Graduate Council
Meeting Minutes
October 13, 2011 – Taylor 306
Supporting, facilitating and promoting excellence in lifelong education
through graduate programs of distinction, innovative outreach programs and a diverse student body.
Attendance –
Members present: Lynette Bible, Reid Linn, Kathy Thompson, Robin Anderson, Frank Arasanyin, Dabney
Bankert, Aimee Brasseur, Patricia Brevard, Florian Buchholz, Michael Busing, Carol Dudding, Natasha DuMerville,
Lennie Echterling, Michael Hall, Gregg Henriques, Ming Ivory, Alison Kretlow, Jeff Loveland, Susan Murphy,
Thomas Besade (representing Mary Jean Speare), Jane Thall, Patti Warner, Karin Tollefson (representing Cole
Welter), Roshna Wunderlich
Programs not represented: Accounting, Assessment and Measurement, College Student Personnel Administration,
Communication Sciences and Disorders, Education, History, Kinesiology, Mathematics Education, Nursing,
Physician Assistant Studies, Political Science, Public Administration
Guests: Richard Mathieu (College of Business) and Janet Smith (Public Affairs)
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Graduate Viewbooks and program inserts are available upon request.
All course/program requests to take effect summer or fall 2012 must be submitted by February 3. Catalog
copy for each graduate program must be reviewed, revised, and submitted to Kristi Shackelford no later than
February 28.
Madison, the JMU magazine welcomes news items (including activities and projects) as well as stories about
graduate programs or graduate (Masters, Ed.S, or Doctoral) students. You may submit story ideas to Janet Smith
(smithjl@jmu.edu), Public Affairs Coordinator. Kathy asked Council members to let her know about graduate
faculty to invite to talk about any noteworthy accomplishments and activities that University Advancement might
use to engage audiences on the JMU homepage, Madison, and other communications. Kathy will send reminders
before each lunch.
When there is a change of contact information in the graduate program (name of program director or administrative
assistant, phone numbers, etc.), please let The Graduate School know by emailing grad@jmu.edu.
Kathy asked Council members to emphasize to students on assistantships the add/drop deadlines. The GA contract
states that the “student is responsible for tuition for courses dropped after the tuition refund deadline.” Students,
especially those on assistantships, need to be fully aware of the deadline for drop/add. If students want to switch
from thesis to research or vice versa, the decision needs to be made early in the semester. After the deadline, it
becomes a problem for the Registrar’s office, the University Business Office, Financial Aid, the student, and other
departments that may be involved.
REPORTS / DISCUSSION
Graduate Student Representatives/GSA – Aimee reported that the GSA hosts a coffee hour on the second
Tuesday of every month. Students interested in receiving information about the GSA should e-mail the GSA at
JMUGSA@gmail.com or “like” the Facebook page “JMU Graduate Student Association.” Student Technology
Advisory Committee (STAC) – Natasha reported that JMU students frequently delete JMU informational e-mails
before opening them; anything to distinguish the message from a bulk e-mail would increase the likelihood that
students will actually read the message.
CAP – Mike Busing reported that there had been an organizational meeting. CAP members learned that they would
soon vote on three new certificates in Learning, Technology, and Leadership Education.
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A-Team – Kathy Thompson reported that Don Egle and the Center for Faculty Innovation talked with A-Team
about ways to develop a virtual environment that creates scholarship conversations and allows for ongoing
discussion. The goal is to create conversations among faculty and sharing of information among academic programs.
Andy Perrine talked about the JMU Web Content Management System, Cascade. The new system will concentrate
more on content and less on design, will have a more robust search engine, and will have eight templates that were
developed for areas to use. The system will go live in January, and by the end of that year, all JMU web sites will be
migrated to the new system
C&I – No report
Honor Council – No report
WRTC Graduate Symposium - April 2012 – Aimee reported that the Writing, Rhetoric, and Technical
Communication program will hold its third annual symposium on Thursday, April 5 – Friday April 6, 2012. The
theme for this year’s symposium is “Communication in the 21 st Century: Intercultural Connections and
Considerations.” WRTC is defining intercultural very broadly to include across disciplines and communities, as
well as across national boundaries. The department welcomes proposals from graduate students in any discipline.
Program Change Action Request – M.Ed. Exceptional Education – Allison Kretlow gave an overview on the
M.Ed. program change request. The name of the program will change from Special Education to Exceptional
Education, with three concentrations: Gifted Education, Autism, and Instructional Specialist. A fourth concentration
in Behavioral Intervention is being considered for the future, in cooperation with Graduate Psychology. The
justification for the change is: 1) to graduate candidates equipped to address the current issues facing the field of
exceptional education; 2) to better align the program with the College of Education vision for its M.Ed. programs;
and 3) to meet the revised standards of the accrediting body NCATE. College of Education core courses and several
other existing courses are being added to the program. Effective date: summer 2012.
Update on VCGS Graduate Research Forum
Call for Nominations for the VCGS Graduate Student Research Forum (Thursday, February 16, 2012)
Reid reported that at this point we have two students attending the Forum, and he invited faculty to nominate
additional students, extending the deadline to October 31. Faculty should consider students who will be finished, or
nearly completed, with a research project that would represent JMU well at the forum. The Forum will be held at the
University of Virginia Thursday, February 16, 2012. Reid will select the representatives in collaboration with deans
from other state universities in a manner that will assure wide representation across many disciplines. Though
nominees may be out-of-state students, faculty members are especially encouraged to consider in-state students.
Research areas of particular interest to the General Assembly members are those that are focused on addressing
Virginia’s most pressing economic and social problems: transportation/logistics; environment/clean energy; health
care/biomedical; IT services; teaching. Special focus this year is on STEM areas.
Format for Nominee Information - VCGS Graduate Student Research Forum
EXAMPLE
Area of Research:
Title of Presentation:
Name:
Major:
Institution:
Undergraduate Institution:
Hometown:
Healthcare/Biomedical
Determination of Diagnostic Predictors of Heart Failure
Ima D. Sample
Integrated Science and Technology (M.S.I.S.A.T.)
James Madison University
Old Dominion University
Dumfries, Virginia
Description of Research:
The examination of the underlying behavior of Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) is an active area of medical
investigation. Current research on diagnosis of heart disease and heart failure has centered on
approximately 20 key variables measured by Doppler echocardiography. This research focuses on the left
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side of the heart because it experiences increased loads. Twenty key diagnostic variables were examined
through the statistical technique of multivariate discriminant analysis in order to explain the variation
within the four stages of CHF. Particular attention was placed upon CHF in patients with normal pumping
capacity (ejection fraction) to see if the process of CHF is distinct in such subjects. By examining those
variables with the highest explanatory value, it was observed that their characteristic patterns might explain
the progress of CHF as a dynamic process despite the ejection fraction of the patients. A dynamic model of
the progress of CHF is presented. The debilitating process is characterized with a possible explanation for
the relevance of the identified key factors.
Graduate Program Directors Survey Report – The Graduate Program Directors Survey was emailed to the
Council; Reid invited Council members to share the results with others as appropriate.
External Consultants’ Reports – Reid circulated a document he prepared highlighting the external consultants’
reports on graduate education at JMU (see attached). The consultants were Dr. Edelma Huntley, Dean of Research
and Graduate Studies at Appalachian State University, and Dr. Karen DePauw, Vice President and Dean for
Graduate Education at Virginia Tech. In addition to covering the recommendations, Reid encouraged Graduate
Council members to take advantage of opportunities like the Madison luncheon to provide visibility for graduate
programs and activities. He continued to emphasize the importance of building graduate student support into grants
and contracts whenever possible and noted that as part of the academic affairs strategic planning, the next step for
graduate education is to have Academic Council develop an institutional plan for graduate education. He has had
discussions with the provost concerning the appointment of a graduate student representative to the Board of
Visitors in order to provide periodic input to the BOV related to graduate education at JMU.
Graduate Fairs:
Representatives from TGS attended grad fairs at Virginia Tech, Radford University, VCU, and ODU last month.
TGS is also scheduled to attend the following graduate recruitment fairs:
 Wednesday, October 19 – Bucknell – 3:00 – 7:00 p.m.
 Thursday, October 20 - Penn State – 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Graduate program directors are also welcome to attend any of these graduate fairs. A TGS representative will also
attend the HBCU Career Development Marketplace Thursday, November 10, in Arlington.
The following 7 course requests were approved by the Graduate Council:
MATH
517
MATH
618
Modify
Modify
402
Dual Level:
BIO 502
KIDDJB
PROB & STATS FOR
TEACHERS I
A course to update secondary teacher’s capability with selected topics in probability,
such as sample spaces, counting techniques, probability axioms and rules, conditional
probability, Bayes’ theorem, discrete and continuous random variables, distributions,
sampling distributions of major statistics, and central limit theorem. Course may be
taken for graduate credit and for certificate renewal by secondary school teachers.
Prerequisite: Undergraduate analysis or permission of instructor
KIDDJB
PROB & STAT FOR
TEACHERS II
A course to update secondary teacher’s capability with selected topics in statistics,
covering such topics as descriptive statistics, inference, contingency tables, chi-square
tests, correlation, regression, analysis of variance, sample inference and nonparametric
tests. Course may be taken for graduate credit and for certificate renewal by secondary
school teachers. Prerequisite: MATH 517.
New
FOREST
ECOLOGY
A study of the function, structure and composition of forested ecosystems. The effect of physical
geography on the distribution of forest communities will be explored. Issues of forest
management and restoration will also be considered. Field laboratory topics will include
dendrology and sampling techniques within different forest successional stages.
BIO 445
Dual Level:
BIO 550
Modify
NEUROBIOLOGY
Molecular, cellular and network mechanisms underlying behavior will be studied using problemsolving, discussion, lecture and critical reading of the primary literature. Similarities and
differences between nervous systems and computers will be explored. Laboratories will utilize
contemporary electrophysiology and computer simulation to examine the neurobiology of simple
animal model systems.
BIO 455
Dual Level:
BIO 555
Modify
PLANT
PHYSIOLOGY
Function and structure of higher plants including water relations, mineral nutrition, transport
phenomena, metabolism, growth and development, and selected topics in physiological ecology.
Credit may not be earned in both BIO 455 and 555.
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BIO 480
Dual Level:
BIO 580
Modify
ADV MOLEC BIO
Cellular constituents and genetics are emphasized at the molecular level. Credit may not be
earned in both BIO 480 and 580.
CE 501
Modify
SPECIAL TOPICS
This course is designed to allow exploration of current topics of interest including various trends
and issues in a given field of study.
The following program change request was approved by the Graduate Council:
M.Ed. Exceptional Education – Change program name from M.Ed. in Special Education to M.Ed. in Exceptional
Education and change program description, adding COE core courses and several other existing courses to the
program. Add concentrations in: Gifted Education; Autism; and Instructional Specialist. Effective date: summer
2012.
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