GSAB Minutes
June 6, 2011
Greenville Centre 3:30-5:00 pm
Members Present: Daneiri, Juan (for Jim Holte); Decker, Jim; Ericson, Richard; Gallagher, Margie;
Gemperline, Paul; Huener, Thomas (for Laura Prividera); Kasperek, George; Lust, Carol (for Monica
Hough); Mott, Vivian; Rockett, Drew (for Marc Stevens); Schwager, Paul; Thompson, Tony; and Terry
West
Members Absent: Behm, Michael; and Marie Pokorny
Ex-Officio Members Present: Allen, Rose; Griffin, Linner; and Mark Sprague
Ex-Officio Members Absent: Dave Cistola
Guests: Armstrong, Robin; McConnell, Tom; Morris, Alexis; Patterson, Belinda; Poorman, Julie; and
Heather Ries
1. Call to Order
3:36 PM
2. Approval of 5/9/11 GSAB meeting minutes
# 7 amended
Pending U.S. Department of Education regulation on repetition of course work and financial aid
eligibility – Rose Allen
 Rose Allen explained the regulation that will take effect on July 1, 2011 stipulates that
students would no longer be eligible for federal financial aid (Title 3 funds) on a third
repetition of a passed course. This regulation could have a significant impact on
graduate courses including thesis, dissertation, research, seminars, independent studies,
etc.
 Susan Beck-Frazier (CFAC) sent a memo to the GCC requesting waiver of documents
required to make catalog changes. The Music department has numerous courses that
are repeated multiple times.
o The GCC met and is making the following recommendations to the GSAB in
response to Music’s request.
o Units may use Supplemental titles in Banner, in which case they do not have to
submit any proposals to the GCC. The Registrar, Angela Anderson, and the
Director of Financial Aid, Julie Poorman, have agreed that this solution will
ensure compliance with the new regulation.
o The following options would require appearance before the GCC with complete
package proposals unless otherwise noted. Actions must be submitted to the
GCC mailbox by 3/7/12 in order to qualify for the waiver of documents noted
below:
 Units may want to renumber existing courses at the same level with no
content revision (syllabus will be waived)
 Units may wish to propose new courses, as an extension of an existing
course, at the same level with no content revision (course proposals will be
waived)
 Units may wish to create new courses, revise or renumber existing courses,
at a different level and/or with content change.
3. Vote on approval of 5/4/11 GCC minutes
Minutes approved
4. Consent agenda item
Approved
5. Discussion on eligibility standards for tuition remissions
 Current policy puts students in a payback situation if courses are dropped in the middle of a
semester
 Document being circulated outlines old tuition eligibility policy and removes language that
would put students in a payback situation the term courses were dropped
o Withdrawal and resignation sections combined
o GSAB and GA are in agreement with principles of document
 Dr. Gemperline requested GSAB members circulate the first draft of the document to
graduate program directors for comments and suggestions
o Document to be discussed and approval sought at the July 18th GSAB meeting
 Julie Poorman stated there are not procedures in the Office of Financial Aid to ensure
students are not being reimbursed erroneously
 Alexis Morris will follow up with the Cashier’s Office regarding any procedures (made after
most recent audit findings) that ensure students are not being reimbursed erroneously.
6. Discussion on standards and procedures for utilization of TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign
Language) scores in acceptance decisions
 The ECU minimum TOEFL requirement is a score of 80 (4 sections with a score of 20 in
each section)
 Dr. Gemperline researched the TOEFL requirements of ECU’s sister and peer institutions
and found a score of 20 in each section is considered to be the best cut-off score
o Exceptions may be made on a case by case basis for students with scores of 18
or 19 in a couple of sections
o Because of the potential for inter-rater variance with the TOEFL (test is
administered and scored by different people) the Graduate School does not
want to place a strict numerical threshold on scores
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Dr. Gemperline introduced Jim Gehlhar (Director of International Admissions) and Rai
d’Honoré (Director of ECU Language Academy) to the GSAB to discuss the function and
services offered by the ECU English Language Academy
o The ECU Language Academy offered its first session Spring 2010
 5 sessions (levels) throughout the calendar year
 Each session is 8 weeks long (20-23 hours per week)
 Each session is $4,000 ($2,500 for tuition and fees)
o The TOEFL exam is administered to all non-English speaking students upon their
arrival to determine placement level
 An on-site test prevents fraudulent scores and more easily detects students
with inadequate language skills
 Students may be required to take extra English language courses or be
denied from the English Language Academy because baseline language
scores are inadequate
Dr. Gemperline sent notification to Graduate Deans outlining the current practice of
admission and TOEFL scores (students with significantly low TOEFL scores can either retake
the TOEFL exam or successfully complete the ECU Language Academy)
Consensus of the GSAB in agreement of current practices concerning TOEFL scores and
graduate admission
o Policy to be added to the Graduate Program Directors handbook but not the
Graduate Catalog (almost no peer or sister institutions publish minimum admission
standards)
o The ECU Language Academy will meet with all Graduate Program directors at the
beginning of the academic year
Dr. Gemperline explained programs continuously receiving low standardized test scores are
consulted with by Graduate School to see how student recruitment can be raised
7. Discussion on Program of Study/student advisory committee membership
 Dr. Gemperline discussed the Graduate School’s review process for theses and
dissertations (review for formatting, graduate faculty appointments of committee
members and content)
 2 cases - thesis submissions were unsigned
o 2 because there was not proper human subject research approval (1 also
because of poor scientific study)
o These 2 students were switched to a non-thesis track and thesis credit was
switched for Capstone credit and feedback was provided by the Graduate
School to the committee directors after the approval process
o It is acknowledged by the Graduate School that sometimes students are
unwilling to improve the quality of their work. It is also acknowledged that UNC
low productivity ratings may put undue pressure on departments to approve
low quality work.
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To ensure students are treated fairly and thesis submissions are high quality the
Graduate School recommends students complete the Pre-Research approval form (the
form is currently voluntary)
All doctoral programs, except 2, require an external committee member
o Best practice at other graduate schools is for the external member to be
appointed by the Graduate School
o Vice Chancellor Mageean would like members to be external to the university
however the travel budget will not allow for this
Dr. Kasperek requested the external committee member’s role at the doctoral level be
further defined (Will this person be an expert or ensure procedural fairness?)
Consensus is unclear regarding requirements for external committee members at the
master’s level
Dr. Gemperline stated the goal will be to formalize requirements for a program of study
form, change of committee approval form, report of members of the committee etc.
Consensus from the GSAB that a more formalized approach may be appropriate and will
work to develop this
8. Discussion on sharing credit among programs or when a program change occurs (reference Dual
Degree program policy and change of program)
 Dr. Gemperline explained a prior instance where a student graduated from a program
with a GPA below a 3.0
 The student’s GPA was not above a 3.0 after the end of the 3rd semester so instead of
being dismissed the student requested to change programs.
 There is a student currently in a similar situation that is requesting to change programs
o Student was advised not to drop the class in which they eventually received an F
because they were an international student with a graduate assistantship and
needed to be registered full time to retain their Visa status
o Student took 18 credit hours of electives that could be applied to another
program
 Dr. Gemperline explained that a program director can petition for the probation period to
be extended with strict conditions to return to good academic standing
o In this case the recommended approach is to change program of study with the
condition of receiving a sufficiently high numbers of grades to return to good
academic standing in the second program
o It was suggested that a student changing programs might be treated as a transfer
student (only allowed to transfer 20% of coursework by credit only)
 This would provide an opportunity of “forgiveness” without letting students
cherry-pick good courses and ignore F’s
 This circumstance raises the broader issue of students losing their assistantship eligibility for
the next term if courses are dropped
9. Other Business – Dr. Gemperline
 The Graduate School fact sheet has been updated by Dr. Patterson and Derrick Isler.
 Graduate Research Day was held in Raleigh at the Capitol Building
o 3 graduate students accompanied Drs. Gemperline, McConnell, and Patterson
on this trip to meet with state legislatures.
o ECU will host next year’s annual meeting
 The Graduate Program SACS working committee continues to make progress
o Certificate programs were asked to develop an assessment plan with 3 learning
outcomes and an assessment outcome or discontinue their certificate program as
part of the requirements by SACS
o It has been difficult to collect assessment data in certificate programs with low
enrollment and this is to be discussed at the next Dean’s meeting
o If enrollment is 10 students or less for the current year, may want to
consider discontinuing certificate program
o Drs. Ericson and Daneri pointed out certain certificate program may have
low enrollment because there is not a current need for the certificate
program but there has been in the past and there probably will be in the
future (examples are the certificate in Applied Economics and Hispanic
Studies)
 Dr. Gemperline will share these examples at the next Dean’s
meeting
o The add-on certificate form is in place to track students in certificate programs
o All certificates will be printed and distributed through the Office of the Registrar
o SACS requesting gainful employment data from programs by July 1
10. Adjourn
5:35 PM
Next meeting: July 18, 2011
Respectfully submitted,
Amy E. Tripp