Agenda
Graduate Assembly
April 13, 2010
4:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Willis Building Conference Room
Members Present:
Barnes, Rick; Babits, Larry (for Carl Swanson) Decker, Jim; Ding, Junhua (for Nasseh Tabrizi);
Dingfelder, Michael; Eagle, Scott; Fridgen, Joe; Grobe, Bill; Kasperek, George; Lamson,
Angela; Mehta, Merwan (for Hamid Fonooni); Morehead, Andrew; Novick, Lloyd; Pokorny,
Marie; Prividera. Laura; Riley-Tillman, Chris; Shields, Tom; Thompson, Bob; Trujillo, Leonard;
and Terri Woods.
Members Absent:
Batie, David; Benson, Chal; Betrand, Brenda; Bishop, John; Boudah, Dan; Bunch, Shelia; Dar,
Saeed; Dudek, Ronald; Edwards, Bob; Franklin, Richard; Gares, Paul; Glass, Scott; Henning,
Sylvie; Hoffman Donald; Hough, Monica; Huener, Thomas; Kester, Diane; Kulas, Anthony
Murashov, Alexander; O’Halloran, Bob; Schwager, Paul; Tucker, Sheila; Vogelsong, Hans;
Williams, Blaise; Wolfe, Linda; Wong, Daniel; and Xioming Zeng.
Guests Present: Armstrong, Robin; Ericson, Joanne; McConnell, Thomas; and Belinda
Patterson.
1. Call to order
4:02 pm
2. Approval of March 16, 2009 minutes
Minutes approved as revised
3. Graduate Admissions Update
Robin Armstrong (Director of Graduate Admissions) reported:
 Automatic emails are sent nightly to students when new application material is
received by the Graduate School
 Students are notified via email when their application is complete
 The Graduate School is continuing to develop an automatic reference letter feature
 Turnaround time from when an application is received by the Graduate School to
when it is fully processed is usually 3-5 business days depending on application
volume
 Students admitted by exception will no longer have a probation hold placed on their
account preventing them from course registration. The Graduate School will place a
‘GG’ hold (Graduate School hold) on the accounts of these students. This hold will
not affect the distribution of financial aid for student’s second term
 The Graduate School is developing a letter for program directors to send students
regarding admittance. Programs will be able to modify the letter and adopt clauses
of the letter as appropriate
4. New Business
a. Implementation of satisfactory/unsatisfactory (S or U) grades for theses and
dissertations – for discussion and approval
Dr. Gemperline reported that after discussions with the GSAB and Julie Poorman
(Director of Financial Aid) it was decided that a Pass/Fail (P or F) code would be
problematic as a student could leave the University with pass credit given for an
incomplete thesis or dissertation and a degree not awarded. A grade of S/U indicates
satisfactory progress is being made regarding thesis/dissertation coursework, while
clearly indicating a thesis/dissertation is not complete.
Discussion:
 S/U code is new for ECU transcripts. Angela Anderson (Office of Registrar) will be
assisting the Graduate School in implementing this change.
 S/U credit will not affect GPA
 Students receiving a U for thesis credit can have this changed to S after completion of
required thesis coursework and a change of grade request from the program.
 If a student changes from a thesis to the non-thesis option, all thesis credit completed
will be null
 Dr. Gemperline will work with Dr. Angela Lamson (Child Development and Family
Relations) to develop a description of the S/U grade
 The change from Q/R to S/U would be effective beginning fall 2010
Approved
b. Implementation of firm application deadlines – 1 week prior to the start of a term – for
discussion and approval
Dr. Gemperline reported:
 The Graduate School can turn on a feature in Banner Self Service so that students will
no longer be able to apply for a term 1 week prior to the beginning of a term. Term will
no longer be visible in drop down window on online application.
 The application does not have to be completed by this application deadline, only
initiated.
 This would be implemented for fall 2010
Approved
c. Graduate School summer retreat – 2 or 3 days at the West Research Campus
Dr. Gemperline announced he would like to meet sometime during the first three weeks of
summer for 2 or 3 days to consider Graduate School structural issues, such as if an external
advisory board should be developed, and to develop a strategic plan for the Graduate School
Dr. Gemperline asked program directors to email names of any individuals interested in
attending or topics for discussion to the Graduate School. The decision on whether to hold the
meeting will depend on the agenda for the meeting.
5. Announcements
The Graduate School is currently receiving a high volume of theses and dissertations for
approval and Graduate Faculty nomination letters. Thesis committee members who do not hold
appropriate Graduate Faculty documentation are currently being collected.
Dr. Gemperline will meet with Julie Poorman, Dr. Bob Thompson (Political Science) and Dr.
Terry West (Biology) to discuss the implementation of allocated work-study student funds.
Sondra Bland (Graduate School) is currently working on health insurance hard waivers and
mechanism for keying in this information.
Adjourned
Meeting adjourned at 5:00 pm
Respectfully submitted,
Amy E. Tripp
Next meeting: Tuesday, May 4, 2010, Willis Building Conference Room