GRADUATE COUNCIL MINUTES 2/4/15
GBB 202, 12:10-1:00 p.m.
ROLL CALL
Members Present: M. Alwell, B. Bach, K. Briknarova, S. Bywater-Reyes, I. Crummy, A. Kinch,
J. Hodgins, J. Johnson, D. Spencer, C. Stanick, K. Swift, S. Williams
Members Absent/Excused: R. Delaloye, M. Kia, G. Bryan
Ex Officio Members Present: R. Arouca, M. Berthelson, N. Lindsay, S. Ross
Guests: K. Candy, P. Zagalo-Melo
The 1/28/15 minutes were amended and approved.
COMMUNICATIONS
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Not all the materials are available for the spring program reviews. The Council will be
notified when they are posted to Moodle. The following programs are scheduled for
review.
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Biological Sciences (Science)
Communicative Sciences and Disorders (Schools)
Computer Science (Science)
Economics (Social Science)
Counselor Education (Schools)
BUSINESS ITEMS
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Graduate Council was updated on the proposed Graduate Education Merit Program.
Dean Ross has been in collaboration with Director Zagalo-Melo for approximately a year
on the proposal. There is currently a processing issue for instate tuition waivers for
students on Fulbright’s and other prestigious awards. These awards are given directly to
the student not the University. So the students are charged out-of-state tuition. In some
cases the Graduate School was making up the difference in order to prevent the student
from going elsewhere, in others the time delay waiting for a response from the Provost’s
Office persuaded the student to attend another institution. The proposal is simple, clear,
and easily implemented. It has been vetted by Administration and Finance and the
Provost. Students who have received an award from one of the institutions on the
approved list are granted an instate tuition waiver as long as there is available funding.
The Graduate Council agreed to be the guardian of the list and will determine whether
additional institutions can be added. Four additional institutions were added to the initial
list and approved by the Council (appended below). Council members were encouraged
to consult with their constituents in order to propose additional institutions. These will be
discussed next week. The item will be brought to the Senate as information.
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The draft HHP Program Review will be sent to the committee to review. It was
completed before the break, but was not approved by the Council.
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The 400 UG Communication should be sent each year when faculty are working on
curriculum forms. It can be linked to the curriculum deadline memo that is sent in May
and again in September.
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The Council considered whether a policy is needed to govern whether graduate level
courses are allowed in Undergraduate Programs. It determined that the requests will be
considered on a case by case basis.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 1:00 p.m.
LIST OF PREAPPROVED ELIGIBILITY FOR UM’S GRADUATE SCHOLARSHIPS
Suggestions for a List of Programs Eligible for the Dean’s Merit Award:
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Fulbright
Ford Foundation
European Union’s Marie Curie Fellowships
NIH Grants & Fellowships
NSF Grants & Fellowships
German Marshall Fund of the U.S. Fellowships
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Grants
DAAD – German Academic Exchange Service
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USAID Pre-Approved graduate programs
Department of State Grants & Fellowships
Department of Education Grants & Fellowships
National Endowment for the Humanities
National Endowment for the Arts
Institute of International Education (IIE)
NASA
UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA GRADUATE EDUCATION MERIT AWARD PROGRAM (UM-GEMAP)
Authorization
Montana Board of Regents (BoR) of Higher Education Policy # 940.31 (adopted: March 20, 2003 /
revised: November 19, 2010) provides campuses “the flexibility to differentiate tuition by program,
sector and method of delivery to reflect the cost of providing education”. This policy provides a means
to develop an institution-wide tuition reduction program for out-of-state graduate students who have
won prestigious scholarships from national and international programs of distinction (e.g., Fulbright).
Without such a tuition reduction program, the University will not be able to provide competitive offers
to these prospective graduate students. It is with this in mind that the ‘University of Montana Graduate
Education Merit Award Program’ (UM-GEMAP) has been developed.
Section III.A. of the aforementioned BoR policy further states that “Campuses have the flexibility to set
non-resident tuition … for graduate research and teaching assistants at 100% of resident tuition”.
This policy allows the University to develop two tracks as part of UM-GEMAP, those are;
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100% (of resident tuition), “Teaching Assistant / Research Assistant Award”
100% (of resident tuition), “Dean’s Merit Award”
1. The Teaching Assistant / Research Assistant (TARA) Award; UM-GEMAP, TARA
Procedures to manage the TARA track of UM-GEMAP have already been established and employed.
That information can be found on the TARA page of UM’s Graduate School:
http://www.umt.edu/grad/Faculty%20and%20Staff/Graduate%20Administration/TARA.php
2. Dean’s Merit Award (DMA); UM-GEMAP, DMA
 Fall 2015 implementation
 March 1st Graduate Application Deadline to be considered for a UM-GEMAP, DMA award
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Eligibility requirements:
The Graduate Council will establish a process for domestic or international programs of
distinction to be designated as a UM-GEMAP, DMA ‘Program of Excellence’ and approved by the
Provost. Once on that list, all students from a designated program will be eligible to receive this
award. Fulbright is an example of the type of program expected to receive this designation.
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Program management:
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The Graduate School will manage an annual allocation of these awards.
 Award renewal:
The student will keep the award for the duration of the program as long as they:
1. Maintain good academic standing, average GPA of 3.5.
2. Be registered full time (9 credits).
3. Make appropriate progress toward completion as assessed by the student’s graduate
committee and reported to the Graduate School.