Graduate Studies

Graduate Council Minutes - April 22, 2019

3:00 – 5:00 p.m., Horrabin Hall 60/QC 2108

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

Members Absent: A. Hyde

Guests Present: K. Pawelko, A. Hart, Y. Hsu, J. Hammersley, C. Anderson, J. Lin, S. Walker, T. Lough, R. Cooper, S. Hum-Musser, C. Catalano, E. Sheffield, C. Conrad, A. Baker, L. Oden, T. Killian, H. Kamminga-Peck

Ex-officio Present: Mark Mossman

Others Present: A. Schulz

 

I.  STUDENT APPEALS

A. Kinesiology

1. Grade Appeal

Report was provided by the Graduate Council subcommittee regarding the grade appeal per the University Grade Appeal policy.

Motion: To accept the report and deny the appeal. (Locke/Kapale)
MOTION CARRIED 7 YES – 0 NO – 0 AB

B. Sport Management

1. Request to waive 6-hour C rule

Student was in attendance with Dr. Hart and Dr. Pawelko present. Student explained that low grades earned on assignment carried a lot of weight and brought his overall grade down. Dr. Pawelko is the instructor of record for the current research course that he is taking as a substitute. Dr. Hemphill asked about the current course load. Dr. Hart added that he is supportive of this student because of his persistence in trying to do better. Dr. Pawelko noted that the student is working diligently in the course. Discussion was held regarding the remaining courses for the program.

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


II.  GRADUATE FACULTY – FULL MEMBERSHIP

A. Yu-Ping Hsu, Assistant Professor, Engineering Technology

Dr. Hsu was in attendance and noted that she has taught various graduate level courses already. Dr. Hemphill asked about her current research. Dr. Hsu stated that she is currently serving on committees with students. Discussion was held regarding publications.

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


III.  ANNOUNCEMENTS

A. Introduction of new Graduate Council member for 2019-2020

College of Arts and Sciences – Dr. Jonathan Hammersley, Psychology
College of Education and Human Services – Dr. Christine Anderson, Curriculum & Instruction
College of Fine Arts and Communication – Ms. Carolyn Blackinton, Theatre & Dance

Ms. Blackinton, Dr. Hammersley, and Dr. Anderson were present for the introduction. The Council welcomed the new members. Dr. Mossman thanked the outgoing members for their service. Dr. McQuillan noted that he will be on sabbatical during the Fall 2019 semester and that a substitute would need to be found for that time.

B. Election of Chair and Vice Chair for 2019-2020

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

C. Graduate Council meeting dates for 2019-2020

Ms. Schulz announced that the meeting dates for 2019-2020 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 2019 (0)

E. Requests to serve as a reader on exit option committee, March 2019 (1)

1. Chemistry (1) - Approved


IV.  GRADUATE CURRICULUM

A. Biological Sciences

1. Request for a 400-G level course

a. BIOL 480, Field Natural History, 3 s.h.

Drs. Cooper and Hum-Musser were in attendance. Dr. Hum-Musser stated that Dr. Peer has taught this as a special topics course previously and was recently approved at the undergraduate level. The graduate students would have more involvement in the course and projects would be weighted heavier. Dr. McQuillan pointed out that the sample syllabus needed the Title IX statement and the graduate grading scale added.

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

B. Business Administration

1. Request for integrated baccalaureate and master’s degree program

a. Bachelor of Science in Agriculture/Master of Business Administration

Drs. Baker and Conrad were in attendance. Dr. Conrad stated that six credit hours would be counted in both degrees and a requirement would be the pre-MBA minor for the undergraduate student. Dr. Locke asked if the minor already existed. Dr. Conrad responded yes.

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

C. Curriculum and Instruction

1. Request to change graduate program requirements

a. Master of Science in Education in Curriculum and Instruction

Dr. Szyjka explained that they are proposing to remove a few courses that do not make on a regular basis and are not necessary for the students that are in the program. This will funnel students into C&I 600 or MATH.

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

b. Master of Science in Education in Reading

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

D. Economics and Decision Sciences

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

a. DS 510, Foundations of Business Analytics, 3 s.h.

Dr. Lin explained that this is a joint effort between Decision Sciences and Mathematics. The course will be a foundation course in the program.

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

2. Request to change graduate program requirements

a. Master of Science in Applied Statistics and Decision Analytics

Dr. Lin explained that this change adds newly approved DS 510 to the requirements and changes a capstone option.

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

b. Master of Arts in Economics

Dr. Lin stated that they reviewed the program and considered IBHE recommendation to remove the either/or for the macroeconomics and microeconomics courses.

Motion: To approve the request. (McQuillan/Blackinton)
MOTION CARRIED 6 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 changes eliminated courses that are no longer offered and added in new courses including the capstone course. Dr. Laurent asked about DS 535 being listed as a core and a capstone course. Dr. Lin responded that it cannot be used as both and that they would add language to the course in the capstone section.

Motion: To approve the request with added language for DS 535. (McQuillan/Locke)
MOTION CARRIED 6 YES – 0 NO – 0 AB

4. Request for integrated baccalaureate and master’s degree program

a. Bachelor of Business in Business Analytics/Master of Science in Applied Statistics and Decision Analytics

Dr. Lin noted that this is the first year for the undergraduate program in Business Analytics and they want to be able to market the integrated program to those students right away. Dr. Hemphill asked for clarification on the bridge courses accepted.

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

E. Educational Studies

1. Request to change graduate program requirements

a. Master of Science in College Student Personnel

1. Student Affairs Option

Dr. Catalano noted the title changes to courses as well as the decrease in electives for the program.

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

2. Higher Education Leadership Option

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

2. Request for integrated baccalaureate and master’s degree program

a. Bachelor of General Studies/Master of Science in Education in Educational Studies

Dr. Sheffield presented the request for the integrated program. Dr. Hemphill clarified that nine hours would be accepted in to the program. Dr. Laurent asked for clarification regarding the rationale for the request. Dr. Sheffield responded that there are two options in the M.S.Ed. degree and the hope is that they would take the courses for the Language, Culture and Education option as that is the only one being requested for integrated status. Dr. Mossman asked which students are being targeted and is this program online. Dr. Sheffield stated that yes, it is online and it is for people that do not want to be teachers but want to work with other cultures. Council members asked for clarity on the request document.

Motion: To approve the request pending an email vote of a revised form that specifies the Language, Culture and Education option throughout the form. (McQuillan/Locke)
MOTION CARRIED 6 YES – 0 NO – 0 AB

F. Engineering Technology

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

a. IDT 520, Learning Experience Design, 3 s.h.

Dr. Hsu presented the new course and stated that it is focused on learning experience design. It is an online module. Council members suggested removing the “I” in the abbreviated title.

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

G. Law Enforcement and Justice Administration

1. Request for a 400-G level course

a. FS 481, Fire and Emergency Administration, 3 s.h.

Dr. Lough and Mr. Walker were in attendance. Dr. Lough explained that they are proposing to change the master’s program to include the fire science side of public safety and capture more students by reflecting the public safety emphasis. Mr. Walker began the process several months ago and believes that eventually Emergency Management could be added into the program as well as there is a significant trend to cooperate effort and management. Dr. Hemphill asked what the added components for graduate students will be in the course. Mr. Walker stated that an additional chapter and assignment, a significant paper, will be added for the graduate students. There will be a specific rubric for the graduate students. Dr. Laurent noted that changing the requirement to state “unit” as opposed to “chapter” seemed more intensive and graduate-level appropriate.

Motion: To approve the request with modifications. (McQuillan/Laurent)
MOTION CARRIED 6 YES – 0 NO – 0 AB

b. FS 488, Fire-Related Human Behavior, 3 s.h.

Mr. Walker stated that the graduate students would be tasked with an additional research project that would be approximately 15-30 pages long.

Motion: To approve the request with modifications. (Laurent/McQuillan)
MOTION CARRIED 6 YES – 0 NO – 0 AB

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

a. FS 519, Comprehensive Seminar in Fire Protection, 3 s.h.

Dr. Lough explained that the program will need different content for Fire Science students to complete the program. Ms. Blackinton asked about the other disciplines mentioned in the justification of course. Dr. Lough responded that it referred to other areas within law enforcement and not in outside departments. Council members noted that the course hours needed to be changed from 39 to 37.5.

Motion: To approve the request with modifications. (Locke/Blackinton)
MOTION CARRIED 6 YES – 0 NO – 0 AB

3. Request to change graduate program requirements

a. Master of Arts in Public Safety Administration (program title change approval is pending)

Dr. Lough stated that newly approved courses are now part of program requirements. Dr. Szyjka pointed out some inconsistencies within the proposal regarding terminology.

Motion: To approve the request with modifications. (Laurent/Locke)
MOTION CARRIED 6 YES – 0 NO – 0 AB

H. Music

1. Request to change graduate program requirements

a. Master of Music – Vocal Performance track

Dr. Locke explained that this request is the result of housekeeping as the course already existed but was not a required component of this track. The course is replacing the umbrella course of MUS 590 and an outdated course that will not be offered.

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

I. Theatre and Dance

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

Motion: To combine requests and review as one request. (Laurent/Locke)
MOTION CARRIED 6 YES – 0 NO – 0 AB

a. THEA 532, Directing Studio 1, 2 s.h.

b. THEA 542, Directing Studio 2, 2 s.h.

c. THEA 555, Directing Studio 3, 2 s.h.

Ms. Killian explained that the department is reasserting the directing program and had to realign with accreditation requirements. Dr. Kamminga-Peck added that the graduate students will take the courses alongside undergraduate students in their equivalent course but the graduate students will meet with the instructor individually several times throughout the course. Dr. Hemphill asked if the courses had to be taken in chronological sequence. Ms. Killian responded that they could but it was not recommended. Dr. Kamminga-Peck noted that there was an error on the request forms and that all courses should be listed as 3 s.h. instead of 2.

Motion: To approve the request with change to credit hours. (Laurent/Blackinton)
MOTION CARRIED 6 YES – 0 NO – 0 AB

2. Request to change graduate program requirements

a. Master of Fine Arts – Directing track

Discussion was held on number of credits required in the program. It was noted that THEA 477G should be removed from the request form as it is not required and was left on in error.

Motion: To approve the request with modifications. (Locke/Blackinton)
MOTION CARRIED 6 YES – 0 NO – 0 AB


V.  OTHER BUSINESS

Other business discussed included the graduate student research and professional development fund and the need for feedback to the student. This will be modified in future semesters so that the students can use this as a learning opportunity.

A suggestion was made to add a grading scale requirement to the 400-G level request form that should include a breakdown of the points for the graduate student.

 

Meeting adjourned: 4:59 p.m.