BSU Graduate Committee Meeting-MINUTES
Wednesday – April 24, 2013
3:00 – 4:00 pm
314 Sattgast Hall
Committee Website: http://faculty.bemidjistate.edu/ckippenhan/BSUGradCom/
Members Present: Virgil Bakken, Heidi Hansen, Michael Urban, Carla Norris-Raynbird, Tammy
Bobrowsky, Angela Hahn, Mark Christensen
Members Not Present: Christel Kippenhan, James McCracken, John Gonzalez
Non-Members: Patricia Rogers and Joan Miller (both present)
1. Minutes approved needed for April 3, 2013.
Tammy moved (Virgil 2nd) to approve minutes as written. Motion carried.
2. Curriculum Proposals
a. ED (FasTrack2) 12-3-#16: Transcript reviews were done by MDE in the old program;
it was decided by the Registrar and Dept to have a course set up so that transcript
review could be done in a course…recommended by JoAnn VanArnum (BOT)…most
students who have a degree but need their transcripts reviewed to determine if they
truly want to become a secondary teacher…ED3000, would be a 1 credit course all
students would be required to take PRIOR to actually being admitted into the
program.
Heidi Hansen moved to accept (Angela Hahn 2nd) to move curriculum request
forward. Motion carried.
b. ED (MSpED) #17: Carla Norris-Raynbird moved to accept (Angela Hahn 2nd) to move
curriculum request forward. Motion carried with 1 abstention.
3. MnSCU Graduate Deans’ - we need to answer the following questions (Pat/Joan); the
document referred to in the following questions is the proposed MnSCU mission
statement that was distributed last week.
a. Does the document reflect the current MnSCU graduate education?
b. Do you see yourself/program reflected in the document? If no, what needs to be
changed?
c. What do we want from the system office related to graduate education?
Committee members were asked to forward departmental comments to Joan and she will compile
responses to be passed to the MnSCU Graduate Deans at their May 2013 scheduled meeting.
4. Continue with Graduate Faculty Orientation Review
a.
Item #3, The Job of the Graduate Faculty Representative/Q & A
1. What is my role as the Graduate Faculty Representative? (Christel)
2. What am I supposed to do and what is my timeline? (Angela)
3. And Q4: What can I do or not do in a defense? What should I do or not do in a defense? (Virgil –
combine Q3 & Q4
4. And Q6: Do I have a say in passing/failing a student? If I feel the defense/thesis is not up to
standards, what can I do? (Mike – combine Q5 & Q6)
a. Paper?
b. Oral presentation?
c. Discussion?
5. What if I do not understand the jargon/terminology of the field, can/should I still serve as a
graduate representative? (Carla)
6. Remote (Skype/WebEx, etc.): What about paperwork? What if committee member is not
present? (Heidi)
Send electronic answers to Joan…she will compile the answers and send out to the committee for
review.
b. Item #4, Advising a Thesis or Research Paper –Not addressed at meeting
5. BSU Graduate Committee – need to restructure:
BSU Graduate Studies Committee: The BSU Graduate Studies Committee is composed of graduate
faculty. The Committee normally consists of five members elected by the faculty. The Dean, School of
Graduate Studies is invited to participate as an ex-officio member. The Committee considers curriculum
requests, program proposals, and advises the Dean in formulating and discharging administrative
responsibilities.
Suggested Change: The BSU Graduate Studies Committee is composed of graduate faculty. The
Committee normally consists of five members elected by the faculty. The Director, School of Graduate
Studies is invited to participate as an ex-officio member. Ad Hoc members will consist of one College Dean
attending on an annual rotating basis. The Committee considers curriculum requests, program proposals,
and advises the College Dean/Director in formulating and discharging administrative responsibilities.
After much discussion, the following recommendation will be sent forth for the re-structuring of the
BSU Graduate Committee:
Current BSU Graduate Committee Structure:
Pat Rogers, Convener
Education (4 graduate programs)
English (2 graduate programs)
Environmental Studies
Library (none)
Math/CS (2 grad programs)
PEHS (phasing out)
Counseling Psychology (phasing out)
Science
Tech Studies (2 grad programs being phased out)
At Large*
*At Large position is limited to graduate faculty who are NOT listed as members of a degree granting
graduate program.
Proposed Restructuring of BSU Graduate Committee (1 representative for each of the following areas):
Patricia Rogers, Convener
i. Education (2 graduate programs)
ii. SPED (2 graduate programs)
iii. Environmental Studies
iv. Biology
v. Math (2 graduate programs)
vi. English (2 graduate programs)
vii. Business (MBA)(At Large in 13-14)(Actual admission of students in Fall of 2014)
viii. *At Large
*At Large position is limited to graduate faculty who are NOT listed as members of a
degree granting graduate program.
The rationale for the restructuring of the committee is due to the phasing out of several graduate
programs; the addition of the MBA; the differences in the two graduate programs in Education & Special
Education (no overlaps of courses). In addition, the committee was getting too large to find a time for
everyone to meet. We were constantly trying to meet quorum and many times could not hold the meeting
due to the lack of a quorum.
6. Adjournment and Next Meeting
Meeting was adjourned at 3:55 p.m.
Next meeting is Wednesday, May 1 at 3 p.m. in Sattgast 314. Please make every effort to attend as
there are important items to discuss and decide. This will be our last meeting for this academic year!
Joan Miller, Reporting Secretary