Graduate Council Minutes 4/23/14
GBB 205, 12:10-1:00 p.m.
Members Present: M. Alwell, M. Berthelson, D. Biehl, I. Crummy, L. Gray, N. Hassanein, A.
Kinch, A. McKeown, S. Sprang, E. Stone
Members Absent/Excused: D. Campbell, X. Chu, M. Kia, B. Klaasen, K. Swift
S. Williams
Ex Officio Members Present: R. Arouca, B. Brown, N. Hinman, S. Ross
The minutes from April 16th were approved and the meeting began with the UM minute.
Communication
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Chair Sprang reported on the results of his meeting with ECOS. It would like the
Graduate Council’s charge to have parallel language to ASCRC’s charge in terms of
filtering recommendations through the Faculty Senate.
Business Items
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Chair Sprang revised the charge given ECOS’ recommendations. The Council discussed
the revision. The amendment clarifies what the Council actually does. The Council’s
power comes through the Faculty Senate. It has authority to make seconded motions to
the Faculty Senate. The revised charge appended below was approved with one
abstention.
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The Council discussed the next step related to the Graduate School’s self- study draft.
The motion passed unanimously to recommend an external review. Typically the unit
under review pays for the reviewer. It would be less expensive to have a remote review.
The Graduate School will need to recommend possible reviewers to the Provost. The
Council of Graduate Schools will be used to find an appropriate reviewer. It would be
helpful to view the instructions given to external reviewers. Associate Provost Hinman
will provide these to the Council and would welcome suggestions.
The Graduate School would like Council members to read the self-study closely and
make comments about anything that doesn’t seem clear. One recommendation was to
include a table of contents.
The meeting was adjourned at 1:05 p.m.
4. Graduate Council
b. Responsibilities
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Promote, review, and evaluate graduate programs to ensure vitality, currency, and quality;
Review and make recommendations on all requests for new graduate programs, for
deletions of programs, and for curriculum additions or changes by departments and schools;
Consider suggested changes in Graduate School regulations;
Consider issues raised by graduate students relating to regulations of specific graduate
programs or their welfare;
Initiate and supervise Oversee interdisciplinary graduate programs housed in the Graduate
School; in response to national, regional, or state needs, or to the desires and needs of
sufficient numbers of graduate students;
Allocate awards and scholarships conferred by the Graduate School;
Decide on substantive matters Make recommendations to the Senate regarding standards
and policies relating to graduate programs, curricula, general Graduate School regulations,
awards and scholarships, etc., and communicate those standards and policies to students,
faculty, and the Administration.
Rationale
The Graduate Council (GC) proposes to amend its bylaws to clarify its role in developing Graduate
School (GS) policy relative to that of the Faculty Senate (FS). Current bylaws confer decision-making
authority upon the GC. This appears incongruent with FS Article III which states that "The Senate may
establish committees composed of its membership or of the members of the faculty to assist it in the
discharge of its powers and duties". The existing GC bylaw is also at variance with those of the ASCRC
and University Library Committees, which serve in an advisory capacity to recommend, rather then
decide policy. The GC proposes to likewise assume an advisory, rather than a decision-making role, to
better align its role with the spirit of faculty governance embodied by the FS. Other proposed changes
to GC bylaws are intended to eliminate redundant (with respect to changes in GS regulations) and
superfluous (" … in response to national, regional or state needs …") text and to clarify the role of the GC
in oversight of interdisciplinary graduate programs housed in the GS.