November 20, 2014
7:30-9:00AM 300 Park, Winder Board Room
or
2:00-3:30PM 300 Park, Winder Board Room
Minutes
1. Welcome – David Kieda
2. Graduate School Dean’s Updates:
a. MA/PhD Language requirement discussion: In the graduate catalog under “Language
Requirements” for an MA there are three ways of satisfying this requirement: an MLA
language assessment at the testing center, completing foreign language course work
with a B average, or passing a foreign language exam designed by the student’s major
department in consultation with the Department of Language and Literature.
Sometimes consultations are not occurring, which makes this process somewhat
arbitrary and is complicating students’ ability to graduate. Departments need to consult
ahead of time with Languages and Literature. This language may be removed from the
catalog, but this will be decided at Graduate Council. These language classes are
undergraduate courses and do not go on the graduate transcript.
b. Thesis office manuscript tracking: DoGS access to student's thesis tracking: Every
student receives access to their online thesis progress when they submit their
manuscript. All DoGS now have access to the site: https://thesis.gradschool.utah.edu.
The Graduate School will be collecting statistics each month in order to track averages
and ranges of time in the thesis process both from the editors and the students. This is
an excellent feedback loop for DoGS, students, and the Thesis Office.
c. Garr Cutler and Thomas Stockham medal application dates approaching: Due December
5th, 2014. More information available at: http://gradschool.utah.edu/tbp/.
d. Brief Update on SARA: State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (follow-up from
previous DOGS meeting): Corey Stokes from CTLE is leading this effort. 25 states have
joined this initiative. Utah has not yet joined, primarily due to funds and legislation. This
will be resolved in the next few months. Northwest does not have a great concern about
it at the moment.
e. Recruitment initiatives: Colin Ben presented a table of recruitment opportunities and
conferences located on the diversity website:
https://gradschool.utah.edu/diversity/recruitment-events/. If the DoGS are aware of
any other initiatives or if they are attending any diversity conferences, please let Colin
Ben know, and he can add it to the website. Many resources are available on the
diversity website: https://gradschool.utah.edu/diversity/. No other PAC 12 schools have
a visit program essay requirement; however, this is important to Colin Ben. He has
shortened the process and made it easier on the student to apply. ACTION: David Kieda
will continue this discussion with Assistant Dean Ben.
f.
The first 3MT (3 Minute Thesis) competition was held this week. It was an excellent pilot
run for the program. The eight student participants did an exceptional job; Simon Currie,
from Oncological Science, was awarded as the winner. Tracy Rees and Francine Mahak
will meet with Dean Kieda and Associate Dean White to look at what this program could
become in the future. http://gradschool.utah.edu/3MT/.
3. Fulbright Program – Howard Lehman – Jolyn Schleiffarth: Jolyn handed out a flyer on the
Fulbright Program. This program is open to undergraduates and graduate students. The
Fellowship Office is looking to get more applications from students and bring awareness to
eligible students. Please refer eligible candidates to the Fellowship Office. Workshops for
Fulbright applications will be held in the spring. Jolyn can assist students in reaching contacts at
Fulbright who can research what the rates of compensation are including health insurance in the
regions in which they are interested.
https://Fulbrightonline.org.
4. Open Forum
Dean Kieda suggested that departments have a town meeting with grad students once
per semester to create community and to disseminate important information
(deadlines, events, etc…)
Announcements
1. Nomination materials for the Distinguished Mentor Award are currently being received. We are
very interested in a diverse nomination pool.
2. Remind faculty to grade graduate students as soon as possible and before the undergraduate
students; the Graduation Office graduates the graduate student first. Grading for Fall 2014
begins on Saturday December 6th and ends on December 29th. Department’s deadlines to have
all of their students' online files complete for Fall 2014 graduation is Friday January 2nd.
3. Deadlines for: Master's Comprehensive Exam, Language Verification, Non-thesis/Project Final
Exams is Friday December 19th. All deadlines for Master students and PhD students can be
found on our website:
http://gradschool.utah.edu/current-students/graduation-overview-for-masterscandidates/
http://gradschool.utah.edu/current-students/graduation-overview-for-doctoralcandidates/