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Minutes of the Graduate Council
January 19, 2012
GRADUATE COUNCIL
____________________________________________________________
Minutes of Meeting Held on January 19, 2012
Present:
Dean Jianping Zhu, Professors Medina-Rivera, Zhou, Monaghan, Zhao,Talu,
Shukla, Foster, Pettey, Spicer, Delgado, Marino, Bagaka’s, Thornton
Absent/Excused:
Professors Shelton, Dixit, Harper, Ray, Bubenik, Mensforth
Guests:
Professors Pamela Rutar, Maureen Mitchell, Vicki Johnson, Jeff Lewis,
Joanne Belovich, Elliott Ingersoll, Kathleen McNamara, Joanne Goodell,
Dianne Corrigan, Chieh-Chen Bowen, Associate Dean Yusko
Former Dean Weyman called the meeting to order at 2:00 p.m.
1. Approve Agenda – The Agenda was approved as presented
2. Approve minutes from December 6, 2011 meeting - The minutes were approved as written.
3. New Dean Introduction – Dr. Weyman introduced the new Graduate Dean, Dr. Jianping Zhu
and asked those present to introduce themselves to Dr. Zhu.
4. Dean’s Remarks – Dr. Zhu welcomed everyone and shared information on his background. He
is pleased to join Cleveland State and mentioned the great changes in the area compared to his
previous time as a chair at the University of Akron. He thanked Council for their passion and
dedication to graduate students/programs and Dr. Weyman for her assistance in the transition.
5. New Business
A. School of Nursing Revisions—The School of Nursing is making several revisions to
their program in order to bring the MSN degree in line with newly released requirements
from their accrediting body (American Association of Colleges of Nursing/AACN). The
changes include:
™ Adding a new course, NUR 510 Ethics for Advanced Practice Nursing
™ Redistribution of course credit hours
™ Renaming courses to more clearly define focus
™ Aligning all courses with new AACN criteria
™ Total credits hours have been decreased for each specialization track (Clinical
Nurse Leader, Forensic Nursing, Nursing Education, Specialized Populations)
™ Changes will be phased in over time, beginning Fall 2012
A motion was made to approve the changes and the motion was approved
unanimously.
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Minutes of the Graduate Council
January 19, 2012
B. M.A. in Creative Writing Revisions—The English department is proposing several
revisions to the Creative Writing program to bring the program more in line with
national marks. The revisions include:
™ Deleting ENG 512 “Craft of Literature” as a requirement
™ Reducing elective hours from 12 to 4 credits in order to
include the Workshop sequence (ENG 591, 592, 593, 594)
™ Adding new courses:
1. ENG 591/391 “Fiction Workshop”
2. ENG 592/392 “Nonfiction Workshop”
3. ENG 593/393 “Playwriting Workshop”
4. ENG 594/393 “Poetry Workshop”
™ Total number of credits to degree is unchanged
Council members questioned the wording in a section of the proposal (page 2, e.) titled
“Thesis.” Council requests this section be returned to the department and re-written to
ensure that the thesis director is a graduate faculty member.
™ A motion was made to approve returning this request for re-writing and the
motion was approved unanimously.
C. M.A. in Sociology revisions—The Department of Sociology and Criminology proposed
the following changes to its program:
™ Standardize admission criteria by requiring a GRE score
™ Change SOC 698 “Master’s Research Paper” from a requirement to an elective
course
™ Revise content of SOC 651 “Sociological Statistics” to include some review and
modify the title to “Sociological Statistics I”
™ Add a second, required statistics course, SOC 652 “Sociological Statistics II”
™ Remove SOC 650 “Sociological Research Methods” as a prerequisite for SOC
651
™ Total credits (32) to degree remains unchanged
Council members expressed concerns about making SOC 698 “Master’s Research Paper”
an option, instead of required. Since no representative was present, Council decided to
table the proposal until a department member can attend and answer Council’s questions.
™ A motion was made to table the Sociology proposal until a department
representative can attend. The motion was unanimously approved.
D. Political Science 4+1 program—The Department of Political Science is proposing a new
4+1 BA/MA in International Relations and Global Interactions. This will be modeled
after the 3+1+1 current program for international students with Bahcesehir University in
Turkey in Engineering. The proposal includes:
™ Before entering the program, undergraduate students must complete 90 credits
and include 4 courses (PSC 231 International Politics, PSC 251 Introduction to
Data Analysis, ECN 201 Principles of Macroeconomics, ECN 202 Principles of
Microeconomics).
™ The transitional year (seniors) includes four courses (PSC 501, double- counted,
PSC 502 double-counted, PSC 503 double-counted, and PSC 421/422).
™ The admission criteria include an overall GPA of 3.25, with at least a 3.5 in
coursework counting toward the International Relations major.
™ A motion was made to approve the Political Science 4+1 program and it was
approved unanimously.
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Minutes of the Graduate Council
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E. MUST STEM Fellows Proposal—The proposal seeks to incorporate recent modifications
in the undergraduate math and science licensure programs (CSUTeach) into the existing
Master’s degree for Teacher licensure. Previously all MUST courses taken were in the
College of Education & Human Services. This proposal will add courses to the
curriculum from the College of Science & Health Professions in order to strengthen
students’ teaching skills in math and science. The revisions include:
™ Adding two prerequisite content courses to the program (PHY 301 “Research
Methods” and EUT 210 “Perspectives on Mathematics and Science”)
™ For math candidates only, ETE 565 “Technology in the Classroom” will be
replaced by MTH 518 “Technology in Teaching”
™ Replacing EDS 515/517 “Math Education in Secondary School/Science
Education in Secondary School,” with EUT 515/517 “Project Based Instruction
in Mathematics/Project Based Instruction in Science.
™ Modifying some summer experiences in order to give early field experiences.
™ A motion was made to approve the changes to the MUST STEM Fellows
proposal and the motion was approved unanimously.
F. Clinical Mental Health Counseling (CASAL) program modifications—The program is
proposing modifications to more closely align with their accrediting body (CACREP).
The changes include:
™ Decreasing CNS 712 “Theories of Personality” from 4 to 3 credits
™ Changing CNS 620 “Lab in Counseling Skills,” CNS 680 “Counseling
Practicum” and CNS 685/685/687 “Counseling Internship” from S/F grade to
grades of A, A-, B+, B, B-, C and F.
™ Changing the name of CNS 629 from “Community Agency Counseling” to
“Clinical Mental Health Counseling”
™ Changing the name of CNS 650 from “Case Studies” to “Case Conceptualization
and Treatment”
™ A motion was made to approve the changes to the Clinical Mental Health
Counseling program. The motion was unanimously approved.
G. Doctor of Engineering (DRE) revisions—Revisions have been proposed for the DRE
degree in order to clarify and adjust requirements and program language. The proposal
includes:
™ Revising admission criteria to include a mandatory GRE
™ Adding a new requirement-3 credits of a research communications course (BIO
785 “Practical Grant Writing” or UST 510 “Proposal Writing” suggested)
™ Changing the names of 3 existing courses:
• ESC 702 from “Applied Engineering Analysis” to “Advanced
Optimization”
• ESC 704 from “Applied Engineering Analysis II” to “Stochastic
Systems”
• ESC 706 from “Applied Engineering Analysis III” to “Advanced
Partial Differential Equations”
™ Adding a new course, ESC 720 “Research Communications”
™ Twenty-four credits of coursework, determined by the area of specialization; 21
credits from a combination of research and/or coursework
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Minutes of the Graduate Council
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Council members asked for clarification of the requirements for a paper submitted for
publication, the maximum number of times to take the qualifying exam, and the 10 year
maximum for credits to count towards the degree. Following discussion, a motion was
made to approve the revisions to the Doctor of Engineering degree. The motion
passed unanimously.
H. M.A. in Psychology, Consumer and Industrial Research Specialization—The department
would like to revise the exit options for students. Most students do not go on for
doctoral study but become employed full-time. It is important to still show research
skills. Thus, proposed is:
™ PSY 699 “Research and Thesis” will remain a requirement for the Doctoral
preparation option
™ The internship option students may take PSY 590 “Consumer/Organizational
Psychology Internship or PSY 596 “Special Problems in Psychology” to fulfill
research requirements. Both courses involve a research project in which the
student could collect and analyze data and present the results
™ Total credit hours remain the same
™ A motion was made to approve the revisions to the exit options of Consumer
and Industrial Research Specialization in Psychology. The motion was
unanimously approved.
6. Continuing Business
a. Graduate Faculty Guidelines—Dr. Zhu supplied handouts with information on
the graduate faculty criteria for surrounding universities (Akron, Kent, Toledo,
Youngstown). Each university has more than one level of graduate faculty
membership. We have reciprocal agreements with these universities and it is
felt that our standards should be comparable. In order to enhance academic
programs, improve research and enhance our image it is recommended that
Cleveland State revise our graduate faculty guidelines to include more than one
level of status. Some of CSU’s previous issues have included teaching
graduate courses, terminal degree, and serving on thesis/dissertation
committees. Graduate Faculty By-Laws will need revisions in order to make
changes to graduate faculty status. Following discussion, a committee was
formed to work on By-Laws revisions and begin a draft of graduate faculty
criteria. Dr. Talu, Dr. Delgado, Dr. Zhou, Dr. Weyman, and Dr Marino
volunteered.
7. Graduate Council Representation & Standing Committees – Available reports
a. Faculty Senate – The recent two meetings involved discussions of the Chronicle article
that featured CSU, the NEOMED proposal, the add/drop deadline, and raising
TOEFL standards for CSU admission.
b. University Admissions & Standards – A number of issues were forwarded to Faculty
Senate
c. College of Graduate Studies’ Admissions & Standards – No report
d. University Curriculum Committee – The Committee will be meeting soon
e. Graduate Faculty Review Committee – One additional Fall 2011 application approved by
an email vote of the Committee was presented for Council’s approval. A motion
was made to approve the application and the motion was approved
unanimously.
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Minutes of the Graduate Council
January 19, 2012
f. Petitions Committee – The Committee will be meeting Feb. 2
g. Grade Dispute Committee –A meeting for the pending grade dispute will be scheduled
soon
h. Program Review Committee – No report
i. University Research Council Committee – No report
8. Items for Future Discussion
a. Graduate faculty guidelines
9. Announcement
™ Dr. Thornton shared a flyer and information concerning the library’s recent purchase of a
software program through Digital Commons for our institutional repository. Many of the
university faculty’s publications (articles, books, etc.) will be placed in the repository by
March 2. Faculty will be sent notification and given an opportunity to refuse permission.
These materials will be accessible world-wide.
™ A motion was made, seconded and approved to thank the previous dean, Dr. Crystal
Weyman for her previous 18 month’s service and dedication to the Graduate College.
10. Next Meeting: The next Graduate Council meeting is scheduled for February 7, 2012 at
2:00 p.m. in Parker-Hannifin Hall, Conference Room #200.
11. Adjournment: The meeting adjourned at 3:45 p.m.
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