Graduate Council Meeting Minutes
March 16, 2011
GBB 202, 12:10-1:00 p.m.
Members Present: A. Borgmann, L. Economides, D. Erickson, J. Hirstein, J. Hodgin,
M. Mayer, G. Quintero, W. Shields, R. Shortbull
Members Absent/Excused: M. Ehrman R. Judd, N. Moisey, H. Naughton,J. Olson, C.
Palmer, S. Ross, S. Sprang
Ex-officio members Present:
The meeting was called to order at 12:13 p.m.
The 3/9/11 minutes were approved.
Communication Items:

Bertha Morton applications will be available on Blackboard Monday, March 21st. The
Council will need to have the review completed by March 30th so the middle group
review can be identified prior to spring break. Each subcommittee should have three
groups (1/3 each) of applications Top (definitely receive award), Middle (possibly
receive award after further review), Low (do not receive award).

Chair Hirstein will be gone April 13th, the meeting after spring break.

Members were informed of the discussion at the Faculty Senate that led to the following
motion via email communication.
The Faculty Senate resolves to request the Provost to revise the February
24, 2011 TA/RA resident tuition policy after immediate consultation with
the Graduate Council and academic stakeholders.
Since the meeting, the Psychology Department Chair met with the Provost and the
College of Arts and Sciences Dean and was granted an exception to the policy.
Members were sent the draft policy revision to review. Chair Hirstein has a
meeting with Associate Provost Sprang tomorrow to discuss the draft.
The wording on the draft policy seems to open the doors for negotiated
exceptions, but it does not specify the criteria. The rules that govern exceptions
should be clear campus-wide.
Faculty have been challenged to raise the profile and enrollment of graduate
programs without additional resources. Therefore, many programs piece together
funds for TAs and RAs and would benefit to have the flexibility of utilizing
resident tuition as a recruitment tool as well.
The policy needs to be transparent. It should include a rationale for how the
decisions were made. Faculty would like to understand the various financial and
other ramifications that were considered.
Business Items

The draft program review for Philosophy has been circulated to the Humanities
Subcommittee. The Chair of the Department will be asked to respond to several
questions.

It is hoped that the co-convening guidelines will be finalized prior to the end of
the semester so that they are in place for next year’s curriculum review. Members
were asked to review the draft and circulate comments or concerns via email.

Next week will be spent discussing the draft TA/ RA Resident Tuition Policy and
the Athletic Training proposal. The Bertha Morton application distribution will be
discussed the following meeting. Then its spring break, and then there are only
four meetings remaining until finals.
The meeting was adjourned at 1:03 p.m.