GRADUATE COUNCIL MINUTES 2/25/15
GBB 202, 12:10-1:00 p.m.
ROLL CALL
Members Present: B. Bach, K. Briknarova, J. Johnson, A. Kinch, D. Spencer, K. Swift, S.
Williams
Members Absent/Excused: M. Alwell, M. Berthelson, I. Crummy, R. Delaloye, J. Hodgins, S.
Ross, M. Kia, C. Stanick
Ex Officio Members Present: R. Arouca, G. Bryan, N. Lindsay
The 2/18/15 minutes were amended and approved.
COMMUNICATIONS
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Subcommittees should plan to have the program review documents completed after the
Bertha Morton reviews. The external review for Economics was conducted two weeks ago.
The Social Science subcommittee will be notified as soon as it is available.
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The Committee is still short a member from the Science and Humanities (Professor Kia has
not attended since October). Chair Swift will verify that he has resigned from the
Committee. Associate Provost Lindsay will ask the Deans to help find volunteers.
BUSINESS ITEMS

The revisions to the HHP Program Review document were approved. Camie will put the
document on letterhead and send it to the Department Chair.

Chair Swift sent the appended message to Faculty Senate Chair Steve Lodmell regarding
the draft MUS Guidelines for New Academic Programs. In addition Professor Kinch was
concerned that the guidelines may discourage innovation and flexibility in the
development of new programs.

The draft language and criteria (appended) for the Graduate Education Merit Award
Program Institution list was approved.

ASCRC revised policy 201.00, Curriculum Review Overview to include the following
language. This will go as an information item to the Faculty Senate in March
Internal Faculty Review: Before a curriculum proposal can be submitted to the
department chair for approval, a faculty curriculum committee must (1) carefully
review it, (2) if necessary or appropriate, revise it, and (3) approve it. A
department may have more than one faculty curriculum committee, and may
require that proposals also be approved at a faculty meeting. A faculty curriculum
committee can be created as an ad hoc committee to consider a specific
curriculum proposal. The department chair’s approval indicates that the proposal
has been approved by the relevant faculty curriculum committee(s). The majority
of the members of a faculty curriculum committee must be tenure-track faculty;
but if appropriate, the committee can also include lecturers, adjunct faculty or
professional advisors.
Since this policy applies to both the Curriculum Committees. Graduate Council also
needs to approve. The Council agrees that the chair’s signature should indicate that an
internal department review has occurred. Hopefully this will catch some of the editorial
errors and lessen the burden on the Curriculum Committees.

The Graduate School received a request to accept a late application for a Bertha Morton
scholarship from a student admitted for fall 2015. The Council agreed that an exception
should not be allowed because it would not be fair to the others.

A chair is needed for the IIP Oversight Committee. Several documents need to be
revised and there needs to be a stronger tie between the IIP Admissions Committee and
the IIP Oversight Committee. Raquel will revise the documents. Professor Johnson
agreed to help with the document review.

Members were reminded that a Chair-elect is needed. One of the responsibilities of the
Chair is to attend Faculty Senate meetings and present the curriculum consent agendas.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 12:58 PM.
FEEDBACK REGARDING MUS NEW PROGRAM GUIDELINES
The Graduate Council reviewed the MUS proposal for revised guidelines for Level II proposals at our last
meeting.
First, there was some surprise that current guidelines exist. Faculty (including me) are generally unaware
of the current Three-Year Plan Program. I wonder if there are intra-campus communication issues as
was suggested at the last Faculty Senate meeting.
With regard to the actual proposal, members of the Graduate Council generally had a positive response
to the idea of transparency about new program proposals throughout the MUS system. There was
significant concern, however, about specific steps in which proposals can be summarily denied in the
process, without the opportunity for those making a proposal to respond. Specifically, the members of
the Graduate Council are concerned about the use of the word “deny” in Step 2, Part 2. We believe this
word should be removed. Also, the language in parts 5 and 6 of Step 2 should be amended to ensure
that proposals cannot be summarily denied without any kind of due process which includes those who
have made the proposal. While it is important to bring transparency to the process of bringing proposals
forward, it is critical to ensure that faculty continue to have a central role in determining the types of
programs that are appropriate for each institution. This is fundamental to the concept of faculty
governance.
Another concern expressed at the meeting was the “7 working days” in part 4 of step 2. This period
seems unnecessarily short.
I hope you find these comments useful and that you will forward them to those who are currently
working on the proposal to revise the guidelines.
If there are additional concerns about this proposal, that you believe Graduate Council should address,
please let me know.
PROPOSED LANGUAGE FOR ORGANIZATION INCLUSION CRITERIA
GRADUATE EDUCATION MERIT AWARD PROGRAM, DEAN’S MERIT AWARD
The Graduate Council has identified a list of Programs of Excellence. Students applying to the University
of Montana with funding from such organizations are eligible for the Graduate Education Merit Award
Program, Dean’s Merit Award. In addition to the specific list of organizations provided, programs
meeting the following criteria should also be considered eligible to be Programs of Excellence.
Required criteria to be considered a Program of Excellence:
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National or international reputation
Open application process
Competitive, independent, review process
Specific additional organizations proposed as Programs of Excellence:
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American Psychological Society
Beinecke Scholarship Program
Truman Capote Literary Trust
American Council of Learned Societies