Graduate Council Meeting
4/2/2014
Minutes
Present: Carol DeFilippo, Andreas Savakis, John McCluskey, Jim Perkins, Marla Schweppe,
Tom Trabold, Don Wilson, Joe Hornak, Hans-Peter Bischof, Ferat Sahin, Deanna
Jacobs, Christine M. Licata, Linda Underhill
Rudy Pugliese-guest
Primary issue on the agenda:
Review of the proposal for an advanced certificate in Communication & Digital Media. Joe
notes that the five courses in the proposal were approved by the COLA curriculum committee.
Rudy Pugliese (R.P.) Brief Description - Communication & Digital Media certificate program,
delivered on-line. It is considered as an initial vehicle to create an entire on-line program.
Students take 3 + 1 elective (including imaging arts and science course as possibility) but there
are no required courses in the proposal.
Opening questions and observations by committee members:
C.D.: Course outlines restrict to certificate students, can this be broadened?
RP: ILI restricts course to certificate students at this point, hoping to create 8 week
feeder for the COMM MS program.
C.D.: Course outline has contradictions – some have 25 students others have 20, the course
numbering needs to be consistent, course names (Persuasion, for example) needs to be
addressed.
JP: Is course design for 8 weeks a problem? The 8 week course length might require
justification.
HP: If the rationale is to get more students into program, was a survey done to support the
demand? This is targeted towards those in workforce, are their needs different?
RP: The idea is to recruit for 8wk classes and roll toward an online 16 week program
with this as a building block.
AS: What is the financial model?
RP: Every student will yield $1100 back to the college. Funds will be used for online
courses in MS program. The expected return is unclear, but ILI has worked it out.
C.L. – The ILI and F/A cost model has worked out expected fund return to college.
F.S. What makes money?
R.P. Not clear
L.H. Since this is new is ILI going to adhere to a six seat minimum?
C.D. – For the purposes of strength, recommend playing up the “print to digital” element
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R.P. – Bureau of Labor Statistics data were used for claims making about demand. It is clear
(anecdote) that training and job skill development are separated and workers would benefit from
skill development.
C.L. – should clearly note that ILI initiated with expectation of return on investment. Suggest
amplification of survey under justification and expectation of returns.
J.P. Can students apply to MS degree?
R.P. – Have to apply into program. Participation in cert. program no guarantee of
acceptance. Will allow courses from Cert. to count in MS program (need to clarify the
“transfer” language – as credit only or credit + grade will be useful for the MS program?)
L. U. What is the scope of the courses? Can an elective in the program be a 16 week course?
R.P. Uncertain. Perhaps, yes.
C.L. Assessment plan – need to reduce outcomes so that the program/cert. has an overall
outcome. Right now, outcomes are class based and not programmatic. Every student must
demonstrate X as an achievement – therefore must revisit assessment.
What skills does Cert. provide?
Why no required courses?
R.P. – scheduling of courses, overloads, may make promise to offer specific courses
difficult.
C.L. Suggestion: Keep the design, redo table of outcomes to reflect the 5 courses as a core.
What are the overarching outcomes? At least one course could be required and all outcomes
could be assessed with that as the vehicle. The requirement is that outcomes be intentional at
the program level.
R.P. Crafting the message, most popular, could be made a core required.
C.D. think about scheduling, if a class is required – might want it required but NOT as a
prerequisite.
C.L. Set nexus for certificate with one course as required
R.P. Would accept that as a friendly amendment to proposal
L.U. Required course would add structure.
Discussion among Grad Council Members
Need to have a consistent framework for certificates going forward crafting a consistent
message.
Avoid Senate pushback by having a cohesive strategy/template for certificates
GC discussion yielded the following suggestions for the CMT program:
1. At least one core course must be required
2. Assessment modification consistent with discussion and in consultation with assessment
office.
3. Enrollment projection numbers – document this, and consider minimum class size that
would be feasible rather than maximum. Committee discussed that resources and
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capacity were considered first, when the quality of the program and its structure were
altered to fit resource constraints. The need to deliver and justification should drive
program design, not resources.
4. Can a 16 week course serve as the elective? This needs to be answered explicitly.
5. Clean up proposal (course numbers, titles, etc. need to properly correspond and have
internal consistency)
Grad Council Concludes: Graduate Council Declined to Act on Approving the Proposal,
will return to R.P. for revisions and consider at a future time.
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