Minutes of the
Graduate Committee Meeting
September 2, 2010
Prince Edward Room
Koyzis, Anthony (Chair)
Apperson, Jennifer
Braun, Gretchen
Burger, William
Charleston, Kathy
Church, Audrey
Goetz, Lily
Howe, Frank
Locascio, David
Lust, Patricia
Mathews, Rachel
Miskec, Jennifer
O’Connor, Abigail
Parker, Glenn
Power-deFur, Elizabeth
Sokol, Gerry
Tarpley, Peggy
Emerson-Stonnell, Sharon
White, Wayne
Finch, Susan
Dr. Koyzis called the meeting to order at 3:30 p.m.
The first item on the agenda was to reconstitute the Graduate Committee. Dr. Koyzis explained to the committee that he had
to withdraw the agenda item of the College of Graduate and Professional Studies bylaws from the BOV meeting because of
what appeared in the rationale section of the bylaws. He told the committee that the process needed to be reviewed and that
they needed to work with the Faculty Senate in developing the appropriate review process. Dr. Pat Lust made a motion to
reconstitute the Graduate Committee, Dr. William Burger seconded, and the reconstitution of the Graduate Committee was
approved. Dr. Koyzis made a friendly amendment to the approved motion that it would be the Graduate Committee through
the fall 2010 semester only, Dr. Apperson seconded and the friendly amendment was approved.
The minutes of the May 6, 2010 were presented, corrections/additions requested, and hearing none, Dr. Lisa Power-deFur
moved to approve the minutes, Dr. Burger seconded, and the minutes were unanimously approved.
The next agenda item was to make two minor amendments to the bylaws which are:
Article II, Section 2, Qualifications, second bullet – remove full-time.
Article II, Section 4, Qualifications, sentence after final bullet – remove full-time Longwood.
Dr. Power-deFur moved to approve the amendments, Dr. Burger seconded, and the amendments were unanimously approved.
Ms. Charleston explained the sequence of events that delayed approval of the bylaws. The June Board of Visitors (BOV)
meeting was their retreat meeting so no one from Graduate Studies was allowed to attend. The BOV requested clarification of
six areas of the bylaws. 1) Further explanation of the difference in the qualifications for Graduate Faculty versus Associate
Graduate Faculty. 2) Concern for the quorum percentage of 10 % of Graduate Faculty for a called meeting, so agreed to change
10 % to majority. 3) Is a three-year term possible for the student representative and how the student is elected? 4) What is
the process for defining staggered terms? 5) Who are the program coordinators and how many are there? 6) For the petitions
committee, concern about the quorum of three especially if a faculty member is involved and appears at the hearing.
Concerned that his situation could become adversarial and appear as a stacked deck. With these needs for clarification, the
BOV tabled the bylaws until their September meeting. We attempted to deliver the clarifications for the Executive Committee
meeting in August, but the Rector would not allow the item to be on the agenda for the Executive Committee as that is not the
type of item they consider. When the BOV agenda for the September meeting was distributed in August, the Faculty Senate
Chair brought a concern to the VPAA because of a statement in the rationale indicating that the Faculty Senate had approved
the bylaws at an April 22, 2010 meeting. This statement was false and necessitated our request to remove the bylaws from the
agenda. Faculty Senate will appoint an ad hoc committee to try to resolve the changes that our bylaws create to the FPPM. Dr.
Perry and Ms. Charleston met with Dr. Lara Fergeson on August 31st and provided three names – Dr. Kat Tracy, Dr. Lissa PowerdeFur, and Ms. Abbey O’Connor – to serve on the ad hoc committee as all three were part of the group that wrote the bylaws.
It was agreed that the ad hoc committee will work on fixing the FPPM, but not altering the bylaws. To be on the agenda for the
next BOV meeting, December, we must have all resolved by early November to meet the six-week in advance deadline. Dr.
Power–deFur made a motion, Dr. Howe seconded, to request that the amended bylaws of the College of Graduate and
Professional Studies and the collaboration of the Faculty Senate ad hoc committee, in reference to the FPPM be the first
agenda item on the October 14th Faculty Senate Meeting and the motion was unanimously approved.
The last item on the agenda was an announcement from Ms. Charleston that dealing with curriculum items this fall would
revert back to the old way of processing. EPC is reverting to paper copies and will not be using Blackboard. Graduate
curriculum items will continue to use Blackboard and just submit to EPC via paper. She announced that program coordinators
could send their old outdated green advisee folders to her and she would have the material shredded if they wished to do so.
Dr. Koyzis adjourned the meeting at 4:26 p.m. The next meeting will be Thursday, October 7, 2010 in the Prince Edward Room
from 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.