BINGHAMTON UNIVERSITY
MINUTES OF THE February 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, Jim Constable,
Theresa Grabo, Maria-Theresia Holub, Maneesha Lal, Weiyi Meng,
Maria-Teresa Romero, Karen Salvage, Olga Shvetsova, Marilyn Tallerico,
Diane Wiener
EX OFFICIO
MEMBERS:
Gerald Sonnenfeld, Dara Silberstein, Lindsay Tremain
EXCUSED:
Susan Currie, Stephen Gilje, Ed Kokkelenberg, Tom McDonough, Susan Pollock,
Steve Tammariello
ABSENT:
Murali Jagannathan, Daryl Santos, Steven Schwartz, Eugene Stevens
GUESTS:
Prof. Nkiru Nzegwu
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 December 11, 2006 meeting were approved with a correction to the
paragraph in #9 under Curriculum Committee. It should be FSEC instead of EPPC.
III. COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Academic Standards Committee
The committee has been working on the new distribution of representation for Graduate Council
due to the creation of the School of Education and the College of Community and Public Affairs.
Currently there are 24 members of Graduate Council; 4 members are student representatives
from the Graduate Student Organization. The Committee is proposing that there be 22 faculty
instead of the current 20. The distribution would be: 9 faculty from Harpur with 3 from each
division; 2 faculty from Management; 1 faculty from Nursing; 3 faculty from Education; 3 faculty
from Watson; 2 faculty from CCPA and 2 faculty at large.
There was discussion about Watson School being underrepresented and 3 faculty from School of
Education being too many for the number of the faculty they have. Dean Stamp suggested that
she would talk to the Dean of the School of Education about keeping the representation at the
current number and, thus, giving the proposed third allocation to the Watson School. The
allocations would be reviewed again in a few years.
The committee also reviewed the By-Laws to clarify who chairs the committees of Graduate
Council. The Council voted to approve the proposed changes of clarifying who chairs the
committees of Graduate Council. Approved (yes-13, no-0, Abstentions-0)
Advisory Committee for Scholarship and Research
The committee met and reviewed nominations for the Chancellor’s Research Award and
recommended three nominations.
Budget Advisory Committee
The committee has not met.
Curriculum Committee
1. Notification of Letters of Intent to Propose a New Graduate Program: MA and PhD in Africana
Studies
Prof. Nzegwu from Africana Studies attended to answer questions on the Letter of Intent.
Prof. Nzegwu explained that the department has been working on this for a long time. The
Curriculum Committee had questions on where students from these programs would get jobs.
In checking with different institutions she found that most students that have the master’s go
onto the PhD in Africana Studies and some go into diplomatic service. Most that pursue the
PhD go into teaching.
2. History Dept. Proposal for establishing “Women, Gender and Sexuality” as a PhD major field
Approved
3. History Dept. Proposal for establishing “Global History” as a new PhD major field--Approved
4. PAFF 528: Special Topics Seminar in Public Policy--Approved
5. PAFF 529: Workshop in Public Policy--Approved
6. SW 503: Diversity and Oppression: Practice and Policy Implications for Social Work
Approved
7. ECON 683: Seminar in environmental Economics--Approved
8. Combined Degree Programs: Physics BA and Physics MAT--Approved
9. Combined Degree Programs: BA/MA in French, Italian and Spanish--Approved
Grievance Committee
The committee has not met.
Strategic Planning Committee
The committee has not met.
IV. NEW BUSINESS:
Dean Stamp introduced Prof. Dara Silberstein, who is the new Associate Dean of the Graduate
School. Associate Dean Silberstein will be working on career and professional development of
graduate students and will be chairing some of the Graduate Council committees.
At the last Council meeting it was suggested there be a discussion on interdisciplinary
scholarship and the job market: what kind of degree (or degree program) do doctoral students
need? Dean Stamp distributed a handout on how federal agencies define what is interdisciplinary
and what is multidisciplinary. There was discussion and questions on how this could work better
within departments on campus. In recent years there have been more faculty hires that have joint
appointments. There was discussion on how the job market is for graduates trying to do
interdisciplinary work. Some felt the job market is opening up and it helps the students with
interdisciplinary degrees in the job market. One problem some see is that not all departments are
open to cross-listing courses. It was suggested that if interdisciplinary work is to be taken
seriously, there needs to be an encouragement to departments to allow students from other
departments to take their courses. If the university is interested in promoting interdisciplinary
work, this is an issue that has to be looked into and find a good solution that all the departments
can be happy with. Another issue is the problem of training faculty to be interdisciplinary. Vice
President Sonnenfeld explained that the Research Division has set up interdisciplinary grants as
a pilot program for the last two years and have had positive responses from the faculty and
positive results, not only in the sciences but across the campus. This is now a permanent
program and the Research Division will help departments that want to apply for interdisciplinary
grants find the right funding institutions. Dean Stamp suggested other topics to look at: are we
meeting the needs of graduate students in terms of interdisciplinary training, and are there some
generic things we can do to help students understand the track they are pursuing. She
suggested having the Strategic Planning Committee discuss this and come back to the Council
with some ideas.
V. ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting was adjourned at 4:30 p.m. on a motion by Professor Grabo and seconded by
Professor Lal.
_____________________________
Minutes recorded by Alta Hooker,
Secretary to the Vice Provost and Dean
of the Graduate School