BINGHAMTON UNIVERSITY
MINUTES OF THE December 14, 2009 MEETING OF THE GRADUATE COUNCIL
PLACE:
Couper Administrative Building - Room148
PRESIDING:
Nancy E. Stamp, Vice Provost and Dean of the
Graduate School
MEMBERS:
Christopher Bishop, Michael Conlon, Brandon Gibb,
Robert Guay, Wayne Jones, William Haver, William
Heller, Dina Maramba, Pamela Mischen, Chuck
Nelson, Beverly Rainforth, Pamela Stewart Fahs,
Wesley Saavedra, Gamze Nazen Bedirhanoglu,
Kerri-Ann M. Smith
EX OFFICIO
MEMBERS:
Elizabeth Brown, Stephen Gilje, Dara Silberstein,
Gerald Sonnenfeld, Lindsay Tremain
EXCUSED:
James Fang, Sarah Lam, Wendy Martinek, Max
Pensky, Nan Zhou, Olga Shvetsova
ABSENT:
Andrew Merriwether, Debi Mishra, Mark Fowler,
Edward Li, Max Pensky
I. CALL TO ORDER:
Vice Provost and Dean Nancy Stamp called the meeting to order at 3:00 pm.
II. MINUTES:
The minutes of the October 19, 2009 were approved as written.
III. COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Curriculum Committee
This Committee approved the following courses:
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Sociology: SOC 615 The Politics of Neoliberalism
Psychology: PSYC 614 Multicultural Psychology
Geology: GEOL 514 Climate and Paleoclimate
The motion was made to accept the courses and all were in favor.
Strategic Planning Committee
The Strategic Planning Committee met on October 19, 2009. John Meador, Director of Library
Services, spoke regarding the changing world of IT and how it will affect our scholarship and
research. The committee will continue to look into ways to prepare our graduate students for
the IT skills for research and scholarship. One of the ways to do this would be to provide
workshops for graduate students.
Grievance Committee
This committee has not met.
Academic Standards Committee
This committee has not met, however, last spring; the committee addressed concerns regarding
the committee page of a thesis or dissertation. After looking into this matter and learning how
other universities handle this, it is suggested the following be indicated on the committee page
along with a committee member’s name:
1) The role of the faculty member, such as faculty advisor or chair of the committee
2) The institution the faculty member is from
3) If designated as the outside examiner
A motion was made to accept these changes and all were in favor. The Graduate School
website will be updated to reflect these changes.
Advisory Committee on Scholarship and Research
This committee met and reviewed three proposals for the interdisciplinary symposium fund, two
were recommended. The committee will be meeting later in the week to review the proposals
for the Excellence Award in Scholarship and Creative Activity.
Budget Advisory Committee
This committee has not met.
Clark Fellowship Advisory Committee
This committee has not met.
IV. NEW BUSINESS
Associate Dean Silberstein discussed the tragic event that happened last week with the violent
act towards a professor on campus. In light of this tragedy, we are inviting Liz Droz, Dean of
Students, to speak at the next Graduate Council meeting. She will address the issues
associated with this event and will talk about how to prepare faculty and TA’s to recognize
danger signs.
Dean Stamp discussed the Mellon Foundation’s GEI Study. When studies are published by The
Carnegie Institute, the Mellon Foundation, and the Sloan Foundation; The Graduate School
summarizes these studies and presents the summary to Graduate Council, Graduate Cabinet
and the Provost, so they can understand the current challenges of graduate education and what
is happening nationally and internationally. Dean Stamp handed out a summary of the book
“Educating Scholars,” about a study called the Graduate Education Initiative (GEI) – to improve
graduate education in the humanities in the United States which was funded by the Melon
Foundation. One commonly held belief is that students on fellowships finish their degrees
sooner and on time; however, the GEI data did not support that. The study also showed the
likelihood of students in the humanities and social sciences publishing during graduate school
and the number of publications was highest among the students who had time to degree of 5
years. The study also showed that students who finished in 5-6 years were just as likely to get
tenure track jobs than those students finishing in 7 years, and students taking more than 7 years
were less likely to get tenure track jobs. The study also revealed that students who had
guarantees of multi-year support did not have any better record of graduating on time than the
ones that were funded on a year to year basis.
The release of the NRC 2006 doctoral study is now projected to be spring 2010.
V. ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting was adjourned at 4:32 on a motion by Professor Heller and seconded by
Professor Jones.
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Minutes recorded by Cheryl McGowan,
Secretary to the Vice Provost and Dean
of the Graduate School