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Graduate Council/Committee Minutes
November 28, 2012 – 10am-11:30am
411 Founder’s Hall
Minutes
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Meeting called by: Luke Nichter
Attendees: Anitha Chennamaneni, Kellie Cude, Bobbie Eddins, Jerry Jones, Coady Lapierre, Barbara
Lyon, Stephen McNett, Theresa Newberry, Luke Nichter, Jason Northrup, Russ Porter,
David Ritter, (Luke Nichter as proxy), Gary Ross, and Chris Thron
Absent:
Floyd Berry, Jeffrey Dixon, and Jody Fry.
Old Business
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1. Agenda item: Previous Minutes
Discussion:
Minutes were approved with only some minor edits.
Handout:
Graduate Council Minutes 2012.10.22.docx
Presenter: Nichter
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2. Agenda item: Current Graduate Council/Committee Structure
Discussion:
Presenter: Nichter
The four subcommittees are: Curriculum; Graduate Faculty; Recruitment and Retention;
and Graduate Catalog and Graduate Advising Manual. These subcommittees don’t
necessarily need to meet in person. Each subcommittee has to decide on a chair and
report this person’s name to the Graduate Council. Issues will be divided between the
subcommittees to provide recommendations to the Graduate Council. At times issues
might cover several subcommittees’ areas. The Graduate Council will then decide which
subcommittee the issue will be assigned to as well as the timetable by which the
recommendation is needed.
Theresa Newberry offered to be ex-officio on the Recruitment and Retention
subcommittee and the Graduate Catalog and Graduate Advising Manual subcommittee.
Handout:
Graduate Council-Committee Subcommittee Membership.docx
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3. Agenda item: Graduate Faculty and Student Awards
Discussion:
Presenter: Porter
Russ Porter reported that TAMUCT has been admitted to the Council of Graduate
Schools (CGS). In the A&M System there are only six universities that have been
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accepted into it. It is a prestigious membership and a significant recognition for
TAMUCT’s achievements.
The goal of the Graduate Faculty and Student Awards is to give recognition to graduate
faculty as well as graduate students’ achievements. These new awards are in addition to
the awards available through student affairs that are available to undergraduate as well
as graduate faculty and students.
Through the graduate faculty review procedure, there is already a distinguished graduate
faculty level requirement established that was approved by the Graduate Council.
Currently there are 7 faculty members that are highly probable of obtaining the
distinguished graduate faculty level. The review process is not completed yet, so these
standings are not yet official. This status of distinguished graduate faculty is what will be
recognized at the Graduate Faculty and Student Awards. In addition to that, nominations
for three additional awards can be submitted, which are: outstanding faculty award for
teaching, outstanding faculty award for scholarship, and outstanding faculty award for
community development. The outstanding faculty award for community development
differentiates itself from the award given by student affairs in that it requires an actually
measurable impact of development by the faculty in the community beyond service. At
the banquet that will take place May 8, 2013, all nominees will be recognized and the
awardee will be announced.
The Graduate Banquet on May 8, 2013, at the Killeen Civic and Conference Center will
also feature a guest speaker who is highly involved in research.
For the graduate students there will be four awards: distinguished graduate student (4.0
GPA), outstanding graduate student for scholarship, outstanding graduate student for
professionalism, outstanding graduate student for community development. The award
process is the same format of nominations, finalists, and awardee.
This process of nomination collection will start by January. Nomination collection will end
in March. The nominations will be peer-reviewed by external reviewers.
The Graduate Banquet gives recognition for all the work that has been done throughout
the year. It based on the graduate student pancake breakfast that was organized by the
Office of Graduate Studies and Research with the assistance of the Graduate Student
Advisory Council (GSAC). Its goal was to receive student feedback on graduate
programs. This breakfast is followed by a graduate student and program leader luncheon
in late January that will solicit additional feedback. The Graduate Banquet is a
culmination of that.
Russ Porter’s request for the Graduate Council is to accept this proposal. A motion was
made by Jason Northrup and seconded by Anitha Chennamaneni to have the proposal
approved as written.
The question was raised of only offering this award in the spring semester. However, the
awards for the graduate students are for graduates of the spring as well as the previous
fall and summer semester. As the institution and the programs grow, this event can be
held each semester in the future.
Another question was raised to have another teaching award alongside the one that has
been awarded by student affairs. Russ Porter has been meeting with Brandon Griggs to
ensure that these two awards are sufficiently different from each other.
The proposal was approved as written with possible adjustments based on annual
review.
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Handouts:
Graduate Awards.doc
Graduate Awards Procedures.doc
Outstanding Graduate Faculty Award Application.doc
Outstanding Graduate Student Award Application.doc
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4. Agenda item: Graduate Faculty Characteristics Study #14-20
Discussion:
Presenter: Nichter
Recommendation 14/p.41:
The graduate faculty review is already in place. The graduate program review will take a
deeper look at the utilization of the alumni’s skills. This is a feedback loop for internal use
only. A challenge is the reliability of the alumni list (updated email addresses and phone
numbers). The suggestion was made to have the word “skills” replaced by
“competencies” and to use a more generic term instead of “survey monkey”. In addition,
the suggestion was brought up to substitute “survey” with “continuous improving process
and benchmarks” with flexible program specifics. Another suggestion that was mentioned
was to possible be able to use the information to help build programs by advertising the
success of alumni.
Due to time constraints, recommendations 14-20 were referred to the subcommittees to
review these recommendations and if needed present suggestion at the next Graduate
Council meeting.
Handout:
Graduate Study Benchmarks.doc
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5. Agenda item: Use of GRE Writing Score in Admissions Processes
Presenter: Newberry
Discussion:
There is currently no timeline for implementation. It is up to the Graduate Council to set a
time line for that. Every student has to submit a writing sample as part of the admission
requirement. This writing sample is imaged in the Banner system and available for
access by all faculty who wish to see them. A sample review of 200 graduate students
showed that the average GRE writing score is a 3.5 (this is the 30th percentile) with a
range of 2.0-5.5. The writing score is currently not used for admissions, but every
program has the option to use this information for program admission requirement.
The suggestion was made to review the data and create program specific information on
GRE scores as well as GPAs.
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6. Agenda item: Graduate Council/Committee & FSRC Retreat
Presenter: Porter
Discussion:
GCC & FSRC will retreat at Big Hoss Bar-B-Que November 30, 2012, from 3:00pm6:00pm. The agenda will go out today.
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7. Agenda item: Graduate Faculty Brunch
Presenter: Porter
Discussion:
December 3, 2012, a Faculty Research brunch will take place 9:00-11:00am to discuss
Maestro and SACSCOC compliance.
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8. Agenda item: Graduate Teaching Load
Presenter: Nichter
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Discussion:
The Provost clarified that 3 graduate courses in a spring/fall semester constitutes a full
load. This standard is based on Tarleton procedures. All Graduate Council members are
asked to ensure that department heads and school directors are made aware of this fact.
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9. Agenda item: Graduate PreLim Dashboard
Presenter: Porter
Discussion:
This agenda point was postponed to be discussed at the next Graduate Council meeting.
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New Business
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1. Agenda item: New Graduate Admission Deadline
Discussion:
Presenter: Porter/Newberry
The deadline for graduate university admissions will be adjusted to coincide with the
undergraduate admissions deadline starting with the spring 2013 semester.
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2. Agenda item: Future Revisions to Graduate Admissions
Presenter: Porter
Discussion:
The GSR has proposed making admissions standards more rigorous. This agenda point
was postponed to be discussed at the next Graduate Council meeting.
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3. Agenda item: Graduate Student Dual Employment
Presenter: Porter
Discussion:
The GSR has proposed a procedure with regard to dual employment.
This agenda point was postponed to be discussed at the next Graduate Council meeting.
Handout:
Grad Student Extra Time Request.docx
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4. Agenda item: Thesis/Comps Procedure
Discussion:
Presenter: Nichter/Porter
There needs to be some clarification about what programs are doing regarding whether
they are requiring a thesis or a comprehensive exam.
This agenda point was postponed to be discussed at the next Graduate Council meeting.
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5. Agenda item: Students enrolled at both TSU/TAMUCT
Discussion:
Presenter: Porter
Programs need to be made aware of the current practice regarding TAMUCT students
who enroll at TSU and vice versa.
This agenda point was postponed to be discussed at the next Graduate Council meeting.
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Subcommittee Reports and Issues Referred
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1. Curriculum Subcommittee
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Report: Proposed Graduate Curriculum Revisions (Anitha Chennamaneni, Jeff Dixon, David Ritter)
Issues Referred:
a. Procedure for accepting old coursework (external and TAMUCT)
b. Exam proctoring procedure
c. Thesis/Comps procedure
Discussion:
Both the chair and the program leader will be responsible for the creation of future
graduate program. New programs may require the hiring of additional faculty. New
program approval will also depend on if funding covers the faculty. The program creation
process is being supported by Sarina Phillips (she is spearheading the process but not
content). When the new programs come to the Graduate Council for review, they already
have been reviewed by several university bodies.
A motion was made by Jason Northrup and seconded by Anitha Chennamaneni to
approve this proposal. It was unanimously approved by the Graduate Council.
Every Program that is ready to go will be pushed through as soon as SACSCOC
approved.
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2. Graduate Faculty Subcommittee
Report: This agenda point was postponed to be discussed at the next Graduate Council meeting.
Issues Referred:
a. Graduate Faculty Status Review
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3. Recruitment and Retention Subcommittee
Report: This agenda point was postponed to be discussed at the next Graduate Council meeting.
Issues Referred:
a. Non-degree seeking student admissions and retention procedures
b. Procedure for re-taking a course with GPA below 3.0
c. GSR future admissions standards proposal
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4. Graduate Catalog and Graduate Advising Manual Subcommittee
Report: This agenda point was postponed to be discussed at the next Graduate Council meeting.
Issues Referred:
a. Vision, Mission, Values, and Goals
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Adjournment
Special Notes: Next meeting was proposed for January, 2013.