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.

 

B. College of Applied Science & Technology – Department of Technology

 

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.

 

III.  Graduate Faculty Sub-Committee – Ron Lindahl, spokesperson

 

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.

 

Action taken by Council: Approved.

 

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.

 

Action taken by Council:  Approved.

 

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.

     

IV.   New Business

 

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.

 

V. Adjournment

 

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 3:00 p.m.

 

 

 

Signed Minutes on file 4/9/02

Lee Pike, Interim Chair