Graduate Program Directors and Coordinators Minutes
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Graduate Program Directors and Coordinators Minutes Tuesday, January 21, 2014 2:00-4:-00 p.m. Mendenhall 221
Present: Avenarius, Christine; Bagley, Becky; Bass, Kelly; Bishop, John; Bunch, Sheila; Cook, Alethia; Cox, Kathy; Curtis, Scott; Dingfelder, Michael; Donica, Denise; Eagle, Scott; Fran, Amy; Franklin, Rich; Harris, Susie; Hines, Ian; Huener, Tom; Gemperline, Paul; Jones, Terry; Juska, Arunas; Keiper, Brett; Kelley, Tim; Kisling, Eric; Kulas, Anthony; Lamson, Angela; Mahar, Matt; McConnell, Tom; Monroe, Richard; Morehead, Andrew; Patterson, Belinda; Poorman, Julie; Ringler, Marjorie; Schmidt, Steve; Scott, Elaine; Sears, Sam; Skalko, Thomas; Sorenson, Jon; Sua, Lou; Swanson, Carl; Tabrizi, Nasseh; Thompson, Bob; Van Dross, Rukiyah; Williams, Tina; Woods, Terri;
1. Call to order
2:05 pm
2. Approval of minutes from November 11, 2013
Approved
3. Follow up report on 2012-2013 Assessment Plans & Reviews
Presented by Dr. Susan Beck-Frazier (Director of Institutional Assessment)
Alex Senior can provide access to custom reports for graduate program directors
Monitoring report due to SACS in Sep 2014
Demonstrate using data gathered to make improvements
5% of programs have not been reviewed
146 graduate programs (8% of graduate program have not been reviewed) – 297 programs total
Component data: 65 outcomes developing, 131 acceptable, 257 proficient
UNC student learning outcomes website will be updated Feb 15– corrected per comments of the reviewer
Chairs and directors will receive a note to ensure all developing components of 2012-2013 have been addressed by Feb 15 Programs 13-14 data in May for a report to be run in August
Demonstrate all educational programs are invested in data assessment
4. Finances and Graduate Students – with Julie Poorman
Schools assume graduate students are financially literate
Academics think their students do not borrow because they have assistantships or other support
Most loan counseling is not personalized
Graduate education is traditionally funded differently than undergraduate education, with more and more turning to student loans and other loans
Graduate student loans are more expensive than undergraduate student loans
Students who default on loans impact the institutions default rate
Current default rate is 3%
PowerPoint sent to graduate program directors via email
5. Certificate programs – financial aid approval process – Julie Poorman
ECU Graduate School working with GFA to be in compliance with US Department of Education requirements:
Gainful Employment legislation
Financial aid approval process for certificate programs requires approval from SACS and Department of Education – relatively few certificate programs approved for federal financial aid
Departments can apply for a certificate program to be financial aid eligible
6. Certificate programs and Gainful employment – federal requirements, due for posting Jan 31 Program directors received relevant questions in the handout distributed by email for this meeting, these questions should be considered and may be necessary for future reports to Dept of Education.
ECU will be required to report on student job placement for all title IV eligible certificate programs next year
If graduate program directors suspects a student is abusing the system, contact financial aid
7. Continuity of operations in the Graduate Admission – Paul Gemperline
Robin Ashley resigning and will be employed at Pitt Community College
Plans are in place to continue operating admissions office well
Join with the Graduate School in saying farewell after the Graduate Council meeting at Winslow’s on January 27, 2014
Position description is under review
A search will be conducted (Dr. McConnell will chair search committee)
In the interim Colleen Roland, Theresa Cartwright, Sarah Batchelor, Derrick Isler, Belinda Patterson, and Tom McConnell
The directors duties have been distributed
8. UNC-GA GTA standards and reports – State requirement, due Feb. 15
Associate deans will filter report down to graduate program directors
Those graduate teaching assistants listed as such without a faculty member listed as instructor of record
Each program with GTA instructors of record are asked to provide a short narrative regarding how these students are trained/overall, honors, communications, oversight, and a summary of how operations are conducted in program
Report to GA limited to 5 pages 9. Thesis/Dissertation Oversight Committee report – Brett Keiper
Committee has not yet met
Charge by Graduate Council to look into definitions of individuals working on theses and dissertations
Clarifying how committees are composed, the responsibilities of these individuals, and where committee goes if there is a problem
Gain an understanding of how departments do things differently in order to devise a set of best practices
Will develop recommendations for the Graduate Council
Will conduct a study using a Qualtrics survey
10. Plan for next 2-year cycle of Graduate Assistantship and out-of-state remission reallocation – Paul Gemperline
A process to conduct the 2nd round of the 2 year reallocation project will be initiated this spring
Input will be sought from 4 stakeholder groups: graduate deans, graduate directors, graduate council, and Academic council
This spring the Graduate School will distribute last year’s form and processes to all stakeholders for review and feedback– finish revising form by late spring
The Graduate School will collect performance data this summer, populate forms, and distribute them in early fall 2014
Proposals from colleges by October 18
Initial budget recommendation will go to Academic council and then to the Graduate deans, for 2016.
11. NSF GRFP & Dissertation Awards workshop, to be scheduled. All NSF eligible disciplines should attend The NSF GRFP program provides up to $33,000 for 5 years for proposals for a senior going into a graduate program or a 1st year graduate student in any area to which NSF provides funding to graduate students
Success rate for students writing proposals last year is 17%
NSF also considers equitable distribution geographically and by discipline
Program directors are asked to identify talented students and help them through a series of workshops
Ernie Marshburn and Dean Gemperline will give a PowerPoint presentation for graduate program directors to help identify student for these awards
12. Announcements
Graduate recruitment and enrollment plans – update on college meetings
Succeeding in Graduate Research workshops this spring – Belinda Patterson
o Series will be held on east and west campus
o Workshops will be taped for viewing and links posted on the website
o Resend announcement to graduate program directors
Changes in program review
o review of capstone or other student products, theses and dissertations will be randomly provided by the Graduate School
o Access only to submissions that have been released in ECU Scholarship
o Keep library of capstone projects for the reviewers random selection
“What’s new” feature in the Graduate Catalog & Follow us on Twitter
o New approval and revisions will be added here
o 800 twitter followers – encourage student to follow
Thesis dissertation award submissions are due Feb 5
RCAW 2014 – abstracts due Feb 3!
Faculty Mentor Awards information will be distributed Next meeting – Wednesday, February 12, Time and Room TBA
Respectfully submitted,
Amy Tripp