MINUTES:
Graduate Council – March 25, 2002, 1:15 p.m., East Tennessee Room – DP Culp
ATTENDEES: Bitter, Brown, Caton, Ellis, Herrin, Green,
Greer, Kasmai, Lindahl, Pike, Pfeiffer, Scheuerman, Smith, Taylor
ABSENT:
Antkiewicz, Champney, Hoover, Lane, Norris-Thompson, Osborn, Woodruff
GUESTS: Roberts,
Blanton
I. Minutes January 28, 2002
Action taken
by Council: Approved.
II. Curriculum Sub-Committee
– Lee Pike, Chair
A.
College of Arts & Sciences – Department of Communication
1. Approval
requested for three new courses:
MCOM 5060 – Seminar in Media Ethics (3 credits)
MCOM 5960 – Thesis (3-6 credits)
THEA 5990 – Readings and Research (1-3 credits)
SPCH 5990 – Readings and Research (1-3 credits)
Action taken by
Council: Approved with minor revisions.
2.
Approval requested for deletion of one course:
MCOM 4047 – Public Opinion
Action
taken by Council: No action - Graduate
course already deleted. Undergraduate
course forwarded to the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee for action.
1. Approval
requested for one new course:
ENTC 4327/5327 – Telecommunications (4 credits)
Action
taken by Council: Approved with minor
revisions and forwarded to the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee for approval.
A. New Appointments:
1.
Russell
Brown,Psychology, recommend Associate membership.
2.
Weixing
Chen, Political Science, recommend Associate membership.
3.
Diego
de Hoyos, Physical Education, recommend Associate membership.
4.
Jack
Tottle, Music, recommend Associate membership.
5.
Yuriy
Razskazovskiy, Physics, recommend Associate membership.
6.
Beverly
Smith, Physics and Astronomy, recommend Associate membership.
B. Reappointments:
1.
James Bitter, Full membership expires 021, recommend
Full membership.
2.
William Hugh Blanton, Technology, Interim membership
expired 013, recommend Associate membership.
3.
Ronnie Day, History, Full membership expires 021,
recommend Full membership.
4.
Allan Forsman, Health Science, Associate membership
expired 013, recommend Associate membership.
5.
Keith Johnson, Technology, Associate membership
expired 011, recommend Full membership.
6.
Bert Lampson, Health Sciences, Associate membership expired
013, recommend Associate membership.
7.
Robert May, II, Technology, Interim membership
expired 011, recommend Interim membership.
8.
Diane Nelson, Biological Sciences, Full membership
expired 011, recommend Full membership.
9.
Richard Osborn, Cross-Disciplinary Studies,
Associate membership expired 013, recommend Full membership.
10.
Lynn Rice-See, Music, Associate membership expired
013, recommend Full membership.
11.
Gail Stenstad, Philosophy/Humanities, Associate
membership expired 003, recommend Associate membership.
12.
Charles Story, Technology, Associate membership
expired 011, recommend Associate membership.
13.
Sharon Trumbley, Family/Community Nursing, Interim
expires 023, recommend Interim membership.
C. Graduate
Faculty Policy and Form Modification – Ron Lindahl, spokesperson
1.
Guidelines for Graduate Faculty Appointment – Dr.
Lindhal reviewed the changes to the criteria for graduate faculty
appointment/reappointment with Council members indicating this new form would
allow more opportunities for the coordinator, chair, and dean to evaluate the
faculty member and provide supporting comments to the subcommittee for
appropriate membership classification.
The terms for Associate and Interim membership were requested to be
increased from three years to four years and from two years to three years,
respectively. This would allow for at
least three years of graduate involvement and scholarly activity for the
faculty member to be listed on the appointment/reappointment form for the Interim
membership, four years for Associate, and up to six years for a Full
membership. Post-Retirement, Emeritus, and Retired faculty members would retain
the membership they held at the time of retirement, etc. When their membership
is up for renewal, retired members would be reviewed based on the procedures
and guidelines in place for graduate faculty reappointment.
2.
Form for Application for Appointment or
Re-Appointment to the Graduate Faculty – Dr. Lindahl reviewed the modifications
to the form including leaving a box at the top left for the Graduate Office to
indicate application status, current level, and expiration date. After discussion regarding items VII, VIII,
IX, X, and XI which require the applicant to list graduate classes taught;
graduate student advisory committees served on; contributions to the graduate
program; major departmental, college, university, or professional leadership;
and a list of all scholarly research, publications, grants, or creative
activities over the course of their last evaluation period, it was suggested
that a comment be placed on the front end of the form which stated, “the amount
of information you present with the form doesn’t necessarily mean a higher
rating.” Again, the new format is to encourage coordinators, chairs, and deans
to make comments on the form itself in order to allow the sub-committee to make
every effort to recommend the appropriate membership for faculty members
applying for graduate faculty membership.
Action taken by
Council: The Graduate Faculty
Sub-Committee will incorporate suggested changes to the policy and form and a
revised version will be brought back to the Council for approval.
A. Evaluating Coursework for Transfer into ETSU Graduate Certificate
or Degree Programs – Roberta Herrin, spokesperson
Dr. Herrin submitted a document outlining ETSU
procedures for evaluating and accepting transfer credit. She requested input from Council members as
to the policy itself, how to advise students, and how and where the procedures
would be published. There were some
minor changes requested by the Council with the suggestion that this policy be
reviewed with graduate coordinators. It was the consensus of the Council that
the ETSU Graduate School web site would be an appropriate place for this
document as well as departmental web sites.
There was discussion by the group of the possible inclusion in the
Graduate School Catalog. Dr. Green
suggested placing a statement in the catalog leading to the web site. Dr. Brown stated that the Graduate School
could look at other graduate catalogs to see if they had similar policies in
their catalog before deciding whether the policy should be placed in the
catalog.
Action taken by
Council: Dr. Herrin will incorporate
suggested changes to draft document, review peer catalogs for similar policies,
and bring final version back to Council for approval.
B. Suggested Revision of Probation Policy –
Roberta Herrin, spokesperson
Dr.
Herrin suggested revising the Probation Policy as follows:
To
remain in good standing, a graduate student (degree or nondegree),
must maintain an overall grade point average (GPA)
of 3.0 (B) or better on all graduate work attempted. In order to graduate, students must have a minimum 3.0 grade
point average GPA overall and on the program of
study. When the cumulative grade
point average GPA falls below 3.0, the graduate
student will be placed on academic probation.
If the student does not achieve a 3.0 cumulative grade point average
GPA at the conclusion of one probationary semester, the dean of
Graduate Studies and appropriate college/departmental/program officials will
determine if whether
the student should be dismissed from graduate study at East Tennessee
State University or continued on probation. No student will be
allowed more than two probationary semesters, whether consecutive or
cumulative. At the end of
a second probationary semester, a student whose cumulative grade point average
GPA is still below 3.0 will be dismissed
from graduate study. Upon
dismissal, the student has the right to appeal to the Graduate
Academic Review Board.
A student will be removed from probationary status
upon attaining a cumulative 3.0 grade point average
GPA.
Action taken by Council: The Council endorsed
the concept, and
Dr.
Herrin will continue to review in conjunction with Item C below.
C. Creation of a Graduate
Academic Review Board – Roberta Herrin, spokesperson
Dr.
Herrin reviewed the Graduate School recommendation to the Graduate Council for
creation of the Graduate Academic Review Board. The Board would be a subcommittee of the Graduate Council
responsible for reviewing written petitions for reinstatement to a graduate
program when students have been dismissed for failure to meet academic
standards. After discussion by Council
members regarding possible problems with multi-department review and building
in credits, the Council agreed conceptually to the creation of a Graduate
Academic Review Board.
Action
taken by Council: The
Council endorsed the concept, and approved the appointment of a subcommittee to
take an in-depth look at the policy recommending specific revisions and/or
corrections. Dr. Bitter volunteered to
serve on the subcommittee.
D. Suggested Revision of
Revalidation Policy – Roberta Herrin, spokesperson
Dr. Herrin reviewed recommended changes to Revalidation of
Coursework
that Exceeds Matriculation Limits requesting the following addition to the
policy:
Revalidation of ETSU
Coursework that Exceeds Matriculation Limits – It is the
department’s responsibility to recommend to the School of Graduate Studies one
of the following actions for revalidating course content in each instance that
exceeds matriculation limits . . . .
This procedure may not be
used to revalidate coursework for transfer purposes when the course already
exceeds the matriculation limit at the time of application.
and/or when the course was taken at an institution other than ETSU.
Council members requested
that the ETSU Graduate School research what other institutions are doing
regarding revalidation of coursework that exceeds matriculation limits
and bring the item back to the Council for further review and action.
Action taken by Council: Deferred.
E. Suggested Revision of
Readings and Research Course Description (for all departments)- Roberta Herrin,
spokesperson
Dr.
Herrin explained that this revision is necessitated because some faculty
inappropriately use Readings and Research as independent studies courses. The Readings and Research course should
never be used to meet degree credit hour requirements. The following
recommendation was submitted to Council members for approval:
Students who are not enrolled in other coursework
but require the use of university facilities and/or faculty guidance for
studies, research, or preparation of a prospectus MUST enroll for three
credits of Readings and Research.
Variable credits (1-3) of Readings & Research may be used, as
approved by the student’s advisory committee in conjunction with other course
work, to receive credit for document
such activities as development of research and scholarly skills that would not
be appropriately covered by other types of independent study. Readings and Research credits do not count
toward degree requirements. Grading of Readings and Research will be
either satisfactory completion (S), satisfactory
progress (SP), or unsatisfactory (U).
Council members suggested rewording sentence numbers
one and two to more adequately reflect the use of variable credits. Dr. Herrin will make revisions as directed.
Action
taken by Council: Approved with minor
revisions.
F. Inconsistent Time Limits for the Specialist Degree – Roberta
Herrin, spokesperson
Dr. Herrin explained that
Page 18 of the 2001-2002 Graduate Catalog specifies a time limit of 5 years for
the Educational Specialist degree; page 87 specifies a time limit of 6 years.
The Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis recommends a time limit of 5 years for the Ed.S. degree.
Action taken by Council: Approved.
G. Suggested
Revision of 5xx7 Policy Relative to Doctoral Degrees – Roberta Herrin,
spokesperson
Dr.
Herrin recommended the following change to the 5xx7 policy:
Doctoral students
may not enroll for 5xx7 and 5956 courses (except for 5957 “Topic in” courses);
they must choose from the regular graduate-only series of 5000, 6000, and 7000
courses, with aAt least one-half of all courses
counted toward a doctoral degree must being at
the 6000 and 7000 levels.
Action taken by
Council: Approved.
H. Editorial Course Changes – Jeff Greer, spokesperson
Jeff
Greer submitted Editorial Course Description Changes for the 2002/2003 and
2003-2004 Graduate Catalog.
There being no further
business, the meeting was adjourned at 3:00 p.m.
Signed Minutes on file
4/9/02