BINGHAMTON UNIVERSITY
MINUTES OF THE September 21, 2015 MEETING OF THE GRADUATE COUNCIL
PLACE:
Couper Administration Building - Room148
PRESIDING:
Susan Strehle, Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School
MEMBERS:
Serdar Atav, Subimal Chatterjee, Shelley Dionne, Mark Fowler, Fernando Guzman,
Kevin Hatch, Norah Henry, Mohammad Khasawneh, Adam Laats, Michael Lewis, Patrick
Madden, Elizabeth Mellin, Pamela Mischen, Rosmarie Morewedge, Sara Reiter, Pam
Sandoval, Pam Smart, Libby Tucker
GSO:
Fahda Alasraj, Shengsheng Zhou
EX OFFICIO
MEMBERS:
Sarah Lam, Mary Beth Curtin, Cindy Olbrys
EXCUSED/ABSENT:
Anne Clark, Heather DeHaan, Ricardo Laremont, Alistair Lees, Paul Parker,
Daryl Santos,
I. CALL TO ORDER:
Dean Susan Strehle called the meeting to order at 3:00 pm.
II. MINUTES
The minutes from the April 20, 2015 Graduate Council meeting were approved as written.
III. COMMITTEES
Academic Standards Committee This committee has not met.
Advisory Committee for Scholarship and Research This committee has not met.
Student Affairs/Budget Advisory Committee This committee has not met.
Clark Advisory Committee This committee has not met.
Curriculum Committee This committee met on September 14, 2015. There were seven new course proposals
discussed, including five from Art History: ARTH 580 – Advanced Topics: Art History Pre-1800; ARTH 581 –
Advanced Topics: Arch History Pre–1800; ARTH 582 – Advanced Topics: Art History Post-1800; ARTH 583 –
Advanced Topics: Arch History Post-1800; ARTH 584 – Advanced Topics: Institutions and Theory. These are all 4
credit topics courses that will be co-taught with the 400 level topics courses, with graduate students completing more
advanced and different projects. The department wants to have better course rubrics to reflect the current structure of
the curriculum. The next item discussed was MUS 525 – Advanced Seminar in Orchestration. This is a core course
for any student studying composition or conducting. This course meets the NASM (National Association of Schools of
Music) requirements; it is a combined 400/500 level course where graduate students will be assigned longer
assignments and compositions. The final item discussed was EECE 516 – Introduction to Bioenergy. It is a 3 credit
graduate level course cross listed with a 400 level course; graduate students will be required to complete additional
assignments and a main project. No questions were raised and all items were approved unanimously.
The next items discussed were program revision proposals. The first involved an MA in Financial Economics. The
department proposed to rename their MA in Applied Economics to MA in Financial Economics. This is a new
concentration with a focus in financial economics that changes the core courses from one to two and reduces the
number of electives from 4 to 3, keeping the total number of credits the same. This concentration is designed to
prepare students to do financial economics. The accelerated program proposal is a 3-2 or 4-1 that uses this new MA
in place of the old MA. The accelerated program in Financial Economics will enable students with a BS with a
specialization in financial economics to get an MA in Financial Economics. It has three main changes including the
title, which changes from the combined 5 year program in economics and finance to the accelerated program in
financial economics. The second change is to move from the previous requirement of 52 undergraduate credits plus
36 graduate credits to the new requirement of 56 undergraduate and 32 graduate credits. The third change moves all
of the teaching in the program to the department of economics, since the school of management can no longer offer
the finance courses to these students. There were no questions raised and all changes were approved unanimously.
The next item comes from the Graduate School of Education. It is a request to convert the doctorate in education from
an EdD to a PhD. This would be a more valued degree, since the PhD is regarded as a research degree in education.
The proposal requires a minimum of 46 credits before getting to ABD status. The changes will better respond to the
job market needs of the potential students, who often want careers in higher education, as well as enhance the
recruitment efforts to produce a larger applicant pool. It will require little to no additional resources beyond the support
for the current EdD program. No questions were raised regarding this degree revision, and it was approved
unanimously.
The final item on the curriculum committee list was the request to modify credit hours for EDUC 437/537 from three to
three or four. SOE is in the early stages of making a transition from all 4 credit to all 3 credit courses by spring 2017.
Due to questions raised in Council this request will be returned to the School of Education for clarification.
Strategic Planning Committee This committee has not met.
IV.
NEW BUSINESS
Enrollments are up by about 130 graduate students from last year, at the time of this meeting. Most units gained in
enrollments with the exception of nursing and management, both of which are down.
Stipends are increasing for new doctoral students (but not continuing funded students) in all areas. Research showed
that the stipends in the sciences, engineering and math are further below competition than other stipends. Stipends
are going up to $22,000 for new doctoral students in math; $23,000 for new doctoral students in sciences and
engineering within Harpur and Watson. They are going up to $17,000 in humanities and social science fields, GSOE,
and CCPA. They are going up to $18,500 in management. Nursing will remain for now at $16,500.
This year we will be proposing new programs including a master’s in public health. It bridges biomedical anthropology,
social work, nursing and we are proposing to establish it as a program, not a school, that will draw on some current
faculty. As well, the Binghamton Plus (the president’s 411) program is going to be on the agenda at some point during
this semester.
V. ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 4:06 p.m. after a motion by Liz Mellin and seconded by Mark Fowler.
_____________________________
Minutes recorded by Melissa Spencer,
Secretary to the Vice Provost and Dean
of the Graduate School