, admissions, monitoring of academic standards and progress toward degree completion, programs of study, certification of degree requirements, and Graduate School publications.

Graduate Directors: Individual programs, whether discipline-based or interdisciplinary, are administered by directors of graduate studies. Their method of selection varies by unit. In discipline-based programs, these directors generally make decisions subject to the signature authority of the department chairs. In interdisciplinary programs, they answer directly to the Graduate School Dean (see Figure XI-1). Interests of interdisciplinary programs are represented in several affinity groups that convene regularly with the Graduate Dean (examples include the Biological Sciences Advisory Committee and the Environmental Sciences Advisory Council). Discipline-based programs do not generally enjoy similar organized contact or consultation. Both groups could benefit from regular meetings with the Graduate Dean and with each other, to discuss organizational and administrative matters of common interest, including financial support for graduate education.

We recommend that the Dean of the Graduate School meet regularly with graduate program directors for orientation and education. The Dean should work closely with program directors, as well as the Graduate Council, on policies concerning the training of graduate students and the administration of graduate programs.

A. Disciplinary Programs B. Interdisciplinary Programs

Undergraduate Graduate Undergraduate Graduate

Students Students Students Students

Department Department Chair Graduate

Chair/Graduate Program

Program Director

College Graduate College Graduate

Dean Dean Dean Dean

Vice President for Vice President for

Academic Affairs Academic Affairs

The Graduate Council: The Graduate Council is elected by and from the Graduate Faculty. No member of the Faculty Senate is eligible to serve on the Graduate Council except that the Vice-Chair of the Faculty Senate serves as a member ex-officio. Terms of office are for three years and arranged such that approximately one-third of the membership is elected annually. The Graduate Dean and Associate Dean serve on the graduate council, but are not eligible for the chairship. A voting student representative is appointed by the Graduate Student Association. Representation on the Graduate Council shall not exceed four percent of the total number of graduate faculty members. Each college or school granting a graduate degree has one representative. The additional positions are apportioned to colleges or schools granting graduate degrees in such a way as to make each college or school's representation to the Graduate Council correspond approximately to that college or school's proportion of the total FTE Graduate Faculty. Representation is examined and reapportioned if necessary, at three-year intervals.

The Graduate Council reviews and makes recommendations on policy matters pertaining to graduate education. It reports to the Vice President for Academic Affairs, subject to the approval of the Graduate Dean. Recommendations not approved by the Graduate Dean are forwarded to the President if, after reconsideration, they are approved by at least a two-thirds majority of the full Council. The Graduate Council considers such matters as: graduate teaching, graduate programs needs, and graduate student and faculty research. Specifically, the Graduate Council reviews and evaluates proposed and existing programs, recommends priorities to be adopted in graduate education, scholarship, and research, and establishes standing and ad hoc committees to ensure the orderly discharge of the duties and responsibilities of the Graduate Council. Review and evaluation of existing graduate programs is a continuous process with the intent that all advanced-degree programs will be evaluated every five years. In fact, as noted in Standard V: the cycle is lengthening, and the relationship of such reviews to planning and resource allocation is unclear.

The Graduate Council s role is currently somewhat passive, serving primarily as a review mechanism. This results in part from the fact that the elected representatives are not necessarily actively engaged in or knowledgeable about administering graduate programs. It is recommended that the Graduate Council (a) exercise its duty to oversee graduate programs (b) help in the problems associated with overlapping - but different--missions of college deans and the dean of the Graduate School, (c) address the issues of consistency in funding and administration among graduate programs, and (d) improve grievance procedures for graduate student and faculty appeals.

Currently much of the support for graduate activities depends both directly and indirectly on extramural grants and contract funding. Interdisciplinary programs administer graduate students and their programs, but do not have faculty, space, or funds for graduate assistantships separate from their department-based origins. Interdisciplinary programs receive some funding from the Dean of the Graduate School, and some college deans, yet college participation may be uneven within an interdisciplinary program. This contributes to a potentially unstable situation. Discipline-based programs have faculty and funding for teaching assistantships from their home departments (through deans). Currently, however, they draw upon the same departmental staff and budgets as do undergraduate programs, competing with them for limited resources.

The Academic Master Plan supports increased access to graduate programs, but with the overall decline in federal funds, some graduate programs may be forced to limit access. It is crucial as recommended by the Academic Master Plan, to re-examine state funding formulas to distinguish the needs of graduate instruction. The Graduate School should strive for a budget large enough to allow "seed grant programs" and "dissertation completion grants" as part of the overall support to graduate education.

The Graduate Faculty consists of faculty or adjunct faculty and clinical faculty appointed to it by an instructional department or program. Notices of appointment are forwarded to the Graduate Council by the chair or director of the department or program. Appointments to the Graduate Faculty are based on a capacity to contribute to graduate education demonstrated through: (a) receipt of a terminal degree considered appropriate for the department or program, (b) research competence, and (c) ability to teach graduate students.

Research competence may be demonstrated by scientific, creative, or other scholarly activities consistent with the department or program. These include, but are not limited to refereed national or regional publications, presentations, or other refereed creative accomplishments. Ability to teach graduate students individually or in groups may be demonstrated by peer and/or student evaluation of classroom, laboratory, or clinical instruction, and supervision of research or creative activity.

Members of the faculty who have not been appointed to the Graduate Faculty may, upon approval by the Graduate Dean, be permitted to teach specified graduate courses and serve on graduate advisory-examining committees. However, such persons may not chair graduate advisory-examining committees.

Regular faculty members at UNLV and DRI can be appointed to Graduate Faculty status in the same manner as UNR faculty. UNLV faculty who are accorded Graduate Faculty status are subject to the same rules and have the same rights and privileges as UNR Graduate Faculty except that they have no voting privileges on university-wide matters. The may have such privileges on specific graduate program matters, as outlined in program bylaws, but they do not chair student advisory committees, and are not eligible to serve as university-at-large members of advisory committees.

The chair of the department or program must provide in writing, specified reasons as to why a person applying for membership in the Graduate Faculty was denied. This must include a statement as to what action may be taken for reconsideration and inclusion in the Graduate Faculty. A person who wishes to appeal denial of Graduate Faculty membership may do so in writing to the Chair of the department or program. The application is reviewed by the department or program in a meeting with the applicant. Should the department or program receive sufficient new information supporting the appointment of the applicant to the Graduate Faculty, it reconsiders the application for membership in the Graduate Faculty. Further appeal, using the same procedure, may take place at the Graduate Council. The Graduate Faculty may hold meetings for the discussion of, or action on, any matter concerning graduate education, but no such meetings have occurred in recent memory.

Information on faculty size and makeup for each graduate program is not available centrally. Information on the credentials of faculty is available in the curriculum vitae of individual faculty (on file for the accreditation team), program reviews (available in the Office of Assessment), and departmental self-studies (on file for the accreditation team). Curriculum vitae for individual faculty members contain: information on their experience, research, and publications, memberships in professional societies, attendance at meetings, presentations and participation at meetings, and offices held, as well as information on honors and noteworthy external recognition.

The sabbatical policy is described in Standard VII. See also Standard X regarding "research leave."

The Graduate School has responsibility for monitoring the progress of individual graduate students. However, such records are notoriously inaccurate, at least in part due to failure of graduate students to file required paperwork in a timely fashion. Computerized data on graduate students from past years are kept by the Office of Planning, Budget, and Analysis. Current data are kept by the Office of Records and Enrollment Services. Finally, program reviews of graduate programs are collected and kept by the Assessment Office. The Graduate School itself has no centralized data base on admissions, enrollment, graduation rates, or other relevant statistics relating to its students or faculty.

Graduate students comprise approximately 27% of the UNR student body, and approximately 33% of the FTE students. UNR is fairly unusual among land-grant universities because its graduate programs represent a high proportion of the overall enterprise. In 1995, the sum of graduate students in programs and attending as graduate specials is approximately 3000 students. Overall, since 1992 the number of students has been fairly stable, while doctoral enrollment has shown an increase. (Data on enrollment of students in graduate programs is provided in Appendix XI-2).

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Insert Figures XI-2, XI-3, & XI-4

About Here

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Further analysis of the data on graduate programs is difficult. In some cases, graduate programs have been redesigned, at least in part, due to downward trends in enrollment. More mature programs have had a relatively stable history, whereas, newer programs have had distinct upward trend (Data on graduate degrees conferred are in Appendix XI-3). Data on attrition is not available on a centralized basis for graduate programs. Likewise, data on placement of graduates has not been systematically collected (See also Standard V).

The severity of problems with poor or nonexistent Graduate School data cannot be ignored. Much of the data in this report is inaccurate. For example, the data regarding the number of students in programs, the number of graduates in each program, and the relationship between programs and degrees are all known to be flawed because independent data from programs do not match the data provided by the registrar's office. Over the years, record keeping has been inconsistent at best.

Clearly, if ongoing evaluation of graduate programs is to occur a more systematic data base must be established, collected and maintained. The Graduate School needs to collect reliable, systematic data on admissions, progress towards degree, attrition, graduation, and placement. To do so will undoubtedly require additional staff and computer support.

Graduate students are categorized as (a) regular graduate students who have been admitted to UNR and to a particular graduate program and (2) graduate specials who do not plan to pursue a program leading to an advanced degree or do not meet requirements for admission to graduate standing.

At present there is no formal system for assigning Graduate Special students to the programs with which they hope to affiliate, nor is there any system for advising them or monitoring their progress. Nor do we know what percentage are not hoping to pursue a degree. Some are taking courses for professional certification or credit, some for personal satisfaction. The number of graduate special students within the university is large. Resources are devoted to their education and training, but they do not register in the tally of any department or program.

A. Recruitment

The Graduate School has several general recruitment activities including recruitment fairs in neighboring states. Sometimes, the most effective recruitment tools for graduate programs are informative brochures. As UNR expands the number of graduate programs, brochures will become a greater expense which may place financial constraints on smaller or poorly funded programs. Recruitment will also increasingly depend upon program web-sites.

Towards this end, it is recommended that the Graduate School help provide programs with the technical capability to prepare high quality web-sites.

B. Admissions Information

Graduate admissions requires a bachelor's degree and a GPA of 2.75. Additional requirements are decentralized , and are imposed at the department or program level. Some, but not all programs require GRE Scores. In these cases, a minimum composite score (verbal + quantitative) of 1000 is required. While these represent the minimum admission standards, many programs have established much higher admissions criteria. Graduate students who do not meet these standards may be admitted into a "prescribed program," with full admission contingent upon performance during the first year. International students need a TOEFL score of at least 500 unless they have received a degree from an accredited U.S. college or university. Letters of recommendation and additional written materials are required by many graduate programs.

The Graduate School is in the process of streamlining the procedures and paperwork involved in graduate admissions. The system has been convoluted and time consuming, resulting in the loss of some excellent students and frustration on the part of faculty and students alike. The goals of the new process are: (a) to make the Graduate School the central point of contact for graduate students and programs, (b) to significantly reduce the time between students' applications and their notification of a decision by eliminating unnecessary steps in processing applications, (c) to reduce unnecessary duplication of records and (d) to notify students when their application has been received. These goals are to be achieved by: (a) eliminating three separate steps in the routing of applications (Cashier's Office, Admissions and Records, and academic dean's offices), (b) adopting the principle of "just-in-time" information (e.g. GPAs will be calculated only for students whom programs wish to admit), and (c) making extensive use of current technology for creating, storing, and transmitting relevant data/information.

C. Enrollment Requirements; Transfer Credits

General: To remain in good standing, beginning Fall 1996, graduate students must register for at least 3 graduate-level credits each fall and spring semester until graduation. These numbers are higher for international students, graduate assistants, and students with financial aid. For graduate assistants, the maximum number of credits is 12 per semester; for all other graduate students the maximum is 15 per semester or 6 in any summer session. Students who register for 9 graduate credits or more in a semester are considered full time. For graduate assistants, 6 credits or more constitute full time.

Courses numbered 600 and above may be taken for credit towards completion of graduate degrees and are open only to those students who have been officially admitted to graduate study. Admission of graduate special students to these courses is a matter of departmental policy. A dual-numbered course completed at the 400-level of undergraduate credit may not be retaken at 600-level for graduate credit. Each graduate course must be completed with a grade of C or better for the credit to be acceptable toward an advanced degree. Some programs do not accept any grade lower than B for the fulfillment of graduate program requirements. In addition, a GPA of at least 3.0 must be earned over all graduate credit attempted at the university.

A maximum of 6 graduate credits of S/U grades may apply to the master and doctor of education degrees offered by the College of Education. A maximum of 6 credits of workshop or institute courses, whether taken in residence or not, may be included in the total for the degree. Final credit for thesis or dissertation credits is not officially recorded until the candidate is approved by the faculty for the graduate degree.

Students with graduate standing may apply to transfer graduate credits earned at another university toward an advanced degree at UNR by completing a Graduate Credit Transfer Evaluation Request form. Transfer credit must be approved by the student's advisor and the Graduate Dean prior to being incorporated into his/her program of study. A maximum of 9 credits earned in off-campus courses may be applied toward any advanced degree. Graduate credit earned through extension courses is not acceptable for transfer credit and no graduate credit is allowed for correspondence study completed at the university or elsewhere.

D. Degrees; Residency and Graduation Requirements

Master's Degree:

For masters' students, there are no residency requirements. Masters' degree candidates have two options. In Plan A (thesis) at least 30 credits of acceptable graduate courses must be completed. At least 21 of those credits must be earned in on-campus courses at the university and at least 18 credits must be at the 700 level. In Plan B (professional paper) at least 32 credits of acceptable graduate courses and a comprehensive examination must be completed. At least 23 credits must be earned in on-campus courses and at least 15 credits must be at the 700 level.

As many as 9 graduate semester credits (with grades of C or better) completed prior to admission to graduate standing may be applied towards the master's degree, subject to the approval of the advisory committee and the Graduate Dean. A maximum of 3 graduate credits towards a master's degree of satisfactory/unsatisfactory (S/U) grading, including transfer credits is acceptable at the Masters' degree level.

Ph.D:

For a Ph.D. student, a minimum of 72 graduate credits is required, including at least 48 credits in course work. At least 30 credits of 700 level courses beyond the bachelor's degree, exclusive of dissertation credits, are required for the doctoral degree. As many as 18 of these credits may be used from a master's degree program. As many as 24 graduate semester credits of course work from a Master's degree program (with grades of B or better) may be applied toward the Ph.D. degree.

For Ph.D. students, at least two successive semesters, excluding summer sessions, must be spent in full-time study on campus. For Ed.D. students, at least two successive summer sessions must be spent in full-time study on campus. A maximum of 9 graduate credits toward a doctoral degree of satisfactory/unsatisfactory (S/U) grading, including transfer credits, is acceptable.

Graduate student quality may be indirectly examined, at least in most disciplines,through the GRE composite scores. The average GRE composite score for students admitted to masters' degree programs in 1995 was 1059; and for student admitted to doctoral programs, 1092. These scores represent an increase of 4.5% and a decrease of 2.2% respectively, as compared to scores calculated for students admitted to these programs in 1993. See Appendix XI-4 for detailed information on GRE scores.

E. Assessment

The University has begun to assess graduate student satisfaction in two ways. First, a survey of approximately 50% of the graduate students was conducted by the Graduate School in 1995. In addition, the Office of University Assessment has begun to conduct exit interviews with small numbers of graduate students. The results of these interviews are currently being compiled. We still know very little about our graduate student population: where they come from, how many are our own undergraduate students, how they evaluate their educational experience.

Financial support for graduate students comes from state-budgeted graduate assistantships, tuition waivers, fee waivers and grants-in-aid; external research assistantships; fellowships of several kinds; graduate student traineeships; federal grants and loans; state grants; and private donations. Several of these sources are administered or originate in the Graduate School. The Graduate School also provides a very limited number of special categories of fellowship support for graduate students, described below. Information on the number and distribution of graduate teaching assistantships is not available centrally.

The University minimum assistantship stipend is $8,500 for a student with a 20-hour-per-week appointment on a 10-month contract. This stipend includes waiver of out-of-state tuition, which is equivalent to $5,100, and a grant-in-aid of $74.75 per credit, applied to the fees of $87.00 per credit charged graduate students. This stipend amount represents a loss of ground in comparison to stipends during the last self study. At that time, stipends averaged $6,900 for a 9-month contract, plus tuition waiver. Inflation, especially with respect to Reno housing, makes UNR stipends uncompetitive with other universities. Except for the very expensive coastal cities, Reno is among the most expensive places to live. The disparity between the increased state budget for TAs in the past five years (20%) and the smaller increase in the number of TAs supported by that budget over the past nine years (10%), brought about increases in both the number and the minimum amount of stipends, is also discussed in Standard VII.

Not all UNR graduate programs pay the minimum stipend of $8,500. Many students in the sciences have stipends of $12,000 for a 12-month contract, paid from grants. While this is an improvement over the minimum, it is still not considered nationally competitive.

It is recommended that, as quickly as feasible, a minimum annual stipend of one-half the minimum 12-month salary of Rank I instructors (currently $12,000), should be achieved, with guarantees of support for two years for master's and five years for Ph.D. students. The stipend should be indexed for inflation, and health care coverage should be provided.

Some new categories of fellowships have been created by the Graduate School. Graduate School First-YearExcellence Fellowships (2/year) and First-Year Excellence/Diversity Fellowships (3/year) were instituted in 1993-94. They are designed as recruiting tools to attract the most highly qualified graduate students available in today's competitive market for excellent minority and nonminority students. For this fellowship category, programs nominate meritorious applicants and commit to support them after their fellowship year fort the period necessary to complete their studies. In addition, for the last four years the Graduate School has awarded one Dissertation Year Fellowship annually to a student in the humanities or social sciences, recognizing the critical importance of that phase of graduate student training and the paucity of funds available generally for such critical support. There are also several categories of fellowship support awarded to/obtained individually by graduate students. One example is the Predoctoral Fellowship Program of the National Science Foundation, under which graduate students in the sciences can receive three years of support for doctoral study. Another example is the WICHE Doctoral Scholars program, whose goal is to increase the number of African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans who complete the doctoral degree and enter college and university teaching.

Some scholarships, usually of modest amounts, are also available to graduate students. Administered by the Scholarship Office, under the Office of Financial Aid, some are given to the university specifically for identified students and distributed accordingly; others are allocated to departments which then award the scholarship(s); still others are awarded to eligible students by a scholarship committee. The allocation of these monies is often specifically prescribed by the donor. Some funds used for scholarships for graduate students are not separated from general funds used for scholarships for both graduate and undergraduate students. The only figures presently available that specify the amounts of funds distributed to graduate students in these categories come from a report (below) of scholarship payments to graduate students through the UNR Scholarship Office, Fall, 1991 to Spring 1997.

1. For award years prior to 1995-96, student status was based

solely on self-reported data not compared to the actual

status in the Student Information System (SIS). Prior to

1995-96 some awards were not noted in the Scholarship

Office database because they were paid on an award request

form.

2. Discrepancies in the number of scholarships and recipients

for a given year reflect multiple awards to a single student.

The Office of Financial Aid also administers loans and grants available to graduate students based on need. At the present time, there are no data available on the total dollars in the several categories of aid made available to graduate students for previous years or the current year.

Quality graduate programs require several faculty and numerous graduate students who share ideas and generally enrich the intellectual environment. If programs are very small, in terms of either faculty and/or students, they cannot provide this rich intellectual environment. Hence graduate programs need periodic review. While the program reviews are intended to provide this type of review, it is recommended that the program review process increase its efforts to review the effectiveness of graduate programs. Those programs that are ineffective (due to many possible factors - e.g. adequacy of resources, size of faculty, size of student body) or those which are redundant with other existing programs should be considered for elimination or being combined into more vigorous interdisciplinary programs.

Since the recent institution of regular program review at UNR, such reviews have been conducted, either by a specialized accrediting body or through the Assessment Office, for: Education, Foreign Language and Literature, and Nursing (94), Computer Science, Journalism, and Veterinary Medicine (95), Criminal Justice, English, and Philosophy (96). (Copies of all program reviews are available in the Assessment Office). More consistent guidelines for program reviews to follow have recently been adopted. Comments on Program Reviews under Standard V apply also to graduate education.

Some common themes of the reviews that are relevant to the graduate program include:

a. the need to improve the pay of Graduate Teaching Assistants

b. Letter-of-Appointment teaching faculty (LOAs) should be eliminated in favor of

full-time, temporary, benefits-eligible positions

c. concerns over the breadth of graduate programs versus their depth

d. lack of sufficient diversity in the faculty (see Standard VIII for data on university

progress in hiring diverse faculty, which, of course, does not necessarily result in greater diversity within specific programs)

e. space needs--either current or anticipated

f. the need for more faculty

In one way or another, most program reviews address the need for more faculty, more space, more library resources, and equipment, and more technical/secretarial support. Another theme is the apparent competition between the demands of a research university that requires both concentration of faculty in specified areas to attract grant monies and make national and international contributions on one hand, and the need for a wide variety of programs that serve our regional community on the other. This shows up in the "minimal faculty for breadth of program" issue which is frequently raised, and is an issue that must be taken into consideration in making administrative decisions.

A second point for discussion is the administrative response to the recommendations in these program reviews and accreditation reports. Even thought fiscal limitations make it very difficult to implement findings requiring additional resources, the recommendations must be given high priority as resources become available. Along with other assessment data, results of program reviews must be systematically incorporated into university planning and implementation processes (See Standard I). Guidelines for program reviews also need to be addressed so that reviewers consider ways to optimize current resources, as well as ways for programs to grow and improve.

A. Infrastructure

Managerial support, laboratory space, office space, animal care facilities, and library services for graduate students and programs are limited. To date most state-of-the art equipment to support graduate activities has been acquired via extra-mural grants and contracts to individual faculty and programs. Although the university provides campus-wide infrastructure support (e.g. radiation safety) and, on a case-by-case basis, "matching" support for some large equipment acquisitions, there is little in the way of university support for major facilities (e.g. research equipment) or services (e.g. laboratory technicians) for graduate activities.

Computing and networking facilities are, at best, barely able to meet the needs of most graduate programs. There is no centralized program to provide access to computers and related peripherals for graduate students, who generally must rely on the resources of their faculty mentor(s). The strained resources for computing help and software/hardware maintenance are a campus wide problem that affects graduate students as well as faculty.

It is recommended that increased attention be given to providing adequate computer support to graduate programs. In addition, support formula budgets should continue to include remodeling and upgrading costs for graduate/research facilities (See Standards III, IV, & X).

B. Libraries

The UNR libraries have generally emphasized undergraduate curricula rather than graduate student needs. In the past several years, there has been a slight shift in emphasis to research and graduate studies in response to the growth of the graduate student body. Additionally, the undergraduate core curriculum emphasizes use of primary source materials, which has brought about a shift towards the purchase of primary source materials on microformats or optical media. Thus, it is difficult to distinguish (at least for the humanities and some of the social sciences) what has been purchased for undergraduate versus graduate use. The Dean of the Libraries estimates that the libraries spend about one-third of the allocated materials budget in support of graduate study and research. Estimated figures for the past four years are:

1995-96 $990,000

1994-95 $817,987

1993-94 $817,987

1992-93 $843,038

In addition, all information resources purchased by the Medical Library might be considered graduate materials. In FY 1995-96, that amount is $139,719. By comparison, UNR library facilities are not adequate to support first-rate research and graduate studies. See Standard IV for a comparison of UNR libraries to those of Western Land-Grant Institutions and the Association of Research Libraries.

If the university s graduate programs are to maintain and improve their quality, efforts should be made to increase library holdings and broaden the availability of electronic databases. In addition, the benefits and costs of branch libraries needs to be explored (See Standard IV).

Like many universities, UNR runs on a 9-month calendar designed primarily for undergraduate students. Graduate students, whether involved in research or trying to complete a thesis/dissertation, generally work throughout the year and therefore require attention during the summer. Present summer practices at UNR complicate rather than support graduate work. For example, library hours are shortened and "summer hours" for administrative offices end the workday at 3:00 PM. Some efforts should be made to keep the graduate program activities on a 12-month calendar. At a minimum, this should include: (1) arrangements for graduate students to have continuous health coverage throughout the year, (2) increased library hours and/or library access; and, (3) elimination of "summer hours" for administrative offices.

• Adequate funding of the Graduate School is imperative. Since current funds derive from indirect cost recovery on sponsored projects, the functions of Vice President for Research and Dean of the Graduate School should not be separated at present. However, parellell administrative structures to oversee research and graduate education operations are recommended (for example, separate deans for research and graduate studies). This would secure an appropriate marriage of research and graduate education at UNR and more sustained attention to the needs of graduate education.

• The Dean of Graduate Studies should meet regularly with graduate program directors for orientation and education. To help programs reach their highest potential, the dean should work closely with program directors to develop policy, in conjunction with the Graduate Council, on the recruitment and training of graduate students and the administration of graduate programs.

• The Graduate School must establish and maintain a more systematic data base. It is imperative that the Graduate School have information by program on admissions, progress towards degree, attrition, graduation and accurate and up-to-date placement.
• The Graduate Council should move from a passive role of review to a more active and informed role in fostering graduate education at UNR by: (a) exercising its duty to oversee graduate programs (b) assisting in implementing the different missions of college deans and the dean of the Graduate School, (c) developing equitable allocation mechanisms to insure stable resources for all graduate programs, and (d) developing improved grievance procedures for graduate student and faculty appeals.

• Efforts should be made to keep the graduate program activities on a 12-month calendar. At a minimum, this should include: (1) arrangements for graduate students to have continuous health coverage throughout the year, (2) increased library hours and/or library access; and, (3) elimination of "summer hours" for crucial administrative offices.

• The Assessment Office should increase its efforts to review the effectiveness of graduate programs. Programs any that are inadequate in terms of resources, size of faculty, or size of student body, or are redundant with other existing programs, should be scrutinized.

• The Graduate School needs a state-funded budget to facilitate graduate education. This budget should include "seed grant programs" and "dissertation completion grants" as part of the overall support. State funding formulas should be re-examined in order to distinguish the needs of graduate and undergraduate education.

• In order to be competitive, the minimum annual stipend for graduate assistants should be set at one-half the minimum 12-month salary of Rank I instructors. The stipend should be in 1997 dollars, indexed for inflation. Health care benefits should be included. Guarantees of financial support should be two years for masters and five years for Ph.D. students.

• To support graduate education, library holdings should be increased and the availability of electronic databases broadened. UNR must also seriously explore the benefits and costs of branch libraries (See Standard IV).

• The Graduate School should help provide the technical assistance needed for programs to prepare their own high quality web-sites.

• Within the framework of technological enhancement, increased attention should be devoted to providing adequate computer support to graduate programs.

• Graduate/research facilities need increased support for remodeling and upgrading.