BINGHAMTON UNIVERSITY
MINUTES OF THE May 5, 2008 MEETING OF THE GRADUATE COUNCIL
PLACE:
Couper Administration Building, Room 148
PRESIDING:
Nancy E. Stamp, Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School
MEMBERS:
David Campbell, Michael Conlon, Jim Constable, James Fang,
Sarah Lam, Weiyi Meng, Maria-Teresa Romero, Karen Salvage,
Olga Shvetsova, Pamela Stewart Fahs, Marilyn Tallerico, Diane Wiener
EX OFFICIO
MEMBERS:
Stephen Gilje, Gerald Sonnenfeld, Lindsay Tremain
EXCUSED:
Susan Currie, Ed Kokkelenberg, Maneesha Lal, Edward Li,
Daryl Santos, Dara Silberstein, Thomas Wilson
ABSENT:
Amit Garg, Monazir Khan, Nan Zhou
GUESTS:
Joyce Ferrario, Theresa Grabo, Mary Muscari, Lindsay Lake Morgan
I. CALL TO ORDER:
Vice Provost and Dean Nancy Stamp called the meeting to order at 3:01 p.m.
II. MINUTES:
The minutes of the April 7, 2008 meeting were approved as written.
III. COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Academic Standards Committee
This committee has not met.
Advisory Committee for Scholarship and Research
Associate Vice President Stephen Gilje reported that the committee has met and
completed their review of the annual reports and budget requests for the Organized
Research Centers. The committee will be forwarding their recommendations to Vice
President Sonnenfeld.
Budget Advisory Committee
Dean Stamp reported that the committee met to review the applications for the Graduate
School/Binghamton Foundation Travel Grant. There were 45 applicants, 22 being ABD
and the committee awarded 15 applicants the travel grant.
Clark Fellowship Advisory Committee
Dean Stamp discussed the handout, Summary of Assessment Report for GRD 593.
This course was developed for Clark Fellows but is open to all graduate students. Some
of the goals of the course were to assist students with their professional writing tasks
and “develop a community of scholars” as a support group outside their disciplines. The
course was taught in the 2007 Summer and Winter Sessions. The students found this
course very helpful and the students comments have been very positive. This course
will be offered this summer also.
Dean Stamp also discussed a related project, the document Draft for NSF AGEP—
Phase 3. The Graduate School is in an alliance with Stony Brook, Buffalo and Albany
for what’s called NSF AGEP grant (Alliance for Graduate Education and the
Professoriate). Phase 1 gave money to help support graduate students who were
underrepresented minorities in the STEM disciplines. Phase 2 of the grant was for
maintaining the student connections and getting the students through the program.
Phase 3 is for seeing the students entering the professoriate. Binghamton has been
working on a model that pairs a senior graduate student with a faculty member to coteach a course. Both student and faculty member plan and implement the course
together. The proposal for Phase 3 is due in a few weeks.
Curriculum Committee


Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing Proposal—Approved (10-yes, 1 abstention)
Master’s Program in Adult/Gerontological Nursing—Approved (10-yes, 1
abstention)
Dean Joyce Ferrario and other nursing faculty attended to explain the proposals and
answer any questions.
The following two proposals were approved by both the Curriculum Committee and
Graduate Council via e-mail because they were received after the last Council meeting:


Proposal for Graduate Certificate in Disaster Management—Decker School of
Nursing
Proposed Revision of Existing Graduate Program at Binghamton University—
Materials Science and Materials Engineering
Grievance Committee
This committee has not met.
Strategic Planning Committee
Dean Stamp reported that the committee met to discuss the surveys developed by the
Carnegie Initiative on the Doctorate (CID). The committee reviewed the surveys and
discussed the pros and cons of using such a survey. Overall, the consensus was that
the survey could be useful if the cons were addressed. This was being brought to
Graduate Council as a discussion item. Dean Stamp suggested that departments that
are going to have their academic program review might try the survey as a pilot program
and report back to Council. There was more discussion and suggestions.
IV. NEW BUSINESS:
Challenges of graduate education today—Discussion about the challenges for master
programs and sharing best practices addressing the challenges.
Dean Stamp met with some members of Council that thought it would be useful to spend
some time discussing the challenges that master’s programs have and some of the
things programs have developed to deal with the challenges. Professor Tallerico said
that one of the challenges common to the professional schools programs are the need
for cultivating and then supervising placements in the field. It is a challenge to continue
to nurture these relationships with community representatives, schools, etc. Some of the
ways some have met those challenges is to use more instructors or adjuncts. Professor
Stewart Fahs sees enrollment at the master’s level as a challenge in her school because
of the nurse shortage. Some of the hospitals that used to support employees coming
back for their master’s degree don’t support them either financially or with letting them
have time off to attend classes. There was more discussion about the challenges of
part-time students. Professor Tallerico raised an issue about the SOE dean admitting
doctoral students to meet enrollment targets. After some discussion, Council returned to
the topic of master’s programs. Professor Shvetsova also expressed concern about lack
of housing for graduate students. It was also suggested that there should be a writing
center for graduate students on campus. Dean Stamp suggested that this issue be
discussed further next semester.
Dean Stamp thanked the outgoing members for their service. The outgoing members
are: Daryl Santos, Maneesha Lal, Thomas Wilson, Ed Kokkelenberg, Steve Tammariello
and Jim Constable, who is also retiring from the University this semester. Dean Stamp
also thanked Alta Hooker, who is also retiring in May, for her service to the Graduate
School.
V. ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting was adjourned at 4:15 p.m. on a motion by Professor Pam Stewart Fahs
and seconded by Professor Karen Salvage at 4:15pm.
_____________________________
Minutes recorded by Alta Hooker,
Secretary to the Vice Provost and Dean
of the Graduate School