MINUTES

Graduate School Administrative Board Meeting

Monday, February 9, 2009

3:30PM
Greenville Centre

MEMBERS PRESENT:

Voting Members: Decker, Jim;  Eakins, Stan; Ericson, Richard; Beck-Frazier, Susan; Fonooni, Hamid; Gallagher, Margie; Gemperline, Paul; Holte, Jim; Hough, Monica; Kasperek, George; Pokorny, Marie; Rouse, Art; and West, Terry.

Ex-officio members: Cistola, David; Dellana, Scott; Griffin, Linner; and Wilson, Ken

Guests:  Patterson, Belinda; Rhodes; Len; and Ries, Heather;

MEMBERS ABSENT:  Mott, Vivian, and Graduate Student Council representative

AGENDA

Agenda Item I.  Call to order

Dean Gemperline called the meeting to order at 3:35 p.m.

Agenda Item II.  Approval of January 29^th, 2009 GSAB meeting minutes

The minutes of January 26, 2009 were approved as distributed.

Agenda Item III.  Approval of January 28^th, GCC meeting minutes

The minutes of January 28^th were approved as distributed. Items within the GCC minutes approved by this action included:

• Proposal of new course:  CSDI 6117
• Proposal of new course:  REHB 8210
• Proposal of new course:  MPH 6027
• Proposal of new graduate degree program:  MS in Sustainable Tourism

Representatives from the proposed MS in Sustainable Tourism degree were present to discuss the proposed program and take to take questions from the GSAB.  The latest version of the proposal was not distributed to voting members of the GSAB prior to this meeting for review therefore the GSAB decided to call a special meeting at the Greenville Centre, Wednesday, February 12^th at 7 a.m. (9 out of 14 voting members indicated they would be able to attend).

Representatives (David Edgell, Joseph Fridgen,and Pat Long) were brought into the meeting room to briefly discuss the program and explain to the GSAB how the curriculum in the MS in Sustainable Tourism ties together. 

Dr Fridgen explained four core courses have been developed for the proposed program, with the rest of the needed coursework resting heavily on courses already in existence.  Through faculty involvement, multiple departments will be participating in the MS in Sustainable Tourism.  This synergistic effect will lead to more course proposals which will be positive for academic departments involved.  The need for sharing costs of the program across departments was discussed.

The program is mentor-oriented therefore students will have faculty support and resources to conduct thesis work.  Furthermore, the program will have a strong research foundation and intends to provide human capitol and resources to help meet the needs of our region and state. 

Dr. Fridgen and Dr. Edgell agreed to meet on Wednesday morning with the GSAB (Pat Long will not be in attendance due to a previous out-of-town engagement). It was noted future courses could be cross-listed.

Agenda Item IV. Call for nominations for students and faculty to be featured on the Graduate School website

In an effort to update the Graduate School webpage, Dean Gemperline made a call for new students and faculty to be featured.  Names of any students or faculty involved in graduate education should be forwarded to the Graduate School.  Selected individuals will be contacted for a short story and a photograph to be posted on the Graduate School website.  Dean Gemperline will begin this process by looking at photographs of last year’s Research and Creative Achievement Week award winners.

Agenda Item V.  Report on recently approved Graduate Faculty

Dean Gemperline informed the body that any new Graduate Faculty appointments and reappointments will be reported at GSAB meetings.

Agenda Item VI.  Changes to the graduate application process 

Dean Gemperline announced that self-reporting of test scores has been eliminated from the application process and that percentile scores are being automatically downloaded as well as raw scores for all standardized test results. These will be incorporated into the Accept / Reject form in the near future. 

Agenda Item VII.  Update on Graduate Assembly  

Dean Gemperline informed the body that at the January 29^th, 2009 Graduate Assembly (GA) meeting Scott Eagle (School of Art & Design) stated that the majority of schools offering a Master’s in Fine Arts degree (MFA) do not require standardized test scores for admission.  After researching admissions requirements of ECU’s peer institutions offering a MFA program, it was concluded that ECU was the only university that required a standardized exam, such as the GRE, for admittance into their MFA program.  To require a standardized exam for ECU’s MFA program would be against best practices nationally. 

Motion was made and seconded to no longer require a standardized exam for students applying to the MFA program.  Motion was approved.  

Dean Gemperline reported that 2 task forces have been assembled to examine ECU’s probation and termination policy and admissions standards. Task force members reviewing probation and termination standards include: Laura Prividera (Communication); Bill Grobe (Educational Leadership); Richard Franklin (Microbiology and Immunology); Chris Riley-Tillman (Psychology) and Carl Swanson (History)

Task force members examining admissions standards include: Bob Thompson (Political Science); Nasseh Tabrizi (Software Engineering); Alice Anderson (Environmental Health); Saeed Dar (Pharmacology); Cynthia Johnson (Child Development and Family Relations).

Task force members will meet to examine and compare the probation and termination and admissions standards of ECU’s peer institutions with ECU’s policies.  Members will bring a proposal back to the GA for debate and discussion.

Agenda Item VIII. Discussion on Graduate Faculty status/criteria

Dean Gemperline reviewed the five sets of unit criteria approved by the GSAB (Brody School of Medicine, College of Technology and Computer Science, Psychology, Political Science, Communication Sciences and Disorders).

Dean Gemperline explained graduate teaching faculty members do not need approved unit criteria for an appointment.  For full and associate graduate faculty whose terms have expired, provisional appointments on a year by year basis will be made until unit criteria are approved.

Dean Gemperline informed the GSAB that many faculty members teaching graduate courses were not members of the Graduate Faculty (according to records being kept at the Graduate School).  Several GSAB members were concerned that many of their constituents were Graduate Faculty members but were not indicated as so by the Graduate School.  Dr. Decker suggested rectifying oversights and procedural problems instead of starting a new process of appointment.  Dean Gemperline will ask the Associate Deans for a list of individuals who were appointed to the Graduate Faculty in order to reconstruct terms.   

Discussion focused on providing guidance to units developing their Graduate Faculty criteria. A few GSAB members indicated that resistance to checklists is based on the fact that check lists are not used as a way to determine faculty who are promoted and tenured. It was noted that in the absence of a checklist system, a statement of objective and measureable criteria will be needed and that letters of recommendation would have to enumerate the items from the individual’s CV that enabled them to meet unit criteria.

The meeting adjourned was adjourned by Dean Gemperline at 5:20 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Amy E. Tripp