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Minutes of the Graduate Council
September 13, 2012
GRADUATE COUNCIL
____________________________________________________________
Minutes of Meeting Held on September 13, 2012
Present:
Dean Zhu, Professors Zhou, Wang, Monaghan, Boboc, Talu, Sridhar, Ray,
Medina-Rivera, Pettey, Ziolek, Regoeczi, Bubenik, Resnick, Spicer, ChiehChen Bowen, Bagaka’s, Associate Dean Schultheiss
Absent/Excused:
Professors Rutar, Shukla, Thornton
Guests:
Professors Sheila Patterson, John Bazyk, Glenn Goodman, Miron Kaufman,
Peter Clapham, Karen O’Loughlin, Kathleen McNamara
Dean Zhu called the meeting to order at 2:05 p.m.
1. Welcome & Introductions
 Dr. Zhu welcomed everyone to a new semester/academic year. He thanked everyone
for their willingness to serve on Graduate Council, introduced himself to new
members and introduced the new Associate Dean Dr. Donna Schultheiss. Dr. Zhu
then asked members to go around the table to introduce themselves
2. Approve Agenda – The Agenda was approved as presented
3. Approve minutes from May 1, 2012 meeting - The minutes were approved as written.
4. New Business
 Graduate Council elections
i. Committee members appointment--From a list of graduate faculty volunteers,
members were picked for the Graduate Council standing committees of
Petitions, Grade Dispute, Admissions & Standards and Graduate Faculty
Review as follows:
Petitions = Robert Whitbred, Jorge Gatica, Paul Doerder
Grade Dispute = Karla Hamlen, Robert Wei
Admissions & Standards = Andrew Resnick, Nigamanth Sridhar
(B. Clark, A. Kumar, A. Resnick, M. Gordon Pershey, N. Sridhar
were nominated; a paper ballot was circulated with Resnick/Sridhar as
the final outcome)
Graduate Faculty Review = Catherine Monaghan
(C. Monaghan, F.E. Villaseca were nominated; a paper ballot was
circulated with Monaghan as the final outcome)
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Minutes of the Graduate Council
September 13, 2012
ii. University Admissions & Standards Representative—Dr. Andrew Resnick
agreed to serve as the Graduate Council representative for the University
Admissions & Standards Committee
iii. University Research Council representative—Dr. Peter Bubenik agreed to
continue to serve as the Graduate Council representative to the University
Research Council
Motions were made to approve each individual appointment. The
motions passed unanimously.
 Ph.D. in Urban Education-revisions to Leadership & Lifelong Learning track
i. In order to better reflect the focus of the program, a title change of track from
Leadership & Lifelong Learning to ―Adult, Continuing, and Higher
Education‖ (ACHE) was requested.
ii. A change in core course ALD 700 has also been proposed since the current
course’s content is covered in other courses. Faculty proposed to delete ALD
700 as a core course and replace it with ALD 606, an existing course.
A motion to approve both changes was made and passed unanimously.
 Master of Education – Health, Physical Education, Recreation & Dance (HPERD)
i. A proposal was presented to suspend admissions to the dual program M.Ed.
in Sport Management/Exercise Science
ii. This program has seen declining enrollment; students now go into the
individual programs of Sport Management OR Exercise Science.
iii. There will be no change to existing courses.
A motion was made to suspend admissions to the M.Ed. dual program in
Sport Management/Exercise Science. The motion was unanimously
approved.
 Master of Public Health
i. Two proposals (one from each College) were received to move the Master of
Public Health consortium program from the College of Education & Human
Services program, HPERD to the College of Sciences & Health Professions
School of Health Sciences.
ii. Discussion of the administrative-initiated move included acknowledgement
of no curricular changes or an impact on faculty positions, office space or
resources.
One motion was made to encompass both proposals (from the moving
College and the receiving College). The motion was approved with one
abstention.
 Master’s of Occupational Therapy (MOT) program admissions criteria revisions
i. The MOT program presented a proposal to require the GRE exam
for all applicants, who will need a minimum combined score of 300 in the
verbal reasoning/quantitative reasoning and a minimum 3.5 for writing
scores. The 300 would be a score of 1080 (verbal reasoning/quantitative
from the old scoring system.
ii. The proposal also included using all 8 required pre-requisites to calculate the
pre-requisite course GPA, requiring completion of 4 of the pre-requisite
courses prior to the MOT program application deadline (January 15).
A motion was made to approve the proposal and it passed unanimously.
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Minutes of the Graduate Council
September 13, 2012
 Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) revisions
i. Council members had questions about this proposal and without a
representative to answer them a motion was made to table the proposal until
the questions could be answered. The motion to table this proposal was
made and passed unanimously.
 M.S. in Physics-Medical Physics track revisions
i. As part of the accrediting body CAMPEP recommendation, the Physics
department requested 2 revisions, 1) changing credit hours for PHY 530
―Medical Radiation Physics‖ from 4 to 3 credits and 2) adding the new course
PHY 540 ―Medical Imaging Physics.‖
ii. A motion was made to approve the proposal, which was passed
unanimously.
 Geospatial Science Applications in the Field Sciences –New certificate
i. The Biological, Geological & Environmental Sciences department proposed a
new certificate, titled Geospatial Science Applications in the Field Sciences
ii. The certificate will be a total of 16 credits with 3 required courses and one 4credit course of research or independent study
iii. The certificate includes a new course, EVS 523 GIS Applications to the Field
Sciences.
A motion was made to approve the new certificate. The motion was
unanimously approved.
 A representative from the DPT program arrived at the meeting to help with
Council member’s questions on the proposal. A motion was made to remove the
“tabling” of the DPT proposal so discussion could begin. The motion was
approved.
i. Discussion and questions involved the minimum required GRE score, the
PTCAS application process, and number of times DPT 890 Comp Exam Prep
& Completion can be taken.
ii. The proposal includes:
Increasing the credits of DPT 642 (Functional Anatomy) from 3 to 4
credits and conversely decreasing DPT 692 (Scientific Inquiry) from 3
to 2 credits
Changing the format of DPT 844 (Health Behavior & Social
Responsibility) from a 3-lecture/lab course to a lecture only course of
2 credits.
Adding a one credit course, DPT 890 (Comp Exam Prep &
Completion) to effectively prepare students for the required comp
exam prior to graduation
Changes to streamline the application process by a) using the
Physical Therapy Centralized Application Service (PTCAS), b)
submitting GRE scores directly to PTCAS with minimum required
scores of 400-450 verbal and 500-550 quantitative for a combined
minimum score of 950
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Minutes of the Graduate Council
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Five pre-requisite courses must be completed with a grade of ―B‖ or
better; no more than 2 ―C‖ grades for all other prerequisite courses
A motion was made to approve the DPT program revisions, which
passed unanimously.
 M.A. in Psychology-School Psychology Specialist—revisions
i. The department proposed revisions to the two phases of the degree, the M.A.
phase and the third year Psy.S. degree phase to increase emphasis in
professional preparation and have a more developmentally sequenced
curriculum.
ii. The revisions involve moving courses from one phase to the other, course
title changes (PSY 536, 572), increased course credit hours (PSY 572) and
adding new courses (PSY 736, 727)
iii. Council members expressed concern that a 700-level course (PSY 725 Role
and Function of the School Psychologist I) was being moved to the
beginning semester of the M.A. phase. It was suggested that if the course is
truly an introductory course it should be re-numbered as a 500- or 600-level
course. Dr. McNamara agreed that a re-numbering of the two course
sequence could be PSY 626-PSY 726.
A motion was made to approve the proposal on the condition that the
specific course number PSY 725 is changed to PSY 626. The motion
passed unanimously.
The department will send the course number change to the College of
Graduate Studies before the proposal is moved on to UCC.
5. Continuing Business
 Graduate Faculty Guidelines Revisions
i. Dr. Zhu gave an update for new Council members on a process that began
last academic year to revise the graduate faculty guidelines
ii. The specific Levels for graduate faculty status were reviewed. The new
process will be phased in. Current faculty members will retain their status
until they come up for renewal. Renewal will then be at the new Levels.
iii. The next step will involve integrating these changes into the Graduate
Faculty By-laws.
iv. Dr. Zhu asked Council members to review the Graduate Faculty By-Laws for
grammatical corrections, and to review the sections on graduate faculty status
and powers of graduate faculty. Dr. Zhu will circulate the proposed new
guidelines and a copy of the By-laws with highlighted sections to review.
Once Council reviews the By-laws and approves the changes, it will need to
be routed to graduate faculty for a vote.
6. Graduate Council Representation & Standing Committees – Available reports
a. Faculty Senate
 President Berkman has agreed to revise the configuration of the Provost
Search Committee to include more faculty representatives
 In the discussion of the capital budget and the new building there were
faculty concerns about the University financial situation. The assumption is
that an increase in enrollment and an increase in tuition will help finances.
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b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
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Minutes of the Graduate Council
September 13, 2012
Faculty still expressed the need for a ―plan B‖ in case both of those do not
come to fruition
University Admissions & Standards – No report
College of Graduate Studies’ Admissions & Standards – No report
University Curriculum Committee – No report
Graduate Faculty Review Committee – No report
Petitions Committee –No report
Grade Dispute Committee – No report
Program Review Committee – No report
University Research Council Committee – No report
Items for future discussion – Dr. Zhu asked members to look into 700-level courses within
their Colleges/Units to see if there are many courses with Master’s students in them. This
affects the state subsidy.
8. Next Meeting: The next meeting will be Tuesday, October 9 @ 2:00 p.m. in PH 200.
9. Adjournment: The meeting adjourned at 4:00 p.m.
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