Graduate Council Meeting
Pacheco Integrated Learning Center, Rm 137
3:00 P.M.
February 15, 2013
Minutes
Invited Guest(s): Debra Tomanek, Teresa Embry
Members Present: Andrew Carnie, Betul Czerkawski, Carl Maes, Dianne Horgan, Dina
Hingorani, Elaine Rubinstein-Avila, Feras Klenk, Franci Washburn, Gautam Gowrisankaran, John
Williams, Kelley Merriam-Castro, Koen Visscher, Lori Boyd, Maria Teresa-Velez, Meg Lota
Brown, Richard Vaillancourt, Robert Ariew, Timothy Secomb, Tom Kennedy, William Epstein
Members Not Present/Excused: Amy Fatzinger, Denise Roe, Diep Nguyen, Dorian
Voorhees, Ivy Pike, Jerel Slaughter, Jessica Carson, Kirsten Limesand, Leisy Wyman, Lois
Loescher, Marcela Vasquez-Leon, Mary Beth Haralovich, Robert Torres, Ryan Perkl, Tom
Rhodes, Wendell Ela
Call to Order and Roll Call. The meeting was called to order by Chair Brown at 3:03 p.m.
Attendance was taken using a roll call sheet.
Approval of Minutes. The January minutes were approved with one abstaining.
Dean’s Report. Dean Carnie opened the floor for questions regarding the Strategic Plan and
other matters pertinent to Graduate Council, but none were forthcoming.
Chair’s Report. Chair Brown briefly discussed the Faculty Senate meeting, specifically the
Senate-approved task force dedicated to racial equity – the Committee on Equity, Diversity and
Inclusion. Also discussed was the status of a committee attempting to establish and standardize
nomenclature pertaining to faculty titles.
GPSC Report. Feras Klenk addressed the Council on behalf of GPSC, stating that the GAT
workload survey has been launched and that ~550 responses have been received thus far. An
email reminder of the survey will be sent on March.
Information Items.
A. Committee Reports: Dean, Andrew Carnie; Associate Dean, Maria Teresa Velez;
Department Head Robert Torres
Due to the absence of Dean Torres and the summaries provided by Dean Velez and others in
the January meeting, the sub-committee chairs did not provide summaries of their reports.
Dean Carnie affirmed that the Strategic Plan will be drafted before the next Graduate Council
meeting.
Program Change.
A. Finance MS:
The Finance MS is a proposed graduate program within Eller which will be comprised of classes
currently taught as part of the Management MS with a concentration in Finance. An
independent Finance MS is justified by the number of students undertaking the Management
MS with a concentration in Finance.
Following discussion of other programs within the business school which could potentially
receive the same treatment, Gautam Gowrisakan moved to approve the program change. The
motion passed unanimously.
Discussion Items.
A. Assessment: Chair, Meg Lota Brown
Vice Provost Tomanek was invited to discuss her experience with constructing faculty-centered,
program-specific quantitative assessments as regards student research and learning –the object
being to measure program success as defined by the program’s faculty. Vice Provost Tomanek
also offered her expertise to help other programs that are interested in constructing selfassessments along those lines.
B. Max dissertation units/semester: Associate Dean, Dianne Horgan
It has been proposed that there should be a cap on university-wide maximum dissertation
unit/semester to avoid situations where doctoral students will take all of their required
dissertation units in one semester. The suggested cap was 12 units/semester. Concerns raised
regarding special circumstances were allayed by the assurance that a petition process with
input from the dissertation advisor will be in place to address such circumstances.
Following discussion, Tim Williams moved to adopt as a policy that a graduate student could
take only 12 dissertation units per semester. The motion passed with one abstention.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:33 p.m. The next meeting of the Graduate Council is March 22, 2013.
Respectfully submitted,
Eric J. Sonera
GIDP Administration
Acting, Graduate Council Secretary