Minutes of the Graduate Council
Friday, December 9, 2011 10:00 am
Members Present: Melissa Bingham, James Murray, Tony Sanderfoot, Steven
Simpson, Gary Willhite, Conner Doyle
Members Absent: Katie Josephson, Robert Krajewski
Members Excused: Gary Gilmore, John Greany, Kasi Periasamy, Carol Angell
Consultants Present: Christine Bakkum, Raymond Abhold, Robert Hoar, Bruce May
Consultants Excused: Charles Martin-Stanley
I.
Graduate Faculty Status Documents Discussion
A. Summary of revised status document by Steve
1. Status is now given in ability to perform 3 duties
2. Departments/Programs should have own standards
3. Once passing the Department/Program standards, possession of a
terminal degree is sufficient for approval at Grad Council. Otherwise,
Department/Program must justify exception
B. May want to make clear that application must first be approved by
Department/Program. Without approval, the Grad Council would not even
review.
C. May need to make clear the appeal process both at Departmental/Program
level and at the Grad Council level:
1. Appeals at the Department/Program level must be at CGAAF level as
with all administrative decisions
2. Appeals to decisions by the Grad Council must go to Senate.
D. Department/Programs need to define own internal processes, but Grad
Council need not have input upon that.
E. Status used to be granted by the University, but it is now the case that the
status is granted by one department/program, does this alter the way that
faculty serve on inter-college graduate service.
• This situation is a place for Provisional Status as needed.
F. The letter showing decision of the Graduate Council should come from
Graduate Studies Office – who would handle all necessary administrative
and recording tasks.
G. Approve both the Status Document and the Application. MSP (6-0)
II.
Graduate Student Full Time Status Discussion
A. Louise Janke (Financial aid) and Diane Sasaki (Office of International
Studies) to discuss current status
1.
Current “full time status” is 9 credits, which is used for financial aid,
maintain graduate assistantship. Can receive some financial aid at “half
time” (3 credits).
2.
Federal standards have no official number for graduate studies, and
state that they will follow the standards of the University.
3.
International Students must be at full time each semester, and use
“university standards” for rules. Will allow “reduced credit load” for
final year students, for various medical reasons, or for first year
students from non-ESL countries can have a reduced load to adjust to
US standards.
4.
Currently, International students in GRC799 are marked “thesis status”
and remain “full time” for visa reporting.
5.
Admissions Office reports to clearing house for “full time” status in
insurance, loans, etc. We should take care when making status decisions
for “all graduate students”.
6.
International students can be considered “full time” if they are
following the accepted standards of the program for all students,
whatever the number.
7.
On an individual basis, a program can decide that “6 is enough” (or
whatever) and a letter can be submitted to the clearing house that
would be considered to qualify a students as full time.
B. There is a document listing a summary of all the policies concerning graduate
students, and contains suggestions for minimum enrollment to maintain
“full time”.
1.
This policy would be an issue for Admissions to keep track of
GA/PA/TA and what that means for “full time”.
2.
International Students receiving funding from home country must
maintain “full time”. Should not be a concern except for ESL students,
which occasionally come up due to length of time required for some
students. Students must maintain status and make progress.
3.
Internships for many students require 6 credits due to work load, but
are not “full time”. This can be an exception, but there are many of them
in many programs.
4.
Can we just make a policy for all of those students who are not
international or have financial aid that those students can have a
different definition of “full time”. Does that change “overall” policy?
5.
Should share the Enrollment Requirements draft document for the
purpose of starting future discussion.
III.
Motion to Adjourn
Submitted by Tony Sanderfoot, 12/9/11