[VPAAEtal] Graduate Council Minutes

[Academic Affairs]

(pending Graduate Council approval)

 

 

GRADUATE COUNCIL MINUTES

September 14, 2010

 

The Graduate Council met Tuesday, September 14, 2010, in the Alumni
Center Conference Room at 3:00 p.m. with Dean Allan Headley presiding.
Present were: Dr. Linda Ball, Dr. Ben Jang, Dr Robin Reid for Dr. Donna
Dunbar-Odom, Dr. John Humphreys, Dr. Sharon Kowalsky, Mr. Michael
Miller, and Dr. Jon Travis.  Dr. Ben Cranor, Dr. Jeff Kopachena, Dr.
Joyce Miller, Dr. Jennifer Schroeder, Dr. Steven Shwiff, and Dr. Tara
Tietjen-Smith were absent.  Dr. Mary Beth Sampson, Vice Chair, was also
in attendance.

 

Dean Headley introduced the Graduate Studies and Research Staff.

 

Provost Larry Lemanski opened a discussion on topics suggested by
Council members.  The topics were:  1. Reorganization of the colleges;
2. Adequacy of faculty lines to meet growth of university; 3. Research
productivity and goals; and 4. How best to balance the tradition of
quality teaching, along with research and service.  Dr. Lemanski
distributed the proposed restructuring plan and provided rationales for
the restructuring of the colleges.  One aspect of the discussion focused
on the need for additional funds and new faculty lines in the academic
departments.  Presently the Deans are looking at ways to facilitate
moderate teaching loads and also to replace adjuncts with full time
faculty.  He indicated that growing our research programs would result
in more external funding which would provide more finances in the form
of indirect costs across all aspects of the university.

 

Dean Headley discussed with the Council his philosophy on the purpose of
the Graduate Council.  He noted the Council sets the tone for quality
education and that within that context we will have ongoing discussions
on graduate education issues.  In addition, the three Graduate Council
committees will be given charges regarding various issues and will then
continue to research the issue and to formulate proposals to be
considered by the Council.  Council members represent their college and
are expected to maintain and improve the quality of graduate education
at A&M-Commerce.

 

Dr. Sampson discussed how the Graduate School is unique in that it is an
academic department as well as a service department.  She also updated
the Council on the Cash4College scholarship initiatives and indicated
that there may be some funds available for Winter Mini and Spring
initiatives.  Council members were encouraged to discuss this with their
respective departments to determine if they had scholarship proposals
that would support recruitment of new graduate students to their
programs.

 

Action Items

          The minutes from the last Graduate Council, May 4, 2010, were
approved.

 

Committee Reports

Committee on Administration

Dr. Travis presented a proposal for changes to the procedure on Graduate
Academic Probation, Retention and Suspension (11.04.99.R0.16).  The
Graduate Council unanimously approved the proposal with one change.  The
approved proposal will be forwarded to Deans Council to indicate that
academic suspension of master's students will be based on their overall
graduate GPA and no longer on the number of grades below B.  However, it
was noted that we will continue to limit the number of courses with
grades of C that a master's student can use for his/her degree.

 

Committee on Faculty, Research & Instruction 

Dean Headley presented information on changes to the Graduate Faculty
Membership procedure (12.04.99.R0.02) that were approved during the
2009-10 academic year.  There will be only two categories of graduate
faculty membership-Graduate Faculty Member and Visiting Member.
Temporary graduate faculty status will still be available for faculty
not eligible for Graduate Faculty membership.

 

Committee on Curriculum

Dr. Suh informed the Council about the call for 2011-12 Curriculum
Changes.  

 

2009-10 Accomplishments and 2010-11 Charges

Dean Headley presented a list of 2009-10 Graduate Council
Accomplishments.  He specifically mentioned two procedural changes that
were approved by the President's Advisory Council (PAC) and will be
distributed shortly. These are the Faculty Workload procedure
(12.03.99.R0.01) and the Doctoral Research Tools procedure
(11.04.99.R0.22).  The Council will consider charges for the 2010-11
academic year at the October meeting. 

 

Announcements/Updates

Update on Graduate Council Election for College of Business & Technology
representative

The Graduate School has books on Graduate Education that are available
to check out.  A list will be available on the Graduate Council website.

Update on System Graduate Faculty Membership 

          http://www.tamus.edu/offices/academic/gradfaculty/
<http://www.tamus.edu/offices/academic/gradfaculty/> 

Fall 2010 Enrollment

Pathways Symposium

          October 22-23, 2010, at West Texas A&M University

Federal Initiatives Workshop 

          Wednesday, September 15, 1:30 - 3:00 pm in Innovations Room at
the Sam Rayburn Student Center

Graduate Research Assistant Symposium 

          April 25, 2011

 

ADJOURNMENT

The Council adjourned at 4:20 p.m.

Louise Skinner

Secretary to the Graduate Council

 

 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.tamuc.edu/pipermail/vpaaetal/attachments/20100927/9de44c38/attachment.htm