UAA Graduate Council Minutes
Friday March 29, 2013 / 12:00 noon-1:00 pm / Room 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 Gloria Eldridge,
Chr.
Angela Dirks Beth Sirles x Bogdan
Hoanca
Darren Prokop
x David Stevenson Diana Steer x Greg Protasel x Laura Kelley James Fitterling
x Jennifer Burns Jennifer Stone x Keith Cates
x LuAnn Piccard x Maureen
O’Malley/
Christine
Michel
x Osama Abaza x Paul White Rachel
Boschma-Wynn
(GSA)
x Rhonda Johnson
Research &
Graduate
School:
Helena
Wisniewski
Ex Officio:
Bart Quimby x Cathy
LeCompte
x David Yesner x Elisa Mattison x Jeff Bailey
x Hilary Seitz Patricia Linton
Registrar: x Lora Volden
Steve Cobb
1) Roll Call and Approval of Agenda/Approval of Minutes
Susan Kaplan
2) Reports: a.
Associate Dean’s Report (David Yesner)

Graduate Faculty – Faculty Senate in 2008 voted for graduate faculty but recommendations were not implemented; would appreciate feedback and input into how graduate faculty policy will be shaped.

GARFs – Graduate School is reviewing GARFs and finding numerous problems, e.g., details of provisional status, reasons for rejections not filled out. Necessary to have all details to protect students and university. Decisions about admissions are made by departments and Graduate School provides oversight and uses the GARF for tracking purposes.

UAA Doctoral Granting Status – is probationary. A final submission must be made after one year before permanent approval can be granted, probably in Feb 2014. David will work with Jim Fitterling from the Psychology PhD program on the accreditation submission this summer.

GSA – student symposium scheduled April 12.

Chapter 12 revisions – will be sent out via email for feedback.


Elisa Mattison is now President Elect of WAGS. b.
Director’s Report (Elisa Mattison)

Final admissions letter will come from the Admissions Office. Departments would like to have copies of the Admissions Certificate.


The WAGS annual meeting will be held in Alaska in 2015.
The Graduate School has conducted three workshops for students and faculty on electronic thesis formatting and will conduct two more in the summer and three in the fall. The Powerpoint slides from those workshops are available online.

The Hooding Ceremony is May 4 from 10 – 12 a.m. Students and faculty who wish to attend should RSVP immediately (see Graduate School website). c.
Registrar’s Report (Lora Volden)

Graduate Requirement Reports (GRRs) will be routed through the Graduate School.

Lindsey Chadwell is conducting Degreeworks training for GSPs. Contact her to schedule training for your department. d.
GSA Report – no GSA report
3) New Business

Kelly McLain (IRB Administrative Assistant) gave a short presentation on the IRB approval process for theses and projects. The IRB has run into a couple of situations recently where students have not sought IRB approval for Human Subjects Research before beginning their thesis research and she hoped that this brief presentation would alert coordinators/directors to the need for IRB approval for human subjects research. Kelly described provisions for instructors to take CITI training and serve in the function of the IRB for course-based research.
However, formal IRB approval (exempt, expedited, or full board) is required for human subjects research conducted for all other projects, theses, student research projects, etc. The UAA IRB adopted the policy of reviewing all human subjects research, regardless of funding. The IRB is willing to consult with faculty members about projects that should be submitted to the IRB. She passed out contact information.

Elisa Mattison – The Graduate School needs to have an accurate count of all current and newly admitted graduate students, including those who have exceeded the term limits for their degree. She will follow up with further information on what departments need to count, how, and when.
4) Old Business:

Update on status of Graduate School. As noted, Provost Baker was reminded that the UAA
Graduate School was approved by the UA BoR and a BoR resolution would be required to dissolve the Graduate School. It is possible that the form of the Graduate School may change. Discussion of the importance of a letter of support from Graduate Council for the
Graduate School in the event that the Graduate School is threatened in the future.
Graduate Council members felt that writing a letter of support was questionable, given that the nature of the threat to the Graduate School was not clear. The decision was for David and Elisa to create a statement outlining the functions of the Graduate School and the

support it provides to graduate departments and Graduate Council would discuss providing a statement endorsing that statement.