Graduate Studies

Graduate Council Minutes - April 2, 2018

3:00 – 5:00 p.m., Horrabin Hall 60/QC 2203

Members Present: J. Ehrlich, H. Hemphill, A. Hyde, K. Kapale (Vice Chair), J. Laurent (Chair), S. Szyjka

Members Absent: J. Stegall, M. Stryker

Guests Present: M. Owens, D. Yoder, S. Thompson, K. Mayborn, K. Boeckelman, K. Daytner, S. Hum-Musser, M. Beck, D. Hunter

Ex-Officio Present: N. Parsons

Others Present: A. Schulz

I. STUDENT APPEALS

A. Request for a late withdrawal

1. Educational Leadership

Motion: To approve the request. (Hyde/Ehrlich)
MOTION CARRIED 5 YES – 0 NO – 0 AB

2. Liberal Arts and Sciences

Student was present. She explained that she thought she was withdrawn but a change in the program’s director caused it to be overlooked.

Motion: To approve the request. (Hyde/Hemphill)
MOTION CARRIED 6 YES – 0 NO – 0 AB              


II. GRADUATE FACULTY – FULL MEMBERSHIP

A. Megan H. Owens; Assistant Professor; Recreation, Park and Tourism Administration

Drs. Owen and Yoder were present. Dr. Owens made revisions to her vita and emailed it prior to the meeting. Dr. Parsons asked if she had served on thesis committees or taught graduate-level courses. Dr. Owens responded that she had not served on a thesis committee but was serving on five project committees and had taught one independent study. Dr. Ehrlich asked about refereed presentations. Dr. Owens clarified the process in the discipline. Dr. Yoder added that the department is in need of graduate faculty to chair exit option committees. Discussion was held regarding the application.

Motion: To deny the request. (Kapale/Hemphill)
MOTION CARRIED 5 YES – 1 NO – 0 AB


III. ANNOUNCEMENTS

A. Academic integrity incident reports filed in the School of Graduate Studies, February 2018 (0)

B. Requests to serve as a reader on exit option committee, February 2018 (0)

C. Graduate Council Election Status

Ms. Schulz reported that the petitions were sent out with the due date of today, April 2, 2018. Ballots would be sent out if needed in each of the colleges in which more than one petition was received.

D. Graduate Student Research and Professional Development Fund Recipients

Ms. Schulz announced that the sub-committee met and was able to fund 7 of the applicants for the Spring 2018 semester. A full list of recipients can be found at wiu.edu/grad.

E. Graduate Committee Chairs Meeting

Ms. Schulz announced that the second meeting of the Graduate Committee Chairs for the Spring 2018 semester will be held on Wednesday, April 11 in Horrabin Hall 1 with a CODEC connection to Quad Cities Complex 2203. The meeting will begin at 3 p.m. Dr. Parsons added that gradschoolmatch.com will be discussed and a summary of activity should be submitted to her.


VI. GRADUATE CURRICULUM

A. Accounting and Finance

1. Request for a 400-G level course

a. FIN 445, Financial Modeling and Statement Analysis, 3 s.h.

Motion: To postpone the request. (Ehrlich/Kapale)
MOTION CARRIED 6 YES – 0 NO – 0 AB

B. Biological Sciences

1. Request for a new graduate (500 or 600-level) course

a. BIOL 599, Non-Thesis Exit Course, 1 s.h.

Dr. Hum-Musser presented the new course and stated that the purpose is for it to serve as a capstone to allow students to do seminar. Dr. Parsons noted that the effective date should be Fall 2018 and the total class hours should be “arranged”. Dr. Hyde noted a missing word in the course description.

Motion: To approve the request pending amendments noted. (Kapale/Ehrlich)
MOTION CARRIED 6 YES – 0 NO – 0 AB

2. Request to change graduate program requirements

a. Master of Science in Biology

Dr. Hum-Musser explained that the new course approved would be added to the coursework and project plans of completion for the degree. One credit hour of electives would be removed to maintain the current credit hour requirement for the degree.

Motion: To approve the request. (Hemphill/Kapale)
MOTION CARRIED 6 YES – 0 NO – 0 AB

C. Counselor Education

1. Request to increase credit hours

a. CN 595, School Counseling Internship I, 3 s.h. to 3-5 s.h.

Dr. Beck noted that this proposed change would allow current students under previous catalogs to complete their degrees with the correct number of internship hours. Dr. Parsons asked how many students were left to complete. Dr. Beck stated that the remaining students should complete within the next academic year.

Motion: To approve the request. (Hyde/Kapale)
MOTION CARRIED 6 YES – 0 NO – 0 AB

2. Request to change graduate program requirements

a. Master of Science in Education in Counseling

Dr. Beck stated that accreditation requires the research component to come from within their own department. The proposal replaces EIS 500 with CN 515.

Motion: To approve the request. (Ehrlich/Hemphill)
MOTION CARRIED 6 YES – 0 NO – 0 AB

D. Economics and Decision Sciences

1. Request for a new graduate (500 or 600-level) course

a. DS 504, Mathematical Statistics for Business Analytics, 3 s.h.

Request withdrawn by the department.

2. Request to change graduate program requirements

a. Master of Science in Applied Statistics and Decision Analytics

Request withdrawn by the department.

E. Engineering Technology

1. Request for a 400-G level course

a. ET 468, Computer Aided Manufacturing Machining, 3 s.h.

Dr. Hunter explained that the program is in the process of putting together an integrated program proposal and these courses would be part of that. Council members asked questions regarding the additional work required of graduate students and the grading scale used. Dr. Hunter stated that the instructor would have the graduate students complete an additional project and grade it pass/fail. Dr. Hemphill noted that it was not clear in the request how the additional points would be added. Dr. Parsons stated that typically graduate students would have an additional graded project and there would be separate grading scales for the class. Discussion was held regarding the grading components.

Motion: To postpone the request. (Kapale/Hemphill)
MOTION CARRIED 6 YES – 0 NO – 0 AB

b. ET 481, Robotic Systems, 3 s.h.

Motion: To postpone the request. (Kapale/Hemphill)
MOTION CARRIED 6 YES – 0 NO – 0 AB

F. Geography, Geographic Information Science, and Meteorology

1. Request for a 400-G level course

a. GEOG 423, River Water Resources, 3 s.h.

Dr. Thompson explained that the instructor of the course plans to do a case study on river systems around the world. Graduate students would be required to do a semester-long research project in addition to the undergraduate requirements.

Motion: To approve the request. (Ehrlich/Hemphill)
MOTION CARRIED 6 YES – 0 NO – 0 AB

G. Political Science

1. Request for a 400-G level course

a. POLS 470, Urban Politics and Government, 3 s.h.

Dr. Boeckelman noted that this course has received a lot of interest from graduate students. They would be required to complete a longer paper. Dr. Parsons stated that the grading should not be different from undergraduate to graduate on the same assignment. Dr. Mayborn suggested listing the scale as points and the perception changes to reflect the same values. Dr. Parsons asked to have the statement that “learning objectives are the same” removed.

Motion: To approve the request with amendment. (Kapale/Ehrlich)
MOTION CARRIED 6 YES – 0 NO – 0 AB


V. NEW BUSINESS

A. Integrated programs – grade of A or B requirement for bridge courses

A proposal from the Graduate Office was presented to clarify the grade requirement for bridge courses. Dr. Ehrlich noted that Computer Sciences would like to see it as a C rule issue. Council members discussed the intention of the original requirement and its relation to the C rule. The Council determined that the statement should be removed and replaced with “All grades of C or lower earned, including those taken with the B designator, count towards the 6-hour C rule.”

Motion: To change the proposed statement and approve the statement to: “All grades of C or lower earned, including those taken with the B designator, count towards the 6-hour C rule”. (Ehrlich/Kapale)
MOTION CARRIED 6 YES – 0 NO – 0 AB


VI. OTHER BUSINESS

None reported.

 

Meeting adjourned: 4:32 p.m.