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