MINUTES
Department of Communication--Graduate Faculty
December 4, 2012
3:35 p.m.--HE 301
Present: Baus, Davis, Frederick, Hixson, Kates, Ksobiech, Penington, Robinson, Um, VoglBauer, Wachanga, Welch, Wildermuth
I. Call to order
The meeting was called to order at 3:39 p.m.
II. Approval of the agenda
Kates motioned and Welch seconded approval of the agenda.
The agenda passed unanimously.
III. Approval of the minutes (November 6, 2012, prepared by Davis)
Welch motioned and Frederick seconded approval of the 11-6-12 minutes.
IV. Old Business
A. Update on LEAP team progress and plan for 2012-2013 academic year.
Davis provided an overview of the graduate LEAP plan and it’s progress and
requested more detailed updates from other members of the LEAP team.
Frederick reported that he and Baus are working on the survey portion of the
research now that the focus groups are completed.
B. Vogl-Bauer briefed graduate faculty members on progress of the Degree
Qualifications Profile project. She reported that the team had fulfilled its quotas at
both the undergraduate and graduate level. Vogl-Bauer noted that there was still
work to do, but issued “a big thank you” from the DQP team to all faculty members
who had contributed to the project through the provision of class time, extra credit,
syllabus and assignment alterations, etc.
C. Recipients of Fall 2013 faculty research releases: Hixson noted that there were no
applicants for the research release. Penington noted that, if needed, a committee
could be created to review applicants for the research release.
A new deadline of Dec. 14 was set for Fall 2013 research releases.
D. Penington led a discussion on the demand for versus the merits of a qualitative
research methods course. As far as the demand, she noted that the class needs a
minimum of 5 students to run during a regular semester.
Faculty came to a consensus that the knowledge and skills were important enough to
make the course part of the core for both tracks of the program.
Vogl-Bauer motioned and Baus seconded a motion to maker Qualitative Research
Methods (C775) a permanaent required course for the core of both tracks (mass
comm. and corporate comm.) and to change the number of 500/600 electives in the
mass comm. track from “pick two” of the four options to “pick one.” [The second
part of the motion would make the number of required courses and electives equal in
both tracks, still totaling 30 credits to degree in both tracks.]
The motion passed unanimously.
Davis noted that we should have a discussion in the future about the need to preserve
two separate tracks, rather than having a required core of 12 credits and 18 electives
from across the Communication graduate catalog.
V. New Business
A.
Davis and Welch reported on the Nov. 26, 2012 Research Colloquium. Noting
the poor attendance, Davis led a discussion on how to increase attendance.
B. Communication Research Lab wish list
Davis and Hixson led a discussion on items that faculty members would like included
in the new Heide 4th floor communication research lab. Ideas included:
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Flatbed high resolution scanner
One way mirror (approved)
A/V recording capability (microphone hanging from the ceiling, etc.)
Phone bank with conference call capability.
LCD projector with instructor desk
A suggestion was made to visit other labs. Ksobich suggested visting the UWMadison pharmaceutical lab for ideas.
VI. Adjournment
Welch motioned to adjourn.
Wildermuth seconded the motion.
The motion passed unanimously.
The meeting adjourned at 4:18 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Corey B. Davis, Graduate Coordinator