BINGHAMTON UNIVERSITY
MINUTES OF THE March 5, 2007 MEETING OF THE GRADUATE COUNCIL
PLACE:
Couper Administration Building, Room 148
PRESIDING:
Nancy E. Stamp, Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School
MEMBERS:
Ben Brewster, Gisela Brinker-Gabler, David Campbell, Theresa Grabo,
Maneesha Lal, Weiyi Meng, Maria-Teresa Romero, Karen Salvage,
Olga Shvetsova, Eugene Stevens, Marilyn Tallerico, Diane Wiener
EX OFFICIO
MEMBERS:
Dara Silberstein, Gerald Sonnenfeld, Lindsay Tremain
EXCUSED:
Susan Currie, Stephen Gilje, Susan Pollock, Steve Tammariello
ABSENT:
James Constable, Maria-Theresia Holub, Murali Jagannathan,
Ed Kokkelenberg, Tom McDonough, Daryl Santos, Steven Schwartz
I. CALL TO ORDER:
Vice Provost and Dean Nancy Stamp called the meeting to order at 3:02 p.m.
II. MINUTES:
The minutes of the February 5, 2007 meeting were approved as written.
III. COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Academic Standards Committee
By-Law changes—adjustments in the number of elected graduate faculty. The changes
are to increase Watson’s representation to 4 and keep School of Education’s
representation at 2. This brings the total of 26 (an increase of 2).
Prof. Lal made a motion to vote on the proposed changes and it was seconded by Prof.
Wiener.
Approved
The committee started discussions on the issue of plagiarism. There are a few
websites that present the issues well. The committee suggested providing materials and
these websites to graduate directors, who usually have an orientation with their graduate
students. Another suggestion is to address it at TA Orientation in the fall. Vice
President Sonnenfeld pointed out that there are two paths to handle plagiarism and it is
important that students are made aware of them. If a student plagiarizes a thesis or
dissertation it is a research misconduct issue. If they plagiarism a paper, it is an
academic dishonesty issue. The Graduate School currently requires all graduate
students to do the professional ethics module on-line. Prof. Shvetsova suggested that
international students be given a session on plagiarism after classes begin. Prof.
Weiner suggested there be a subcommittee that focuses on graduate level writing that is
interdisciplinary and that looks at how to help students be more effective in their writing,
plus to consider creating a graduate writing center that focuses on graduate students. It
was suggested to ask some students what would be the most effective way to convey
such information to them. It was suggested that the committee develop a sample set of
questions and survey some focal groups.
Advisory Committee for Scholarship and Research
The committee hasn’t met.
Budget Advisory Committee
The committee hasn’t met.
Curriculum Committee

Request for change in award from Master of Arts to Master of Science
In Psychology
Approved
Grievance Committee
The committee hasn’t met.
Strategic Planning Committee
The committee met and discussed the report on what the Graduate School has done in
the last 3.5 years. There was discussion on providing more focused research training for
students in dual diploma programs. It was suggested that Stephen Straight and
Katharine Krebs be invited to the next Graduate Council meeting to discuss international
programs for graduate students. Prof. Campbell said there has been a lot of discussion
in the past year about the difference in the interests or needs in professional degree
programs versus the doctoral degree programs. It might be worthwhile to distinguish a
set of activities we could focus on that are specific to professional terminal masters
programs versus those that are oriented more to doctoral education. Dean Stamp will
bring these suggestions back to the committee for discussion and then bring it back to
the Council.
IV. NEW BUSINESS:
The First Annual Graduate Research Day will be on March 28.
The Graduate Cabinet met and discussed interdisciplinary issues. There were
suggestions and a list will be developed and distributed.
V. ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting was adjourned at 4:02 p.m. on a motion by Professor Lal and seconded by
Professor Shvestsova.
_____________________________
Minutes recorded by Alta Hooker,
Secretary to the Vice Provost and Dean
of the Graduate School