February 9, 2005

 

The February meeting of the Graduate Council was called to order by Dean David Wittrock, at 8:30 a.m., February 9, 2005, in the Plains Room in the Memorial Union.

In Attendance: Canan Bilen-Green, Amanda Dillard, Jake Glower, Gary Goreham, Charlene Wolf-Hall, Harlene Hatterman-Valenti, Judy Pearson, Donna Terbizan, Rodney Traub

The minutes for the January 12, 2005 meeting were considered, Judy Pearson made a motion to approve the minutes, and Gary Goreham provided the second. Canan Bilen-Green stated her name was missing from the list of attendees. Motion carried.

NEW BUSINESS

• Dean Wittrock presented a request to consider implementing a graduate certificate program in statistics. In 1994, the Department of Statistics and the Graduate Council approved a minor in statistics. It was considered an "internal" minor, so State Board of Higher Education approval was not sought. The question is does the approval granted in 1994 cover this request? Donna Terbizan pointed out there is an additional course in the current request. Gary Goreham made a motion to accept the request for a graduate certificate program in statistics. Judy Pearson provided the second. Motion carried.
  
  
• Dean Wittrock brought to the council the Graduate School policy of continuous enrollment. Currently a student must be enrolled in up to the point of their final defense. If they leave the program, they must request a leave of absence for a period of up to two years. Many students do not make this request. The policy states that a student absent for up to 3 semesters can come back to their program and register for 1 credit for each semester missed. Students absent for more than 2 years, must reapply to their program, given departments the opportunity to refuse their re-admission. The Dean has been having students register for 1 credit for each semester missed, and re-applying if more than 2 years since last course.
  
  
• Judy Pearson proposed a simple solution to the group. Regardless of the number of semesters missed, the student must register for 1 credit for each semester missed. Letting someone just reapply isn't necessarily fair to those who stay through the duration of their program.
  
  
• Dean Wittrock would like to give departments the option to refuse readmission if the student left the program on bad terms. Judy Pearson felt a student who left on bad terms would not likely return to their program. Donna Terbizan asked if having students re-apply and possibly be refused makes NDSU graduate education look bad. She proposed that a student be required to re-apply after a 7-year absence.
  
  
• Dean Wittrock asked that the gap be closed to cap the number of credits a student may be asked to register for to 4. The group agreed. Discussion of the entire policy was tabled until the next meeting.
  
  
• Bill Martin presented a request to change the titles of the Guidance and Counseling program to Counseling and the Educational Administration and Leadership to Educational Leadership. The request was made to bring the programs in line with Tri-College and UND offerings as well as to bring consistency to all publications listing these programs. Harlene Hatterman-Valenti made a motion to approve the name change request. Rodney Traub provided the second. Motion carried.
  
  
• Committee Reports
  
  
  • Graduate Assistant Guidelines Sub-Committee. Harlene Hatterman-Valenti reported the sub-committee met last week. They found some departments have guidelines in place. The committee didn't feel it was appropriate for the Graduate Council to develop blanket policies. They asked that the Dean request the departments with Graduate Assistant Guidelines submit them to The Graduate School so they may be posted to the website. They also propose that the Graduate Council establish an introductory policy and guidelines as well as a grievance policy. These should speak to length of assistantships, eligibility for assistantships and the terms of the assistantship.
    
    
  • Dean Wittrock said an old memo from Bill Slanger stated that the minimum terms of an assistantship be 10 hours per week at minimum wage for the duration of the term. This memo did not speak to the tuition waiver. Minimum requirements for the tuition waiver should be established as well as answering the question of what happens to the waiver if the assistantship is terminated during the term. Dean Wittrock suggested the committee develop broad guidelines to give department flexibility. There should also be a mechanism in place to deal with issues between research assistants and their supervisors. These issues should be handled by The Graduate School, not Human Resources. These policies are to protect the student in case there is a conflict, but their performance is good.
    
    This committee will continue to meet.
    
    
  • Disquisition Alternative Sub-Committee. Rodney Traub presented information gathered by the sub-committee. He said there are many programs where a traditional thesis doesn't work. He read a description from Colorado State University regarding other options. It breaks down as: Master of Science-Option A or B, Master of Arts-Option A or B, M__-Option A, B or C.
    
    
  • Academic Affairs Sub-Committee. Donna Terbizan presented on behalf of the sub-committee. The sub-committee proposed Dean Wittrock handle X96 courses as they are given to the Graduate Council for information purposes only. Any discussion or issues he finds could be forwarded to the sub-committee. This sub-committee would come to the Graduate Council with blanket approval for courses submitted. Dean Wittrock suggested courses could also be scanned and view on The Graduate School website. Donna Terbizan said those who served on this sub-committee agreed to continue to serve in that capacity. Those members include Donna Terbizan, Jake Glower, Charlene Wolf-Hall and Qun Huo.
    
    This committee will meet and discuss current course proposals and bring recommendations to the next Graduate Council meeting.
    
    Harlene Hatterman-Valenti motioned Dean Wittrock be allowed to handle the approval of all X-96 courses. Donna Terbizan provided the second. Motion carried.

COURSE PROPOSALS

• ECE, 448/648 Image Processing I and CSCI 448/648, Digital Image Processing: The professors of both courses met to discuss the possibility of these courses duplicating each other. The differences were provided in a memo. It was decided the courses were different enough that both should be offered. Donna Terbizan motioned to approve both courses. Harlene Hatterman-Valenti provided the second. Jake Glower questioned whether the CSCI course was graduate level. Dean Wittrock clarified that a graduate level course does not mean anyone could not take and pass the course. Rather it is an area of knowledge a graduate students needs for their area of study. Motion carried.
  
  
• BIOC 460/660, Foundations of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology I and BIOC 461/661, Foundations of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology II: Dean Wittrock clarified that these two courses are being offered not for Biochemistry and Chemistry students, but for those in other programs that need the information for their area of study. Currently these courses are being taken with Biochemistry and Chemistry majors, so the content must be watered down so the non-majors can grasp the information. Rodney Traub pointed out the resources section of the request form is blank, but it does create new sections of courses that will need resources. Rodney Traub motioned to approve both courses. Harlene Hatterman-Valenti provided the second. Motion carried.

OLD BUSINESS

• Linda Manikowske and Holly Bastow-Shoop presented the revised program and course proposals for the Master's and Certificate Programs in Merchandising. The course 794 was changed to 797S for a comprehensive project. This project is research-based project as opposed to a thesis. Dean Wittrock clarified that a master's program and a certificate program can have the same title, according to Registrar Kristi Wold-McCormick. He also presented a copy of the deans' agreement for the Great Plains Interactive Distance Education Alliance for information regarding transfer credits and graduate faculty status.
  
  
• Judy Pearson asked what schools are involved in the consortium. Dean Wittrock suggested someone present information about the consortium at a future meeting. Gary Goreham mentioned the availability of a brief video about the alliance.
  
  
• There was a discussion about the student-instructor interaction with such a program Jake Glower questioned if these courses could be considered didactic because they do not involve tradition student-instructor interaction. Linda Manikowske assured the council that there is a lot of interaction amongst students and faculty through the email and on-line discussion groups. Holly Bastow-Shoop added that these courses force a student to participate as opposed to sitting quietly in the classroom. Donna Terbizan pointed out that the definition of didactic courses will need to be expanded as programs such as this become more common.
  
  
• Charlene Wolf-Hall asked if there are standards in place to assess this program. Linda Manikowske assured the council that there are and the program will be assessed many times as it is moved through the courses. Donna Terbizan motioned to approve the Master's and Certificate programs in Merchandising. Gary Goreham provided the second. Motion carried with one dissenting vote.

Dr. Wittrock adjourned the meeting at 9:50 a.m.

Submitted by,

Melissa Selders-Ortez, Student Services Associate