Graduate Academic Council
2005 – 2006
Minutes of the Council meeting of December 2, 2005
Approved by the Council on February 2, 2006
In attendance:
E. Redkey, F. Bolton (staff), G.Burke, J. Bartow (staff), L.-A. McNutt, M. Pryse, M.
Rodriguez (Chair), O. Ongiti, S. Chinnam, S. Levine & S. Maloney
Guests:
Shadi Saleh, School of Public Health
Unable to attend: D. Byrd, L. Kranich, S. Friedman, & S. Dutta
1.
Certificate in Public Health Surveillance and Preparedness
Professor Shadi Saleh from the School of Public Health introduced the Proposal for this new graduate
certificate program, providing development background and a program summary. The program will be
comprised of 15 course credits with some delivered via distance education. S. Chinnam inquired about
benefit to students in terms of career advancement. Professors Saleh and McNutt indicated that the
certificate would increase expertise and corresponding career advancement opportunities. Council
members noted the proposal was especially well prepared and clear. The Council vote unanimously
(9-0-0) to approve the proposal and introduce it to the Senate for action.
2.
Minutes of the GAC meeting of 11/8/05 were considered and, following one amendment, approved
unanimously (10-0-0).
3.
Chair’s Report – M. Rodriguez: None
4.
Dean’s Report – M. Pryse

Round 1 of GSEU Retention & Recruitment Fund allocations and awards was recently completed.
86 students in doctoral programs of excellence are receiving $3000 special stipends.
Orpha Ongiti commented that it was her sense that many graduate students were unaware of the
GSEU retention funds program. Dean Pryse reviewed the components of the GSEU compensation
package. Lizzie Redkey commented that the round 1 award selection process was controversial
within some departments. Dean Pryse noted this and highlighted the strategic use of the funds
toward the end of student degree completion and success.

The Ombuds Office is now “open” and web pages are in process of being brought up. Once the
site is fully up, a direct link from the GSO site is anticipated.

A graduate school recruitment fair for UAlbany undergraduates is being planned. It is likely that
other local institutions and their students will be invited to participate.

A Graduate Dean’s Advisory Group (DAG) has been formed, comprised of senior faculty from
each of the schools and colleges. The Dean expects to seek administrative advice from the DAG
on a variety of topics, the first of which may be the allocation model for graduate student support
funds.

The 2006 NRC Study of Graduate Programs is about to be initiated. The new study will include a
more detailed survey instrument than that used in prior studies. Unfortunately, the study is
expected to exclude a number of professional doctoral programs. Efforts to influence the NRC to
be more inclusive in this regard are being undertaken.

5.
Monica Rodriguez inquired about doctoral student attrition. Dean Pryse indicated that such is an
issue on the campus, especially as it relates to stipend levels.
Curriculum & Instruction Committee Report
The written report of the Committee (appended to the end of these minutes), previously distributed,
was considered by the Council. In the absence of Chair Sally Friedman, Jon Bartow and Florie Bolton
offered to answer any questions regarding the report. Mr. Bartow took time to explain that the
proposal for program revision of the MS and PhD programs in NanoSciences and NanoEngineering
was of unusual magnitude, as it calls for a split of each program into separate and distinct NanoScience
and NanoEngineering degree programs. The proposal also includes a substantially revised modularbased core sequence to be common to both programs at each degree level. In light of the magnitude of
the proposed program revisions, there was Council consensus that the CNSE program revision
proposal should advance to the Senate Executive Committee as a potential bill for Senate action.
The Council voted unanimously (9-0-0) to accept the Committee report and in doing so approve the
matters contained therein.
6.
Other Business
Louise-Anne McNutt suggested the Council endorse the nomination of Florence Bolton for the
University’s Award for Excellence in Professional Service. The Council voted unanimously (9-0-0) to
support this nomination.
Prof. McNutt commented on the controversy that arose at the Senate regarding the bill to establish
Standards for Social Work Education, previously approved by the Council at its 11/8/05 meeting. The
Senate voted to postpone debate on the bill until its 12/19/05 meeting. Prof. McNutt indicated her
intention at the Senate to have the bill returned to the GAC for further consideration. Prof. Levine
suggested that until such time as the Senate does return the bill for GAC consideration, there is no
basis for further GAC discussion of the matter. The discussion of this matter concluded accordingly.
7.
The next meeting of the Council was announced to be 12/12/05 at 10:00AM, tentatively, if there is
business to conduct.
END OF GAC MINUTES OF 12/2/05
To:
Graduate Academic Council
From:
Sally Friedman, Chair
GAC Committee on Curriculum & Instruction (CC&I)
Date:
November 28, 2005
Subject:
Report and Recommendations
The CC&I met on November 28, 2005. In attendance were: S. Friedman, D. Parker, G. Pogarsky, A.
Pomerantz, B. Thiel, J. Bartow (staff) and F. Bolton (staff). S. Dutta and J. Raynolds were unable to
attend.
Guests: Professors Robert Geer and Richard Matyi of the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering
Three items of business were considered.
1.
College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering – Request for program revisions to both the M.S. and
Ph.D. degree programs
Professor Geer introduced the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering proposal by stating the
College’s desire to separate the two existing components of the current program into distinctive
Nanoscale Science and Nanoscale Engineering degree programs at both the M.S. and Ph.D. degree
levels. The rationale offered was: (1) to respond to the national and international needs of the
growing disciplines specific to the fields of Nanoscale Science and Nanoscale Engineering; (2) to
expand curricular offerings to a growing graduate student clientele and (3) to utilize the program’s
parallel increases in faculty, administrative and technical staff. Professor Geer also provided the
CC&I with a brief explanation of the College’s desire to formalize the distinction between the
science and engineering tracks of the existing program. The Nanoscale Science program is to
provide the knowledge of how scientific interactions occur and the understanding of their properties.
The Nanoscale Engineering program is to provide the skill and expertise needed for the design,
fabrication, development and deployment of emerging nanotechnologies. A modular four-course
sequence for a total of 12 credits has been built into both the Nanoscale Science and Nanoscale
Engineering programs to provide the basic scientific skills required by students entering the College
with varied undergraduate backgrounds. These “Foundations” courses will help facilitate discussion
and understanding in the field and will be taught by different faculty from both the science and
engineering disciplines.
Curriculum and Instruction Committee discussion of the revision proposal involved questions
concerning the Master’s thesis and a graduate student’s request to receive a M.S. while enrolled in
the Ph.D. program. It was Professor Geer’s belief that the research conducted for the student’s
dissertation would substitute for the credits needed for thesis research. As is stated in the proposal
“If the student successfully completes an appropriate portion of the Ph.D. preliminary written
examination, a master’s research project report can be substituted for the formal thesis.” Therefore,
this master’s research project combined with the publication requirements of the Ph.D. program and
the student’s need to build a CV would enable a M.S. to be granted “on the way” to a Ph.D.
The proposal was unanimously supported by the CC&I by a 5-0-0 vote and is moved forward to the
GAC for further action and approval.
2.
Department of English - Request for curriculum program revisions to M.A. and Ph.D.
English programs
Only one change was requested for the M.A. program and that was to drop the requirement of taking
a “seminar” course. Most of the courses taken presently by Master’s students are conducted and
evaluated on a seminar format and so this requirement is felt to be unnecessary.
Changes for the Ph.D. program have evolved to reflect current research, publishing and interests of
the graduate faculty and students. An older required course, History of English Studies (Eng 700), is
to be replaced by Textual Studies I: Survey (Eng 710) and Textual Studies II (Eng 720). The credit
hours for the required Practicum are reduced from 4 to 2 credits. The Internship (Eng 810) is to
become an elective course. Doctoral students are now to take four courses in one of four particular
areas of concentration choosing from Literature, Modernity, and the Contemporary; Writing
Practices: Poetics, Rhetorics, Technologies; Cultural, Transcultural, and Global Studies; and
Theoretical Constructs. The current foreign language requirement is also to be changed from
reading competence in one language to competence in two foreign languages or fluency in one
foreign language to more reflect national standards.
Some concern about the logic underlying the establishment of the four areas of concentration was
expressed. This concern seemed to be adequately addressed in the proposal by the statements:
“These four areas have been formulated . . .after extensive discussion and assessment of faculty
research, expertise, and areas of knowledge in the field as well as student interests. They comprise a
manageable number of areas for the Department’s faculty size, while also providing a context in
which students will eventually articulate a course of study.”
As this new Ph.D. concentration model will more readily match student interests with the
Department of English’s faculty strengths and will help prepare students more effectively for
entering a job market by requiring candidates to have expertise in particular areas of research and
teaching, the proposal received a 5-0-0 vote of approval from the Committee.
3.
Department of Anthropology – Request for curriculum changes to the M.A. program
One of the components of the M.A. in Anthropology has been a comprehensive examination
required of students enrolled in both the General Sequence and Cognate Field Sequence. The
Department of Anthropology proposal asked to eliminate the comprehensive exam for students in
the terminal MA program. The exams would be retained for students in the MA program en route
to their Ph.D. With the removal of the comprehensive exam, the Committee questioned whether
or not the Department’s research requirement of the satisfactory completion of a research seminar
and its resultant research paper fulfilled the program’s need to comply with the New York State
regulations that stipulate: “The requirements for a master’s degree shall normally include at least
one of the following” passing a comprehensive test, writing a thesis based on independent research
or completing an appropriate special project.” The Committee tabled this request to seek further
information concerning this research paper and agreed to continue its discussion of the request via
email.
Subsequent to the meeting, questions were asked of Professors Collins and Brutsaert of the
Anthropology Department and the following information was obtained: (1) The research paper is
approved by the Department’s Graduate Affairs Committee and is read by a committee of two
faculty. (2) The paper builds on one of the 600 level research seminars and extends beyond. and
(3) The paper is of “publishable quality”. The Department regards the resultant paper as roughly
equivalent to a thesis.
Satisfied with the answers given, the Committee voted in approval of the curriculum changes 5-00.