Graduate Studies Committee
Minutes of September 10, 2013
Members present: Sloane Burke, Tom Cai, Ranita Chatterjee, Sandra Chong, Beth Halaas,
Richard Moore, Abhijit Mukherjee, Jared Rappaport, Abraham Rutchick, Merril Simon, MaryPat Stein
Excused: Mary Woodley
Executive Secretary: Crist Khachikian
Guests: Tami Abourezk, John Binkley, Beverly Cabello, Deborah Cours, David Gray,
Christopher Jones, Jennifer Kalfsbeek-Goetz, Robert Ryan, Diane Schwartz, Margaret Shiffrar,
Karin Stanford
Staff: Hedy Carpenter, Lani Kiapos, Gloria Roberts
I.
Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 2:00 p.m.
II.
Senate Executive Committee Representative for the GSC
Diane Schwartz from the Computer Science Department has been appointed to be the
Senate Executive Committee representative. Schwartz is assigned to review the
minutes for any new policies or policy changes approved by the GSC to send to the
Senate Executive Committee. She thanked the members for serving on the GSC and
read the committee’s charge/mission.
III.
Announcements
Hedy Carpenter introduced Crist Khachikian, the new Associate Vice President for
Research and Graduate Studies.
Crist Khachikian stressed the importance of quality graduate programs and in
particular their importance as it relates to faculty research. He also discussed some
issues and practices for the committee to consider this year. One issue he mentioned
relates to current graduate policies that were copied from undergraduate policies. He
feels that graduate policies should be inherently different from undergraduate ones.
In addition, he suggested that the committee should appoint a graduate student
representative and possibly develop a graduate student council on campus that can
discuss graduate issues. Khachikian emphasized the opportunity the GSC has to
significantly impact the quality and recognition of graduate programs on campus. He
will continue to discuss these issues with Merril Simon. Additionally, he reported
that there is a Space Committee discussing space for instruction and research, which
impacts graduate programs and ability to teach and conduct research.
Hedy Carpenter announced that the Electronic Thesis/Dissertation (ETD) is now
available on CSUN ScholarWorks, which is an open-access institutional repository.
The Oviatt Library is currently in the process of digitizing old theses onto CSUN
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ScholarWorks. Carpenter explained the benefits/importance of ScholarWorks and
gave an example of a thesis published in 2001, which was uploaded to ScholarWorks
on October 30, 2012. To date, it has been viewed 633 times and downloaded 1067
times. She also reported that President Harrison signed the Berlin Declaration on
Open Access, which is an important international document that seeks to encourage
the free and open dissemination of research and scholarship. Northridge is the first
campus in the CSU system to sign this document.
Carpenter announced that the Distinguished Visiting Speakers Program and the
Thesis Support Program application deadline is September 16th. She also announced
that the Advancement to Graduate Education (AGE) Conference will be held on
Saturday, October 19th in USU, Northridge Center.
Lani Kiapos reported that the admission filing periods for spring is from August 1 –
November 1 and for fall semester is from October 1 – July 1.
IV.
Curriculum Assignments and Schedule
The committee received curriculum from seven colleges. Consistent with GSC
practices, two members were assigned to lead the review and discussion of
curriculum from each of the colleges. Additionally, the month/meeting of the review
was determined. Following is a listing of the colleges, GSC representatives, and
month of review.
College of Engineering & Computer and College of Science and Mathematics
– Entire Committee – September
College of Arts, Media, & Communication and College of Humanities – Abhijit
Mukherjee (Mechanical Engineering) and Beth Halaas (Social Work) – October
College of Social and Behavioral Sciences (ANTH, PSY, SOC proposals) – Ranita
Chatterjee (English) and Jared Rappaport (Cinema & Television Arts) – October
College of Social and Behavioral Sciences (GEOG, MPA proposals) – Richard
Moore (Management) and Merril Simon (Educational Psychology & Counseling) –
October
College of Education – Tom Cai (Family & Consumer Sciences) and Sloane Burke
(Health Sciences) – November
College of Health & Human Development (FCS, KIN, PT proposals) – Sandra
Chong (Elementary Education) and Abraham Rutchick (Psychology) – November
College of Health & Human Development (RTM proposals) – Mary-Pat Stein
(Biology) and Mary Woodley (Oviatt Library) – November
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V.
Program Review Assignments
Anthropology MOU – Mary Woodley
Recreation & Tourism Management MOU – Beth Halaas
VI.
Experimental Topics Courses
GSC approved the following new and previously offered experimental topics course
proposals for Spring 2014:
College of Business and Economics
Business Administration
1. GBUS 695K-Seminar in Marketing (1st offering)
College of Health and Human Development
Family and Consumer Sciences
1. FCS 496S-Sustainability in Family and Consumer Sciences (2nd offering)
Health Sciences
1. HSCI 595D-Public Health Policy: Process and Development (4th offering)
College of Humanities
English
1. ENGL 595PB-Picture Book Theory (2nd offering)
College of Science and Mathematics
Chemistry and Biochemistry
1. CHEM 595Q-Structure, Function, Engineering, and Therapeutic Uses of
Antibodies (1st offering)
College of Science and Mathematics
1. SCI 495-Ultra Microscopy (2nd offering)
Physics and Astronomy
1. PHYS 595CL-Math Physics Climate Change (3rd offering)
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VII.
Curriculum Review
A. College of Engineering and Computer Science
Computer Science
1. Course modification proposal in COMP 589-Software Metrics to change course
description and requisites was approved.
2. Course modification proposal in COMP-680-Software Engineering to change
course title, course abbreviation, and course description was approved.
B. College of Science and Mathematics
Biology
1. Course modification proposal in BIOL 410/L-Medical Microbiology and Lab to
change the course description and requisites was approved.
2. New course proposal in BIOL 467/L-Bacterial Genetics and Lab was approved.
Geological Sciences
1. Course modification proposal in GEOL 699A-C-Indepent Study to change the
number of times the courses may be taken was approved with one minor revision.
Physics and Astronomy
1. Course modification proposal in PHYS 489-Mathematical Physics to change
course title, course abbreviation, and requisites was approved.
VIII. Discussion Item
The committee continued to develop a disqualification policy since there is no limit to
the number of times a graduate student can be disqualified. The GSC and the
associate deans recommended additional revisions to the policy from the comments at
the May 2013 meeting. Merril Simon will send the revised draft policy and requested
that the GSC and associate deans share the document with their departments/colleges
for feedback. The GSC will discuss the proposal at the next meeting.
IX.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 3:28 p.m.
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