Graduate Affairs Committee :

April 25, 2006 Minutes

Present: Margaret Adamek, Rachel Applegate, Jeff Grove, David Handel, Dolores Hoyt, Anthony Kaleth, Joyce MacKinnon, Craig McDaniel, Daniel Pesut, Sherry Queener, Sharon Sims, Jon Story, Marianne Wokeck.

Staff: Dswanda Jones, David Koerner.

Approval of the Minutes – Dr. Queener
Minutes from the March 28, 2006 meeting were approved.

IU Dean’s Report – Dr. Queener
Dr. Queener has been in contact with Dr. Uday Sukhatme about issues on campus; one item was the NRC Survey of Doctoral Programs. She has adapted his questions about our departmental websites (especially those being used in the NRC) into a form to evaluate our websites. Some of the material for the NRC survey will be verified by NRC staff; if some of the basic information is on a website the process will be easier for them. One key point Dr. Queener brought up was Faculty Research Support, linking the right faculty member with the right grant/proposal. Having that information on a website makes it easier to make sure that the program is getting credited appropriately. The form will be circulated by the end of the week to all participating programs.

NRC – Dr. Queener is hoping to get more information at the end of the week at the CIC Dean’s Meeting. The timeline states in April the final questionnaire and procedures will be received, but that hasn’t happened yet. This is only going to apply to PhD programs that have a high number of graduates.

No formal information on the search for the new Bloomington Dean, but a committee has been formed; Dr. Queener isn’t sure if a charge letter has been sent.

Purdue Dean’s Report – Dr. Story
Purdue is getting ready for the end of the semester, their Graduate Council meets again for the last time during finals week. They will be getting some items together for the NRC as well.

Three School of Science reviews were attended by Dr. Queener and Dr. Story

Graduate Office Report – Mr. Koerner
The Graduate Office has moved to Union Building Room 207; all mail should go to that campus address.

Mr. Koerner noted there are six hundred students in ‘applied’ status for Summer courses in various programs. Mr. Koerner asked the committee to give themselves a ‘soft deadline’ of May 1st for Summer admissions and an August 1st deadline for Fall admissions. There are approximately 1900 students in ‘applied’ status for Fall. Now is the time to get the admissions groups together for verifications on all students.

Graduate Student Organization– Mr. Koerner
The GSO has finished meeting for this year; they are planning for a Fall Graduate Student Orientation, which will be in August. First meeting for next semester will be in September; they will update their website with the new important dates.

Committee Business

Curriculum Subcommittee Report – Ms. Jones
The committee had an online meeting on Friday, March 31st. They reviewed 4 courses: SHRS W570 Approved Contingent upon addition of Justification; SPEA V5890 Thesis (PhD) Approved; SPEA E564 and SPEA V559 Pending for receipt of completed syllabi and a letter of support from Kelly School of Business.

Fellowship Subcommittee Report – Mr. Koerner
Mr. Koerner congratulated the group on 100% reporting –acceptances or declines- all programs submitted information. They were able to make offers to 30 PhD and 30 Masters students. The Masters offers had a higher acceptance percentage than the PhD offers. In regards to the monetary figure, they are close. He will start conversing with the University fellowship students in August to make sure all their questions are answered.

Fee remissions should by posted to student accounts by August 1st. When you post the remission to the account and the student doesn’t appear for classes, the money does not leave your account. You will not lose the money.

Travel Fellowship process is being looked into. There were several requests that were very worthy; we ended up using slightly more than the budgeted amount to try to cover as many students as possible. We adopted this strategy to help students to get out and show their work.

Program Information – Dr. Queener

• IUSN – Certificate in Teaching in Nursing – Approved
  The certificate has been reviewed by two reviewers –reviews available online. Revisions are needed for a full Approval of this certificate. Suggested revision should include a typo fix on page 3 and inclusion of information on distant learning – (example: This program has had a number of years of good with excellence service towards distance learning and good evaluations from students as well as faculty.) Dr. Pesut will also fill out the new proposal coversheet to accompany the revised proposal.

• SLA – Combined MD/Philosophy MA Degrees – Approved Contingent
  The proposal needs 2 clarifications: 1-How many students are proposed in this degree? That can be answered with a quick summary. 2-Is this ‘the’ way to achieve level 3 or ‘one’ way to achieve level 3.

• SPEA – Certificate in Social Entrepreneurship (IUB) – Pending Changes
  Dr. Queener will reach out to the department and suggest they make contact with Philanthropy, Social Work, Museum Studies, Public History, Education, Law and the MA in Political Science to explore if there is a significant overlap, if there can be synergy or letters of support. Jeff Grove will give Dr. Queener a Law contact to assist as well.

• SPEA – Master of Public Management (IPFW) – Pending Changes
  The reviews for this proposal should be clarified. In regards to page 9 section F of the proposal…according to Dr. Pesut, there is no way they can cross-list those SPEA courses without coming to IUPUI’s Nursing graduate curriculum committee. The submitting party should to talk to Dr. Pesut of Nursing before this can go forward.

New Business
Appeals - Joyce MacKinnon
Procedure: A student dismissed from a program, exhaust appeals within the school and in looking for a failure at any stage on the part of the school they will try the University Council’s Office, Dean Plater’s Office and the Dean of Students for Graduate and Professional Students which is Dr. Queener. Students have a right to appeal a decision based on ‘procedural’ issues. Were the outlined procedures followed? Were all the steps taken that could have helped reach a different decision? If the school does not follow all the correct steps, the student has the right to appeal the decision.

Dr. MacKinnon’s questions: Is this procedure something that the GAC feels comfortable with and do Professional schools follow this rule?

The committee agreed a complete appeal procedure/guideline should be discussed, created and clarified by the Deans Group and made available to all –possibly a posting to the Graduate Office Website, as Appeal under the Dean of Students resources.

Next Meeting
May 23, 2006

Meeting Adjourned 4:35 pm