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Minutes of the Graduate Council
December 13, 2012
GRADUATE COUNCIL
____________________________________________________________
Minutes of Meeting Held on December 13, 2012
Present:
Dean Zhu, Professors Wang, Monaghan, Boboc, Talu, Sridhar, MedinaRivera, Pettey, Regoeczi, Bubenik, Spicer, Chieh-Chen Bowen, Bagaka’s,
Schultheiss
Absent/Excused:
Professors Zhou, Ray, Ziolek, Rutar, Shukla, Resnick, Thornton
Guests:
Professor Nancy Meyer-Emerick (Urban)
Dean Zhu called the meeting to order at 2:05 p.m.
1. Approve Agenda – The Agenda was approved as written.
2. Approve minutes from November 6, 2012 meeting - The minutes were approved with the
addition of Dr. Thorton’s name to the list of faculty attending/absent.
3. New Business
 Levin College of Urban Affairs – MPA/Local Urban Management Certificate
i. The College has revised the admissions criteria to be consistent with other
Urban College graduate certificates.
ii. The revisions include eliminating the need for reference letters, a resume and
a minimum of 50% or better on the GRE.
iii. The other 4 Urban certificate programs do not require these criteria.
iv. A motion was made to approve the admissions criteria to the MPA/Local
Urban Management Certificate which was approved unanimously.
 Levin College of Urban Affairs—Department of Urban Studies
i.
The College has changed numbers and titles of three Geographic Information
Systems (GIS) courses (UST 642/742 to UST 585/; UST 643/743 to UST
586/; and UST 644 to UST 587)
ii. A motion was made to approve the course number changes to the 3 GIS
courses. The motion was unanimously approved.
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Minutes of the Graduate Council
December 13, 2012
 Department of Music – program revisions
i. The Music department proposes revisions to the graduate program on the
recommendation of their accrediting body to include more pedagogy training.
ii. The revisions include:
Clarifying 3 tracks in the Performance area; clarifying all programs
Dropping MUS 514 as a core requirement
Adding 3 new courses—MUS 526/326, MUS 540/440, MUS 601
Adding MUS 540 and MUS 601 as core requirements
iii. Council questioned the cross listing of a 500/300 level course, objecting to
the two level jump. With this listing there is the potential for an
undergraduate sophomore and a graduate student to be in the same class.
iv.
Following extensive discussion it was recommended that Dr. Zhu present
the issue at a future Dean’s Council meeting. With the current proposal of
changing undergraduate general education courses from 4 to 3 credits, it
was felt that this issue would take a back seat. Other Council members
thought since changes were already being made, perhaps now would be the
proper time to bring up the issue and make all changes at the same time.
v.
Council proposes to table this item and ask the department for justification
of a 500/300 cross-listing or a stand alone 300-level course or changing to a
500/400 cross-listing (preferred method).
vi.
To facilitate going forward, Dr. Zhu will write a memo to program directors
and department chairs concerning cross-listing terms and bring it to the
January Council meeting for approval.
vii.
A motion was made to return this proposal to the department to revise
the cross-listing selection. The motion was unanimously approved.
 Memo from UCC, RE: Limit on M.A. level credits for students in doctoral programs
i.
There is currently a limit on the number of 400-level courses that Master’s
students can count toward their degree. UCC is asking if there should be a
similar limit of 600-level courses that doctoral students can count toward
their degree.
ii. Current 400-level course limits vary amongst programs and certain
programs have admission to doctoral programs directly from a bachelor’s
degree.
iii. After discussion, it was determined that there needs to be a degree of
flexibility with Master’s/doctoral programs, which is less restrictive than
the differences between undergraduate/Master’s level programs.
iv.
Dr. Zhu will write a formal memo response to UCC, first bringing it to
Council for their approval.
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Minutes of the Graduate Council
December 13, 2012
4. Continuing Business
 Graduate Faculty By Laws review – Final copy
i. The two corrections have been made and the final copy is presented to
Council for approval.
ii. During the spring Council elections, this document will be an additional
proposal for a graduate faculty vote.
 700-level courses
i. Dr. Teresa LaGrange has asked for a review of 700-level courses and for a
recommendation from Graduate Council concerning attendance in these
classes. This has been prompted from a random audit from the state.
ii. After receiving information from program directors, recommendations are:
If the 700-level class is primarily for Master’s students, it should be
re-numbered at the 600 level, and
If there is the possibility of doctoral students occasionally taking the
course, the course should be cross listed 700/600, for
doctoral/master’s students.
iii. The down-side will be additional work for departments to make changes. To
facilitate large numbers of changes, it was suggested that a listing of the
classes to be changed will be accepted as a group, instead of the paperwork to
change each course individually. This process will also need to be acceptable
to the additional committees after Graduate Council approval.
iv. For existing 700-level courses taken primarily by Master’s students, course
numbers need to be changed to a 600-level and will be accepted by the
Graduate College without syllabi.
v. For existing 700-level courses taken by both Master’s and doctoral students,
the course will need to be cross-listed 700/600 and syllabi for both classes
will need to be included to show quantitative and qualitative differences.
vi. The School Psychology program is a 3-year program with a Psychology
Specialist degree, not a doctorate. The 700-level courses are taken in the
third year. A check will be made to see if the students receive the Master’s
degree after the second degree and if the students taking the 700-level
courses are post-Master’s students.
vii. Dr. Zhu will inform the departments of the changes needed and draft a
response document to Dr. Teresa LaGrange’s memo listing Graduate
Council’s recommendations and bring back to Council for review.
 Limit on the number of years allowed for a late withdrawal
i.
Council was previously asked to think about setting a limit for late
withdrawal. The undergraduate limit is one year, with exceptions
considered. Dr. Zhu asked if Council needed any further time to consider
this issue.
ii. A motion was made to set a policy of a one-year limit for late
withdrawal after the completion of the course, with exceptions
considered. The motion passed unanimously.
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Minutes of the Graduate Council
December 13, 2012
5. Graduate Council Representation & Standing Committees – Available reports
a. Faculty Senate
 All graduate proposals sent were approved.
 The rest of the meeting discussion dealt with the 4 to 3 credit conversion and
the proposed 120 total credits for an undergraduate degree.
b. University Admissions & Standards
 The Doctor of Physical Therapy admissions criteria were approved
c. College of Graduate Studies’ Admissions & Standards – No report
d. University Curriculum Committee
 One of the reasons UCC is waiting to make a formal statement is to wait for
the results of the student surveys
 The 4 to 3 credit conversation may have collateral affects on graduate
programs if courses are cross-listed (3 credits undergrad/4 credits graduate).
 Students taking evening courses may take longer to complete
 While administration is presenting all the changes as a ―package,‖ UCC sees
each issue as a separate one
 The Student Government Association (SGA) has given their approval for all
the proposals
e. Graduate Faculty Review Committee
 Ninety faculty applications were received
 Eighty-five were approved, five were denied
 A Council member asked if the denied applicants are told the reason they are
denied. The denial letter does list the criteria they have not met.
 A motion was made to approve the Committee’s recommendations,
which was approved with five abstentions.
f. Petitions Committee – No report
g. Grade Dispute Committee – No report
h. Program Review Committee – No report
i. University Research Council
 The first group of the Graduate Faculty Travel Award program was due in
November. All those eligible that applied received funding. Applications are
being sought for the next phase.
 The Faculty Scholarship Initiative is being advertised. Last year most
applications were funded.
 Applications are also being sought for the Doctoral Dissertation Awards and
the Faculty Research Development program.
 Forms and criteria are listed on the Office of Research web site.
6.
Items for future discussion
 A few Council members have asked that the spring meetings be rotated due to
changing faculty schedules.
 Another doodle poll will be circulated to check schedules in order to revise the
spring Council meeting dates.
7. Next Meeting: The next meeting will be Thursday, January 17 @ 2:00 p.m. in PH 200.
8. Adjournment: The meeting adjourned at 3:40 p.m.
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