Graduate Studies Committee
Minutes of October 9, 2012
Members present: Sloane Burke, Sandra Chong, Amine Ghanem, Beth Halaas, Richard Moore,
Bruno Osorno, Jared Rappaport, Abraham Rutchick, Merril Simon, Jackie Stallcup, Mary-Pat
Stein, Mary Woodley
Executive Secretary: M. Helena Noronha
Guests: Tami Abourezk, Elizabeth Adams, Kamiran Badrkhan, Nagwa Bekir, Beverly Cabello,
Hira Cho, Darrick Danta, Eric Edson, David Gray, Stacy Holman Jones, Lynette Henderson, Dan
Hosken, Evelyn McClave, Juana Mora, Mike Rivas, Ken Sakatani, Steve Thachuk
Staff: Hedy Carpenter, Lani Kiapos, Gloria Roberts
I.
Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 2:04 p.m.
II.
Approval of Minutes
Minutes of the September 11th meeting were approved.
III.
Announcements
Hedy Carpenter announced that the Office of Graduate Studies has changed their
evening hours and the office is now open until 6:00 p.m. on Tuesdays and
Wednesdays. The graduate coordinators and department chairs will be notified and
the hours will be posted on the website. Carpenter also announced that Sustainability
Day is on October 25th and encouraged the committee to invite their students to attend
a talk given by Dr. Naomi Oreskes, author of “Merchants of Doubt” at the USU,
Theatre at 2:00 p.m.
IV.
Informational Items
Elizabeth Adams discussed the Wait List feature that was added to SOLAR in
Summer 2012. She explained that the new feature allowed students to secure a
position on a waiting list for closed classes during nonrestrictive registration for Fall
2012. Students who are wait listed for a class section will automatically be enrolled
in the class when a seat becomes available and all the requirements are met. She
reported that several thousands students were added to classes across all colleges, but
the vast majority were undergraduate students. Adams also discussed some of the
issues with the feature involving lecture/lab courses that are linked together. A
number of faculty asked if the wait list could continue into the semester, especially
for faculty that teach large lecture classes to help manage their time with permission
numbers. The request to continue the wait list feature into the term will be discussed
at an upcoming Senate meeting. Adams asked the GSC to send her any questions or
feedback.
1
The Communication Studies Department has voted to change the application and
admissions requirements for the M.A. in Communication Studies. The following
modifications were listed: 1) Change the admissions deadline from March 15 to
February 15 to align the admissions deadline with other graduate programs in
Communication Studies; 2) Require all applicants in the program to take and submit
GRE scores with their application materials; and 3) Set the minimum GPA for
applicants to the M.A. program in Communication Studies at 3.0. Gloria Roberts will
send the modifications to Greg Mena for the University Catalog.
V.
Curriculum Review
A. College of Arts, Media and Communication
Art
1. Course modification proposal in ART 400/L-Developing Visual Literacy and Lab
was withdrawn.
2. Course modification proposal in ART 479/L-Art Education Across Cultures and
Lab to change course description and subject abbreviation number was approved.
3. Course modification proposal in ART 485/L-Studio Problems in Teaching Crafts
and Lab to change course title, course abbreviation, course description, and subject
abbreviation number was approved.
4. Course modification proposal in ART 486/L-Studio Problems in Teaching Art and
Lab to change unit value, course title, course abbreviation, course description, and
subject abbreviation number was approved.
5. Program modification proposal for the Single Subject Matter Credential Program
in Art Education to modify the required courses based on course content, sequencing,
and programmatic issues and the current 13-unit requirement will be changed to 12
units required was approved.
Cinema and Television Arts
1. Course modification proposal in CTVA 692-Research Practicum to change course
title, course abbreviation, course description and requisites was approved.
2. New course proposals in CTVA 505-Contemporary Film Analysis, CTVA 510Screenplay Scene Writing, and CTVA 625-Writing the Feature-Length Screenplay
were approved.
3. Program modification proposal to change the program requirements by adding
new courses and modifying an existing course for the Master of Arts in Screenwriting
was approved.
2
Music
1. New course proposals in MUS 407A-Keyboard Literature I, MUS 407B-Keyboard
Literature II, MUS 605-Teaching Music in Higher Education, MUS 632/L-Graduate
Piano Master Class and Lab, MUS 639A-Individual Lessons in Composition, MUS
676-Collaborative Keyboard Practicum, MUS 678A/L-Graduate Piano Pedagogy
Resources and Practicum and Lab, MUS 678B/L-Graduate Directed Teaching in
Piano Pedagogy and Lab, and MUS 692A-Z-Selected Topics in Music History were
approved.
2. Program modification proposal to change program requirements for the Master of
Music, Options in Performance, Conducting, and Composition was approved.
3. Program modification proposal to add a new option in Collaborative Keyboard
Performance for the Master of Music was approved.
B. College of Education
Elementary Education
1. Course modification proposal in EED 698-Thesis/Graduate Project to change
requisites and change the number of times the course may be taken was approved.
Secondary Education
1. New program proposal to add a new option in Multicultural and Multilingual
Education for the Master of Arts in Secondary Education Option.
Special Education
1. Course modification proposals in SPED 682D, 682EC, 682MM, 682MSAdvanced Clinical Practicum in Special Education, SPED 697-Directed
Comprehensive Studies, SPED 698-Thesis or Graduate Project, and SPED 699X,
699Y, 699Z-Independent Study to change course classification were approved.
C. College of Health and Human Development
Family and Consumer Sciences
1. New course proposal in FCS 453/L-Fashion Promotion and Visual Merchandising
and Lab was approved.
D. College of Humanities
English
1. Course modification proposal in ENGL 611-Seminar in Historical Linguistics to
change course title, course abbreviation, course description, subject abbreviation
number, and requisites was approved with the requested revisions.
3
Linguistics/TESL
1. Course modification proposal in LING 404-Morphology and Syntax to change
course title, course abbreviation, course description, and requisites was approved with
the requested revisions.
2. New course proposals in LING 403-Introducation to Morphology and LING 578English for Specific Purposes were approved with the requested revisions.
VI.
Program Review
Bruno Osorno attended the History program review. He reported that the external
reviewers comments were very positive.
VII.
Discussion Items
The GSC and the associate deans continued to discuss alternative mechanisms to
satisfy the Graduate Writing Assessment Requirement (GWAR). The policy states
that students must satisfy the GWAR. However, how students satisfy the GWAR is a
practice or implementation. Via discussion and concurrence, the GSC approved a
procedural change that will allow a score of 3.0 or higher on the GRE-A section to
meet the GWAR requirement. Graduate programs that require a higher score for
classification may submit a memo to the GSC as an information item. The written
proposed implementation for the GWAR alternative will be revised and sent to the
committee for review and final approval for implementation.
Carpenter proposed that the Interdisciplinary Studies Program be put on hiatus and
remove the program from CSU Mentor for new incoming students. She explained
that there are several problems with the program, such as students having difficulty
with creating a thesis committee, several department chairs and graduate coordinators
have complained about the program, and students have defaulted into the program
because they were not admitted into their desired graduate program. She also
explained that the majority of CSU campuses no longer offer the program primarily
due to budgetary constraints. She recommended that the only way to retain the
program is to raise the GPA requirements, have a rigorous application process, and
receive buy-in from departments. The committee and the associate deans discussed
how to construct a successful program. The committee voted to put the
Interdisciplinary Studies Program on hiatus. In the future, a subcommittee will be
formed to develop a stronger program.
Merril Simon reminded the committee to send her feedback regarding the CSU
International Executive Orders. Simon reported that one committee member sent her
feedback.
Lani Kiapos discussed the issue of departments allowing students to enroll in the
culminating experience without being classified in their program. She contacted the
4
associate director of Admissions and Records to ask if a prerequisite for classified
status could be built in SOLAR for the culminating experience course. She reported
that it is not an option since it involves a great deal of encoding and the request would
be placed on the five-year list. The committee requested that Graduate Studies send a
memo that states that departments must verify that the student’s requirements are
completed and they are classified before issuing a permission number for a
culminating experience course.
Simon reported that she requested student disqualification data from Institutional
Research. The committee and the associate deans discussed the option to disqualify a
problematic student from a program that is not based on GPA requirements or
because of academic dishonesty. The committee will continue the discussion at the
November meeting.
VIII. Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 4:04 p.m.
5