Graduate Studies

Graduate Council Minutes - April 20, 2020

3:00 – 5:00 p.m., Virtual

Members Present: C. Anderson, C. Blackinton, H. Hemphill (Chair), K. Kapale, B. Locke (Vice Chair), J. McQuillan, S. Szyjka

Members Absent: J. Hammersley

Guests Present: G. Woodruff, T. Roberts, A. Hyde, S. Ghimire, J. Jobu Babin, A. Baker, J. Lin, J. Brown, L. Wolff, J. Franken, E. Sheffield, L. Oden

Ex-officio Present: Mark Mossman

Others Present: A. Schulz


Motion: To reorder the agenda putting student appeals and graduate faculty membership at the end. (Locke/Hemphill)
MOTION CARRIED 7 YES – 0 NO – 0 AB

III.  ANNOUNCEMENTS

A. Introduction of new Graduate Council members for 2020-2021

College of Arts and Sciences – Dr. Tim Roberts, History
College of Business and Technology – Dr. Shankar Ghimire, Economics and Decision Sciences
College of Education and Human Services – Dr. Andrea Hyde, Education

Dr. Ghimire, Dr. Hyde, and Dr. Roberts were present for the introduction. The Council welcomed the new members and the outgoing members were thanked for their service.

B. Election of Chair and Vice Chair for 2020-2021

Dr. Locke and Dr. McQuillan were nominated and elected by acclamation for the positions of Chair and Vice Chair, respectively.

C. Graduate Council meeting dates for 2020-2021

Ms. Schulz announced the meeting dates for 2020-2021 are posted on the Graduate School’s website, wiu.edu/grad/gcmeetings.

D. Academic integrity incident reports filed in the School of Graduate Studies, March 2020 (0)

E. Requests to serve as a reader/chair on exit option committee, March 2020 (0)


IV. GRADUATE CURRICULUM

A. Accountancy

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

a. ACCT 510, CPA Regulation, 1 s.h.

b. ACCT 520, CPA Financial Accounting and Reporting, 1 s.h.

c. ACCT 530, CPA Business Environment and Concepts, 1 s.h.

Motion: To consider ACCT 510, ACCT 520, ACCT 530 as a group. (Locke/McQuillan)
MOTION CARRIED 7 YES – 0 NO – 0 AB

Dr. Woodruff explained that they looked at what programs at other schools had done and added additional credit to our program.

Motion: To approve the requests. (McQuillan/Blackinton)
MOTION CARRIED 7 YES – 0 NO – 0 AB

d. ACCT 541, Advanced Accounting Concepts, 3 s.h.

e. ACCT 542, Advanced Accounting Concepts II, 3 s.h.

Motion: To consider ACCT 541 and ACCT 542 as a group. (Locke/Hemphill)
MOTION CARRIED 7 YES – 0 NO – 0 AB

Dr. Woodruff explained the content of the courses and that they are needed for students wanting to be a CPA. This will catch the program up with the market and put this content at the graduate level instead of the undergraduate level.

Motion: To approve the requests. (McQuillan/Locke)
MOTION CARRIED 7 YES – 0 NO – 0 AB

2. Request to change graduate program requirements

a. Master of Accountancy

Dr. Woodruff explained the change would remove a required course and replace with the newly approved courses. This will target the program towards those that are going to take the CPA exam and better aligns the program for this.

Motion: To approve the request. (Locke/McQuillan)
MOTION CARRIED 7 YES – 0 NO – 0 AB

B. Agriculture

1. Request for a 400-G level course

a. AGEC 455, Advanced Agricultural Marketing, 3 s.h.

Dr. Franken stated that an additional document was sent out prior to this meeting to show that graduate students will come up with a market model and will go further than undergraduate students. Dr. Locke asked about the percentage breakdown for grades. Dr. Franken replied that graduate students would have to work harder for the same percentage. Dr. Hemphill asked if there were specific additional projects for graduate students. Dr. Franken responded that they would have an ongoing project throughout the semester and receive additional guidance plus will use specific software during the project.

Motion: To approve the request. (McQuillan/Kapale)
MOTION CARRIED 7 YES – 0 NO – 0 AB

b. AGEC 460, US Agricultural Policy, 3 s.h.

Dr. Baker and Dr. Franken explained that this course is the same premise as AGEC 455 that was just approved.

Motion: To approve the request. (Locke/Kapale)
MOTION CARRIED 7 YES – 0 NO – 0 AB

C. Economics & Decision Sciences

1. Request for a 400-G level course

a. DS 485, Big Data for Business Decision Making, 3 s.h.

Dr. Lin noted that Computer Science had provided their support of this request.

Motion: To approve the request. (Locke/Blackinton)
MOTION CARRIED 7 YES – 0 NO – 0 AB

b. DS 489, Seminar in Contextual Business Analytics, 3 s.h.

Dr. Lin explained that this course has been taught as a 675 course that now they want undergraduates to have access to.

Motion: To approve the request. (McQuillan/Locke)
MOTION CARRIED 7 YES – 0 NO – 0 AB

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

a. DS 605, Analytics Competition, 0 s.h.

Dr. Lin stated that graduate students currently compete in three different analytics competitions that should be reflected on their transcripts.

Motion: To approve the request. (McQuillan/Kapale)
MOTION CARRIED 7 YES – 0 NO – 0 AB

3. Request to change post-baccalaureate certificate program requirements

a. Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Business Analytics

Dr. Lin explained that the additional course option will allow students more flexibility and is needed because substitutions are not allowed in PBC programs.

Motion: To approve the request. (Locke/Kapale)
MOTION CARRIED 7 YES – 0 NO – 0 AB

D. Music

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

a. MUS 536, Technology in Music Education, 3 s.h.

Dr. Brown explained that the new course focuses on technology for K-12 instruction. Dr. Hemphill asked if this course conflicts with any other area. Dr. Brown responded that it is very specific content to music instruction and this course is offered in an online format.

Motion: To approve the request. (McQuillan/Locke)
MOTION CARRIED 7 YES – 0 NO – 0 AB


V. NEW BUSINESS

A. Proposal to change assistantship GPA requirement

Ms. Schulz presented information regarding the policy change request. Five years ago the Council approved changing the policy to require graduate students that did not have a graduate GPA yet to have a cumulative 3.0 undergraduate GPA to hold an assistantship. If they did not meet that requirement but were fully accepted into their program, they could appeal to hold the position. To date, almost all appeals were approved and it was an extra step for departments trying to hire their students. The proposed policy change would revert the requirement back to graduate students only needing to be fully accepted into their degree program to initially be able to hold an assistantship. They must then maintain a 3.0 graduate GPA. Probationary students and those not accepted into degree programs would still not be eligible.

Motion: To approve the request. (Locke/Kapale)
MOTION CARRIED 7 YES – 0 NO – 0 AB

B. Proposed Alternate Grading Policy

Dr. Mossman explained that this policy follows the Faculty Senate guidelines for S/U grading. A grade of A or B is a passing grade but a C would not convert to a passing grade. Discussion was held regarding point #2. A C is currently considered a passing grade in the graduate catalog. C grades should be converted to an S but manually tracked as the originally earned C would still count in the C rule. An amendment needs to be added to the policy clarifying this. Policy will be amended and reviewed/voted on via email.

Motion: To add an amendment to the policy. (Kapale/Blackinton)
MOTION CARRIED 7 YES – 0 NO – 0 AB

Motion via email 4/27/20: To approve the policy. (McQuillan/Locke)
MOTION CARRIED 6 YES – 0 NO – 0 AB


VI. OTHER BUSINESS

Dr. Locke proposed that the request for a 400-G level course potentially be modified to include a proposed breakdown if appropriate. Discussion was held regarding what is needed for the grading scale. Dr. Kapale proposed the phrase “Course’s potential graded workload breakdown” with a sample table. It was suggested that the wording could be modified via discipline and clarifies the difference between approaches. Discussion was held about possibly creating an online working document to modify and continuing the discussion over the form to an email.

Motion: To move to an online discussion. (McQuillan/Kapale)
MOTION CARRIED 7 YES – 0 NO – 0 AB


I. STUDENT APPEALS

A. Request to transfer more than 12 s.h. into a doctoral program

1. Educational Leadership

Dr. Sheffield and Dr. Wolff explained that the student began the doctoral program at Northern Illinois University and wants to transfer in 15 hours to our program. As many as 20 hours has previously been approved. The courses will all be electives if approved.

Motion: To approve the request. (Locke/Anderson)
MOTION CARRIED 7 YES – 0 NO – 0 AB

B. Request to hold an assistantship as a probationary student

1. English

Student and department not present. Discussion was held regarding information provided with it noted that a transcript might help.

Motion: To postpone the request. (Anderson/Locke)
MOTION CARRIED 7 YES – 0 NO – 0 AB


II. GRADUATE FACULTY – FULL MEMBERSHIP

A. J. Jobu Babin, Assistant Professor, Economics and Decision Sciences

Dr. Babin and Dr. Lin were present. Dr. Babin stated that he focuses on experimental and behavioral economics. He has a couple of papers accepted for publication and several in review status. He has taught four graduate level courses already with a fifth one coming. Dr. Kapale asked if he had experience advising student projects. Dr. Babin answered yes, he has previously and is currently working with a couple students.

Motion: To approve the request. (McQuillan/Kapale)
MOTION CARRIED 7 YES – 0 NO – 0 AB


Meeting adjourned: 4:34 p.m.