08 March 2016
Attending: A. Arora, T. Cummings, C. De Filippo, H. Flores, S. Hansen, J. Hornak (Chairman),
B. Lawrance, C. Licata, S. Ludi, A. Savakis, T. Trabold, L. Underhill
Ph.D. Hooding at Convocation
The subcommittee met on this topic last week and came up with the following recommendations that will be forwarded by the GC Chair to the Provost:
When the hooding ceremony becomes too large for Convocation (Convocation takes over 2 hrs), the following options are recommended:
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Remove it from the Convocation
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Hold a separate ceremony from Convocation and College Commencement Ceremonies
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Have two ceremonies each year, one is late spring and one in winter. o PhD and MFA graduates will be acknowledged. (A question came up about M.
Architecture, which is considered terminal degree by their accrediting body. MArch should be included.) o Dean of Graduate Studies presides o President and Provost address those assembled o Reception afterwards (consider displaying student conference posters and MFA projects during the reception)
Ph.D. students graduating during this year’s commencement
Commencement books will designate those who have successfully defended by April 15 as
(Student Name), Ph.D. and those who have not defended will have an asterisk next to their name with a footnote “Dissertation defense expected summer semester.”
Minimum Passing Grade for Graduate Courses
The GC Chair presented to the AS last week a proposed policy (as approved by Grad Council):
A minimum grade of C is required in a prerequisite or required course in a graduate program. C- will only count in an elective course.
This proposed policy caused confusion and was not approved by the AS. The source of the confusion was the definition of required vs. elective courses.
The GC members discussed how to adjust the proposed policy and what are the ramifications of for students.
A motion for the following proposed policy was made, seconded, and approved by a vote of 10 for, 1 against and 1 abstaining. Proposed change in policy:
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Change existing policy from: “D” and “ F” grades do not count toward the completion of program requirements for a graduate degree.
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To the new policy: “C-”, “D” and “ F” grades do not count toward the completion of program requirements for a graduate degree.
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Graduate Education Strategic Plan
The GC members discussed the following items pertaining to the Graduate Education Strategic
Plan:
I.5.1 Experiential Learning
The strategic plan indicates that the goal is for every graduate student to participate in experiential learning.
There was some discussion about what experiences constitute experiential learning, such as research, co-op/internships, field work, capstone projects, etc. and whether course projects can be used to satisfy the experiential learning requirement.
I.7 On time graduation
This is a difficult topic to address because there is no information about on time graduation for graduate students. It was pointed out that there are significant variations in graduation time due to student preferences and part-time students.
This is an opportunity to start data collection and get a definition of parameters before starting to tackle this topic. For example, IR can begin tracking full time students and the time they take to graduate.
Dimension: Student Centered Research University
The goal is to involve students in all research activities.
There was some discussion on whether RIT is becoming a research university.
II.1.1 Continue adding interdisciplinary PhD programs
There was discussion on how to define interdisciplinary research, and how to grow interdisciplinary activities across colleges. This is a good dialogue to continue.
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