GRADUATE COUNCIL MINUTES FOR 09 OCTOBER 2013
Present: Steve Beck, Jeff Broadbent, Frank Caliendo, Scott Deberard, John
Elsweiler, David Geller, Dennis Hassan, Richard Inouye, Derri Dee Leonard, Mark
McLellan, Peter McNamara, Padmashri Suresh
Not Present: Gene Schupp, Scott Bates, Paul Johnson, Sheri Haderlie, Michelle
Baker
Visitors: Richard Cutler subbing for Michelle Baker, Scott Jones for Paul Johnson,
Maggie McInerney, Lorraine Walker
Minutes for September 2013 approved.
Information

Expenditure specifics of the one-time funds USU received from the
Legislature for STEM PhD enhancement was reviewed and discussed at
length.

The Iraqi government is offering complete financial support for Iraqi
students who pursue graduate degrees. Jeff Broadbent recently returned
from a recruitment trip in Iraq and brought 84 applications back with more
on a disk. Departments will be contacted about the students desiring to
apply to their programs. They will be given instruction on how to review
the transcripts and write conditional acceptance letters.

The Graduate Faculty Task Force is considering the broader issue of
graduate faculty. They have met and will continue to move forward.

Programs of Study are now submitted in Degree Works using DocuSign for
the electronic approval process. The Graduate School is providing
Degree Works training for department contacts.

The new waiver system for the nonresident portion of tuition for PhD and
MS Plan A students is effective fall 2014. Waivers are not to displace
external tuition dollars. Students qualify with a .5 FTE graduate
assistantship for the entire semester.

In regard to dissertation fellowships awards, a summary by college of
applications, awards, and success was reviewed. According to the
summary, the past five years there has been good representation among
the colleges.

The guideline for the PDRFs is online now. There are four cohorts to this
program. At the end of the four years, there will be 40 students in all.
New Business

R401 PHYX Discontinue Plan C MS. The proposal to discontinue the Plan C
master’s degree in Physics was unanimously approved.

Graduate Assistants Guidelines. A brief summary describing what a
graduate assistantship is and the four types of assistantships was
presented and voted on by the Graduate Council. The vote was
unanimous to accept.
Committee of the Whole
Committee Meeting
Adjournment