Graduate Council Meeting s1

Graduate Council Meeting Regent’s Room 3:00 P.M. October 21, 2011

Minutes

Invited Guests: Linda Shaw, Beth Nakhai

Members Present: Katherine Morrissey, Andrew Comrie , Barry Pryor, Betul Ozkan , Robert Torres, Eliane Rubinstein-Avila, Rose Ylimaki, Jerel Slaughter, Steven Dvorak, Lois Loescher, Tammy Orr, John Williams, Dianne Horgan, Matthew Cordes , John Brobeck, Meg Lota Brown, Tim Secomb, Denise Roe, Amy Fatzinger, Marcela Vasquez-Leon, Katie Angus, Patti King

Members Not Present/Excused: Carl Maes, Nathan Cherrington, Gautam Gowrisankaran, Koen Visscher, Ivy Pike, Gail Varin, William Epstein

Call to Order and Roll Call. The meeting was called to order by Chair Morrissey at 3:04 P.M. A member sign-in sheet was passed. The minutes of the September 2011 meeting were approved as read.

Dean’s Report. Dean Comrie informed the council that there is no news at this time with regards to Graduate Waivers and Scholarships. Dianne Horgan asked for one faculty member from council to serve on the Graduate Grievance committee. Eliane Rubinstein-Avila volunteered to serve.

Chair’s Report. Chair Morrissey expressed concern about the Accelerated Master’s policy- Suggested the possibility of meeting with George Gehrels /Undergrad Council to work more smoothly on issues.

GPSC Report. Member Katie Angus updated council on the following: Applications are under review (due Oct. 7) for Student Showcase (November 4; 10am-4pm, UA Mall in front of the library)

October Club funding and Professional Opportunities Development grants awarded to: Linguistics Department Latin America Studies Student Association Anthropology Graduate Student Association

Other funds to: LGBTQIA (for Coming Out Week ad in newspaper where faculty/students/stuff list their names)

Childcare debate: Member Angus reported that they are trying to gauge interest, get the ball rolling. New Business

A. Judaic Studies Graduate Certificate -Beth Nakhai presented proposal. Judaic Studies does not have a Grad Degree program at this time, offers courses only. Council voted on the proposal . Motion to approve by Andrew Comrie and seconded by Tim Secomb. All members voted in favor with no abstentions.

B. Extended drop deadline for Grad Students -Current date is 4 weeks into the semester. The registrar can move the date back for Grad Students to just short of 45 days. (two weeks longer). Council voted on an undetermined extension. Meg Lota Brown motioned to approve, Eliane Rubinstein-Avila seconded the motion. All voted in favor with no abstentions.

C. NES major name change to MENAS- School of Middle Eastern and North African Studies, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences proposed that the names of their BA, MA, and PhD degrees to be consistent with the name of the new School. BA in Near Eastern Studies would become a BA in Middle Eastern and North African Studies; that the MA in Near Eastern Studies becomes an MA in Middle Eastern and North African Studies; and the PhD in Near Eastern Studies becomes a PhD in Middle Eastern and North African Studies. Council voted on this name change. Andrew Comrie motioned to approve and Barry Pryor seconded the motion. All members voted in favor with no abstentions.

D. Proposed Policy on Announcements During Class Time – Patti King presented the proposed policy on announcements during class time. Dianne sent the policy out to council members electronically for review. A suggestion was brought to the council’s attention by John Williams and the following edit was then added to the proposed policy: “The first sentence in the policy states "...the granting of requests to make announcements or presentations during class time is at the sole discretion of the course instructor.” The following phrase was removed: that are unrelated to the course itself" from the last sentence. An electronic vote was taken and was voted in favor of, unanimously.

E. Selection of Format for addition of college names on diplomas – Patti King presented the proposed formats for the addition of college names on diplomas and the option of also including “Graduate College” after name, degree, major. There were a few concerns about the order of colleges and the font. The council voted in favor of including both the Graduate College and the academic college with no abstentions.

Old Business.

A. TA Policy - Andrew Comrie ABOR removed policies that they do not enforce and asked us to establish a corresponding policy – Basically, a re-wording of the ABOR policy. The practice would not be changing. The motion to approve was made by Tim Secomb and seconded by Meg Lota- Brown

B. Differential tuition for dual degrees- Dianne Horgan gave an update on differential tuition for Dual Degrees and reiterated the need for a way to calculate fees but nothing is absolute yet. The Bursar continues to work on this.

Informational Items A. Newsletter- Dean Comrie mentioned the Graduate College Newsletter announcing that “No summer or Winter enrollment is required for doctoral students taking comp exams or final defense”. The Grants /Fellowships newsletter was described to council as being “ a grad oriented alert.” Dean Comrie also mentioned the grad student milestones searchable feature in UAccess Student which is helpful to DGSs and Graduate Coordinators. It was announced that any news stories for the GC newsletter should be sent to Dianne Horgan, [email protected] for the website.

B. Master’s Completion Study- Dianne Horgan explained that the surveys will be sent to departments late this fall.

T.H.E.- Times Higher Education Rankings – Dean Comrie noted that they can generally be useful and interesting and that the University of Arizona currently ranks 97th in the world.

WICHE - Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education-- Patti King discussed UA and the Western Regional Graduate Programs (WRGP). This consortium allows students whose state does not offer a degree to enroll for that degree in a neighboring state at reduced tuition. The university loses the out of state tuition for non-Arizona students who come here. The number of students coming to the UA through WRGP almost doubled in the last year while we had no increase in Arizona students going to other universities. At this time, there is little motivation for our increasing the programs we offer through WRGP. For small programs such as Mining and Engineering, this may be a way to avoid low productivity. If programs believe being in WRGP would benefit them, they will need to work through the Graduate College and the Provost office.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:38 p.m. The next meeting of the Graduate Council is November 18, 2011.

Respectfully submitted, Connie Garcia Graduate Council Secretary