Graduate Studies

Graduate Council Minutes - December 7, 2020

3:00 p.m., Virtual

Members Present: C. Anderson, C. Blackinton, S. Ghimire, A. Hyde, B. Locke (Chair), J. McQuillan (Vice Chair), T. Roberts

Members Absent: J. Hammersley

Guests Present: B. Lawhorn, M. Allison, A. Baker, T. Feld, G. Andrango, T. Lough, J. Myers, R. Di Carmine, D. Alexander, K. Daytner, N. Ekici, E. Sheffield

Ex-officio Present: M. Mossman

Others Present: A. Schulz

 

I. GRADUATE FACULTY – FULL MEMBERSHIP

A. Barbara Lawhorn, Assistant Professor, English

Ms. Lawhorn and Dr. Allison were in attendance. Dr. Roberts asked if the MFA is the terminal degree. Ms. Lawhorn responded yes for her area. Dr. Locke commended her on being so complete with the application and active within her field.

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


II. ANNOUNCEMENTS

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

B. Graduate Research Conference

Ms. Schulz reported that the Graduate Research Conference was going to take place but the committee was still making decisions regarding the date and the format. It would likely be later in the spring semester rather than the end of February as previously advertised.

C. Graduate Student Research and Professional Development Fund

Ms. Schulz announced that ten applications were received for the fall and the subcommittee was able to at least partially fund seven of those applications.

III. GRADUATE CURRICULUM

A. Agriculture

1. Request for a 400-G level course

a. AGEC 437, US Agricultural Trade, 3 s.h.

Dr. Baker, Dr. Andrango, and Dr. Feld were in attendance. Dr. Locke asked if this was an existing course. Dr. Andrango responded yes, students currently look at entire policies over trade and have a project over the policies. Graduate students would need to go into quantitative analysis plus include topics on international development. Dr. Ghimire asked about prerequisites in Economics to make sure students have the background. Dr. Andrango stated that most students have taken prior courses with her and have the necessary background from those to be prepared. Discussion held if this course was significantly different than a course in Economics. Dr. Baker added that any issue would have been identified during the undergraduate approval process. Dr. Locke agreed. A recommendation was made to include the Economics course in the proposal in the section that details similar courses in other departments.

Motion: To approve the request with minor amendment. (Hyde/Roberts)
MOTION CARRIED 6 YES – 0 NO – 1 AB

B. Education

1. Request for a 400-G level course

a. SSED 449, Innovative Strategies for Teaching Social Studies, 3 s.h.

Dr. Sheffield was present and explained this course is already offered and while they would not have enough for a stand alone graduate course, there is enough interest to offer it for graduate credit. Graduate students will review peer-reviewed articles, complete a large research project, and write a lab based on the project. Dr. Locke asked if there is a different grading scale and how much weight each additional project carries. Dr. Sheffield responded that he is unsure of the actual weight of the projects. Dr. Locke stated that he would like to see the request brought back with that information included. Dr. Roberts noted that there were a large amount of objectives for the course and asked if it was realistic. Dr. Sheffield answered that they are required to meet teacher ed competencies.

Motion: To approve subject to submission of a revised version that gives extra info on distinct grading on the undergrad versus graduate version of the course. (McQuillan/Ghimire)
MOTION CARRIED 7 YES – 0 NO – 0 AB

C. English

1. Request to change graduate program requirements

Dr. Allison and Dr. Di Carmine were in attendance. Dr. Locke asked for clarification on the requested changes.  Dr. Di Carmine explained that the directed readings exit option has proven to be problematic because the assessment is unclear. Dr. McQuillan questioned the title change to comprehensive versus culminating for the exam. Dr. Allison responded that culminating implies all of the courses while comprehensive means all topics in their field. Dr. Di Carmine added that this will require the same amount of work as the other exit options. Dr. Mossman noted that the student will produce enough written content to be comparable to the other exit options. Dr. Locke asked if this should be a new course proposal. Dr. Allison stated that this was the intention of the course from the beginning but the title did not reflect it so they wanted to update the title to match the work. Discussion was held regarding the title changes and course descriptions.

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

D. Law Enforcement and Justice Administration

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

a. EM 521, Search and Rescue, 3 s.h.

Prof. Myers and Dr. Lough were present. Prof. Myers explained that they redid the Emergency Management requirements at the undergraduate level to meet current standards and are now expanding to the graduate level.

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

b. EM 522, Advanced Mitigation and Community Recovery Techniques, 3 s.h.

Prof. Myers noted that this course is for teaching a teamwork approach and delving into where resources come from plus scheduling. This helps students learn how to prepare for disasters in advance.

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

c. LEJA 515, Terrorists’ Use of Internet, 3 s.h.

Dr. Alexander and Dr. Ekici were in attendance. Dr. McQuillan suggested adding “The” to the title of the course. Dr. Ekici explained that students have asked for more content on this subject as terrorists spread ideologies and fundraise online now. Students can use this information in their future careers. The program does not currently have an online terrorism course available and this will fill that need.

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

d. LEJA 516, Hate Crime Investigations and Prosecutions, 3 s.h.

Dr. Alexander explained that there is an increase in hate crimes around the world and prosecutions are taking place internationally. This graduate program is flourishing and with the increase in breadth of students in the program, this course serves as a supplement to other courses in the department.

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

E. Music

1. Request to change graduate program requirements

Dr. Locke explained that the program is separated into tracks and this specific change is for the choral conducting track. The requested changes spread the applied courses over four semesters and adjust credit hours to accommodate the change in repeatability.

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


IV. OTHER BUSINESS

None reported.

 

Meeting adjourned: 4:33 p.m.