October 12, 2005

The October meeting of the Graduate Council was called to order by Dean David Wittrock, at 8:30am, October 12, 2005, in the Badlands Room in the Memorial Union.

In attendance: Judy Pearson, Harlene Hatterman-Valenti, Charlene Wolf-Hall, Donna Terbizan, Ayanava Majumdar, Stephen O'Rourke, Amanda Dillard, Rodney Traub, Jacob Glower, Mark Aune, Gary Goreham, Jo Ann Miller, Joe Brennan, and David Wittrock.

The minutes for the September 14, 2005 meeting were considered. Judy Pearson made a motion to approve the minutes, Donna Terbizan provided the second. Motion carried.

New Business

Associate Graduate Faculty Requests:

• The Council considered the request from the English Department to grant associate graduate faculty status to James Coomber. Judy Pearson made a motion to approve the request. Gary Goreham provided the second. Motion carried.
  
  
• The Council considered the request from the Child Development and Family Science Department to grant associate graduate faculty status to Ann Perkins. Judy Pearson made a motion to approve the request. Gary Goreham provided the second. Motion carried.
  
  
• The Council considered the request from the Genomics Program to grant associate graduate faculty status to Timothy Friesen. Jo Ann Miller made a motion to approve the request. Gary Goreham provided the second. Motion carried.
  
  
• The Council considered the request from the Department of Sociology-Anthropology to grant associate graduate faculty status to Heather Gill-Robinson. Gary Goreham made a motion to approve the request. Mark Aune provided the second. Motion carried.
  
  
• The Council considered the request from the School of Education for approval to appoint adjunct graduate faculty status to Tom Hall. After discussion about whether the School was seeking a teaching waiver for Dr. Hall, a decision was made to refer it back to the School of Education for clarification.
  
  
• The Council considered the request from the Accounting and Information Systems Department to grant a graduate teaching waiver for Joe Latimer. Rodney Traub made a motion to grant a one-year teaching waiver for MIS 770 for the Spring 2006 - Fall 2006 academic year. Judy Pearson provided the second. Motion carried.

Course Proposals:

• Joe Brennan made a motion to approve four new courses including: PHYS 443/643 Statistical Mechanics, BIOL 777 Population Analysis, CSCI 476/676 Computer Forensics, and MATH 435/635 Mathematical Models of Biological Processes. Ayanava Majumdar provided the second. Motion carried.
  
  
• The Council considered the request for approval of a new course PHRM 485/685 Economic Outcomes Assessment and Relevant Issues. Joe Brennan made a motion to approve the course once the changes set forth by the subcommittee were received. Donna Terbizan provided the second. Motion carried.
  
  
• The Council also considered the request for approval of CDFS 462/662 Risk, Resilience & Competence in Families as a replacement course. The Subcommittee had requested clarification of the requested effective term, which was listed as Fall 2005. It is unclear whether the course is currently being taught. The Dean will seek clarification.

Old Business

Plan C Option for Masters-Level Students:

Dean Wittrock provided an alternative draft for a Plan C policy. The previous one prohibited Plan C for students seeking an MA/MS degree. The alternative provides more flexibility and leaves the decision with the department. Council members discussed its potential benefits and drawbacks. The Council decided to defer any action until the November meeting to give council members time for discussion with their colleagues.

Graduate Assistantship Policy:

Discussion was tabled until the November meeting.

Interdisciplinary 797R, 798R, 799R Courses:

Registrar Kristi Wold-McCormick explained the original intent of R courses and the proposed change from 1-3 credits to 1-5. Students paid for one credit in the past for R credits. Donna Terbizan asked about the appropriateness of not paying for credits taken but getting benefits, such as financial aid, health benefits, etc. The Registrar reminded council members that it is sometimes difficult to determine if a student is doing 1 credit or 5 credits of work. Dean Wittrock suggested that the Graduate School find out how commonly R credits are used at the department level and report back to the Council.

Cross Listing of Courses:

Registrar Kristi Wold-McCormick discussed the increasing number of cross-listed courses and the fact that there currently is neither policy nor guidelines for such courses. The Council decided it would be good for the Registrar to return and discuss the issue once the policy is developed by Academic Affairs.

Meeting was adjourned at 9:50am.

Respectfully submitted,

Janis Bork