MEETING MINUTES
Date of Meeting:
Time and Location:
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Minutes Prepared By:
1.Attendance at Meeting
Dr. Joelle Neulander
Dr. Charles Skipper
Dr. Mick Fekula
Mr. David Goble
Dr. Will Johnson
Dr. Al Lovvorn
Dr. Terry Mays
Dr. David Hurley
Dr. Tim Hanchon
Dr. John Weinstein
Col. Steve Cotter
Col. Metts
Dr. Hutchisson
Dr. Shankar Banik
Dr. Wes Jones
Dr. George Rudolph
Dr. Zane Segle
Dr. Dena Garner
Dr. Dan Ouzts
Dr. Kathryn Richardson-Jones
Dr. George Williams
October 8, 2013
11:15 AM Bond Hall
Absent
Dr. Sam Hines
Carla Demille
Dr. Mary Lou Yeatts
Ex-officio Members & Guests
Dr. Robert McNamara-Dean
Rebecca Kyzer-Associate Registrar
Sylvia Nesmith- Registrar
Katie Gibson- CGC
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2. Meeting Minutes
Call to order:
11:17 AM by Dr. McNamara
Old Business:
The minutes from the September meeting were seconded and approved unanimously.
New Business:
Dr. Segle called for a discussion of the policy for dropping students that never attend
class. The discussion opened with Dr. McNamara asking how to prevent the
completion of a semester and having to give a student an “F” because he/she never
attended a class and did not drop or withdraw from a course. Dr. Hurley mentioned
that veteran day students were not showing up in the class absence system. Dr.
Segle said that instructors at the College of Charleston mark students, in their
attendance system, for non –attendance. Ms. Nesmith suggested that instructors
should log on to the Lesesne Gateway to check the status of their students. This
suggestion was confirmed by Dr. Metts. Ms. Nesmith also suggested that if a
student has not attended class as the drop/add deadline approaches to let her office
know in order to remove them from the roster. Dr. McNamara asked Dr. Segle to
prepare a proposal for the November meeting of Graduate Council. Dr. Segle agreed
to do this.
The next agenda item discussed was a policy on readmission. Dr. Segle mentioned
that a clear cut policy was not in existence and would like to bring a proposal before
Graduate Council. Dr. Lovvorn asked if each of the five schools had their own
readmission policy. He added that he did not think The Citadel needed to advertise a
readmission policy. Dr. McNamara answered by saying a policy needed to be
created. Dr. Metts asked where the decision to readmit a student would come from.
Dr. McNamara said that the dean of the school, for which readmission is being
requested, would make that decision. Dr. Williams suggested that programs should
be listed as subheadings of the various schools so that a student would know which
Dean he/she should appeal to.
Dr. McNamara addressed Graduate Council stating that no one had contacted Dr.
Garner concerning serving on the research conference committee. He added that the
committee needs to be created by the next meeting or the research conference will be
done away with.
The next order of business concerned a change in the graduate course catalog
relating to the attendance policy. A change had been made in the policy from the
2010-2011 catalogs to the 2011-2012 catalog that as far as the members of Graduate
Council could recall, had not been voted on or approved. Dr. McNamara offered to
craft a policy, distribute that policy via email for input, amend the policy based on
input, and bring as a proposal to the next graduate council for approval.
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Mr. Goble informed Graduate council with an update on the Daniel Library fire
sprinkler project. A pre-bid meeting will take place on October 17th. The bidding
period will open on November 25th, and the work will be scheduled to begin on
December 19th. Over the thanksgiving break everything will be relocated. By the
start of the spring semester the North end of the library will be operational. In April
the work and the operational side of the library will switch sides. Mr. Goble advised
the members of Graduate Council to check the website for updates on the work. The
archive portion of the library will continue to operate on a dry form of fire
suppression/containment.
Citing a bill in the South Carolina legislature, Dr. Ouzts asked the members of
Graduate Council to approve the proposal to create a Graduate Certificate in Literacy
education. The program would need to be presented to teachers in counties outside
of Berkley, Charleston, and Dorchester counties. Dr. Ouzts added the bill would
change literacy education by requiring all teachers to receive a literacy add-on. The
creation would bring funding in over the next few years and would be presented to
area teachers and school districts. The creation of the certificate might encourage
some teachers to pursue their Master’s degree. The motion was seconded. Dr.
McNamara opened the call for further discussion asking Der. Ouzts how many
teachers would potentially need to receive the add-on. Dr. Ouzts replied
approximately 12,000 teachers in all districts. Dr. Williams suggested that the
certificate be offered at the Low-country Graduate center. Dr. Ouzts also mentioned
the program could be offered online hopefully in the spring of 2014.
Dr. Sarah Tenney presented the proposal for the creation of the Master of Arts in
International politics and Military Affairs. The proposed start date for the program
is the spring semester of 2014. The student target audience is for English speakers
around the globe. The motion to approve the proposal for the creation of this degree
program was seconded by Dr. Williams. Dr. McNamara asked if there was any
further discussion on the matter. Dr. Hurley said that there was no discussion
between the criminal justice department and the political science department
regarding this issue. He added that he would like the provost and dean to weigh in
on the matter before the proposal was approved. Dr. Hurley mentioned that the
creation of this program could hurt the degree program created by the criminal
justice department scheduled for approval with the Commission on Higher
Education. Dr. Hurley asked to table the motion until all parties could meet to
discuss the matter. A discussion followed Dr. Hurley’s request that dealt with the
use of the word table. After some explanation of the difference between tabling and
postponing, Dr. Hurley amended his request to table the motion to postpone the
motion. The motion to postpone the proposal was seconded by Dr. Wes Jones. The
postponement motion was approved unanimously.
Dr. Banik presented the proposal for the creation of a Graduate Certificate in Cybersecurity. Dr. Banik offered the following rationale:
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The department began offering a specialization in cyber-security for the MS in
Computer Science in the Fall of 2013. The department recognizes an immediate
need for cyber-security workforce development in the Low country. To serve this
need, the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science proposes to offer a
twelve (12) credit hour graduate certificate program in cyber-security.
The certificate program will attract two kinds of students. The first group of
students is the ones who have already graduated with other specializations but want
to come back to school to learn cyber-security. The second of group of students are
the ones who do not want to enroll in MS program because of time and other
constraints but want to complete the certificate program with 4 courses.
Students enrolled in specializations other than cyber-security can complete these 4
courses and obtain a certificate in cyber-security. These 4 courses will be counted as
electives in their degree program.
The motion to approve the creation of a Graduate Certificate in Cyber-security was
seconded. Dr. Wes Jones asked if the program could move forward without the College of
Charleston. Dr. Banik answered yes. Ms. Nesmith asked if the College of Charleston would
have issues with these students being on campus. Dr. Banik pointed out that these particular
courses would be offered at the Low-country Graduate Center. The motion was approved
unanimously.
The student travel fund discussion was addressed next. Dr. Johnson reminded
Graduate Council that there were deadlines approaching for presentations and
conventions. He added that the method by which the funds were distributed should
be resolved at this meeting. Dr. McNamara answered his comments mentioning that
a committee had been formed and he had not been given any direction on the
distribution of the funding. If the committee did not give him a reasonable solution
he would distribute the funds equally to the Deans of each of the schools and let
them determine how to award the funding to the students. Dr. Johnson presented the
motion to distribute the funding to the school Deans. Dr. Jones seconded the
motion. Dr. McNamara asked for further discussion. Dr. Hanchon asked if there
was any data showing how many students from each school/ program traveled to
presentations or conventions. The motion was approved with one opposing vote.
The discussion regarding liaison contact with The College of Charleston and The
Medical University of South Carolina's Doctoral programs was delayed until Dr.
McNamara could get an update for the provost when he returned to campus.
The proposal to create a committee responsible for drafting a set of by-laws for
Graduate Council was the next order of business. Dr. Wes Jones asked the group to
refer to the proposal that he distributed earlier in the meeting. The motion to
approve the proposal was seconded by Dr. Will Johnson. Dr. McNamara called for
further discussion. Dr. Johnson mentioned the body of Graduate Council had grown
and become more complex. He added the process must be more formal. Dr. Metts,
referring to the charter, said that, in searching for a charter, he had never seen
anything outlining the rules of governance other than Robert's Rules of Order. Dr.
Richardson- Jones added that the council needed order to keep things valid. Dr.
McNamara closed the discussion by stating that other schools with graduate councils
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did not have or could not locate a charter. He added that any by-laws that were
drafted by this committee would need approval from faculty and academic
boards. The motion was approved unanimously.
Other matters as necessary:
Dr. McNamara informed the members of Graduate council of a change in the
process in which items are added to the agenda. A form will be created and
distributed that would require the respective school Dean to approve any item
submitted for the agenda.
Adjournment:
With no further business on the agenda, the motion to adjourn was seconded by Dr.
Hurley. The meeting was adjourned at 12:39 PM.
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