UAA Graduate Council Minutes
Friday October 10, 2015 / 1:30-2:30 p.m./ RH 204
UAA's Graduate Council advises the Dean of the Graduate School in policy matters and promotes
general advocacy of programs throughout the University community. The Council reviews, determines,
and recommends policies for graduate programs. Its members consist of graduate chairs, directors, and
a representative from the Graduate Student Association.
Members:
X Jennifer
Stone, Chair
X David
Stevenson,
Secretary
Ghulam Bham X Gloria Eldridge
X Amanda
Walch
X Bogdan
Hoanca
X Grant Sasse
X Greg Protasel
Jifeng Peng
X Jill Janke
X Jim Fitterling
Mary Dallas
Allen
X Allison Murrell
X sally
Carraher
X LuAnn Piccard
GSA:
Graduate
School:
Ex Officio:
Helena
Wisniewski
Kenrick Mock
Jane Pallister
Registrar/
Admissions
Lora Volden
Laura Kelley
Ed McLain
Jennifer Burns/
Frank von Hippel
(alternate)
X Liz Snyder
X Tim Jester
X Elisa Mattison
Cathy
LeCompte
Patricia
Linton
Lindsey
Chadwell (alt)
Hilary Seitz
Rashmi
Prasad
X Cathy Ewing
1) Roll Call and Approval of Agenda/Approval of Minutes
a. Minutes of last meeting approved as submitted.
2) Remarks/report from Chair (Jennifer Stone):
a. Report from Planning meeting; Helena’s vision; meeting w GAB is in the works
3) Reports:
a. No Dean’s Report (Helena Wisniewski)
b. Director’s Report (Elisa Mattison)
 See full report below
 Six assistantships were added
 G.A. Handbook: Do we need one (for everyone)?
 One inch all around effective Spring ’16 (after discussion w stakeholders)
c. Registrar’s Report (Lora Volden)
Jane Shelby
Susan Kaplan
Peggy Byers (alt)
d. GSA Report (Allison Murrell )
4) Old Business:
a. Grad Faculty Status
 Reminder: original mandate was Provost-driven in expectation of an accreditation
recommendation that did not materialize.
 Options:
 Table indefinitely
 GS faculty centralized in GS with one set of criteria
 GS status determined in Departments
 Elisa: If Grad Office had a list from Departments of all faculty teaching graduate classes she
would find it helpful
 LuAnn: •Where does current Provost stand on the issue of Grad Faculty?
 Q: Where is the Spring ’14 document now? A: Proposal is on website, dated November ‘13
 Agreed to use this document as starting point if issue is taken up again.
 Gloria: Feedback was solicited from departments. Psychology was
indifferent.
 Bogdan: GF could be divisive.
 Jennifer: Going forward:
 review proposal;
 talk to colleagues;
 report back (next meeting);
 Send list of grad faculty to Elisa.
b. Need to finalize Exit Survey this year
5) New Business:
a. Formation of Working Groups
Graduate Council Workgroups 2015-2016
Working Group Focus
Research & IRB
Thesis Process
Members
Gloria Eldridge
Jill Janke
Sally Carraher
LuAnn Piccard
Liz Snyder
Allison Murrell (GSA)
David Stevenson
Exit Survey Implementation
Admissions
Graduate Council’s Purpose
Unassigned
Jim Fitterling
Jennifer Stone
Jennifer Burns/Frank von Hippel
Grant Sasse
Amanda Walch
Elisa Mattison (ex officio)
Cathy Ewing
Greg Protasel
Bogdan Hoanca
Mary Dallas Allen
Jifeng Peng
Jennifer Stone
Ed McLain
Tim Jester
Ghulam Bham
Laura Kelley
Graduate School Director’s Report:

Graduate Assistantships
o 63 (6 more since September report) Graduate Assistants for fall so far. This is
down from 66 GA’s last year. Health insurance premiums did not increase this
semester, they remain at $750 for fall and spring.
o Possible Grad Assistant Handbook coming spring 2016. Do most programs hiring
GA’s already have a GA Handbook? Is a Graduate School GA handbook
redundant? I need feedback if this Handbook is needed.

Thesis & Dissertations
o Based on input from programs with thesis or dissertation, the margin requirements
will be changing for spring 2016. One inch margins will be the standard for all
thesis and dissertation documents. This news will be posted on the GS Thesis
website, and the Thesis Formatting Handbook will be updated to reflect the
change. Old margins are still required for fall 2015.
GSA Report 10.9.15
1. Election
o Lost two members
 USUAA and GAB Reps
o Emailing out requests opportunity to replace reps
 Move to quick runoff election if we get too many responses
 Proffered outcome, but we need to fill vacancies quickly
2. Fall Event
o Trying to work with graduate level student clubs to collaborate on events this fall
 Reached out to MB/MPA clubs
 Hoping to meet with them next week or two to nail done and
event/day/time
3. Budget issues
o Still trying to clarify our budget
o Have had issues for past two years
 Will be working with USUAA to fix problems with process
4. Admin
o Elections in general
 Working on better election system
 Problems with Banner/GSA list serve identification process
 Problems in the last two elections
 Trying to create a long term solution
o Role Clarification
o
 Updating roles descriptions and by-laws to better define requirements
Website Update Party after next meeting on 10.14.15