Members attending: P. Stearns (Chair), A. Fortino, E. Dawson, D. Boehm-Davis, M. Goor, S. Nash, P. Becker,
J. Finkelstein, J. Maxwell, D. Campbell (Secretary)

Visitors: L. Schwatrzstein (Provost), B. Davis (Admissions)

I. Call to order

Stearns called the meeting to order at 1:30.

II. Announcements

A. Schwartzstein asked that three new courses that are not on the agenda be considered this time. She passed out write-ups for EC 511, 512, and 600.

B. Stearns said that the EVPP masters that was on the posting, but was withdrawn, was withdrawn because of misunderstandings in the coordination process. Stearns asked that in future:

1. All new program proposals (not courses) be sent to him early in the creation process so he can ensure coordination with the proper units.
2. When units are coordinating new programs, every effort should be made to do it face-to-face to minimize the possibliity of misunderstanding.
3. When coordinating new programs, units do not have to agree on every detail and compromise before it is brought to the Grad Council. Minor differences can be hashed out in Council.

C. Stearns announced that SCHEV did not approve the PhD in Bioinformatics degree program. It will have to go back up at the March meeting.

D. Finkelstein announced that SPP coordination with CAS on the MAIS Concentration in Political Science was finished and the Concentration is ready to go. He passed out copies of the final version to the members. The Concentration had been approved in principle, pending final coordination, at the December meeting.

III. Approval of December 2001 minutes

Minutes were approved as written.

IV. Old Business

None.

V. New Business

A. CAS courses for approval

• New courses: BIOS 710, 711, 713, 715, 719, ECON 885, 886, 985, EVPP 503, GOVT 520, HIST 523, 524 - approved.
  
• Modified courses: PHIL 555, PUAD 640 - approved.
• New degree concentration: PhD in Biosciences, Concentration in Astrobiology - approved.
  
• New certificate: Certificate in Actuarial Sceinces - approved.

B. GSE courses for approval

• Modified courses: EDCI 542, 543, 556, EDUC 671 - approved

C. SCS courses for approval

• New courses: CSI 672, 678 - approved.

D. IT&E courses for approval

• New courses: EC 511, 512, 600 - approved.

VI. Discussion Items

A. Per credit vs full tuition for grad students
Stearns reminded the Council that Gov. Warner has decided to freeze undergraduate tuition, but has not frozen graduate tuition. This presents a temptation to raise GMU's graduate tuition. It was noted that GMU in general has a lower graduate tuition than other Virginia universities, with the exception of some programs in GSE and some PhD programs.

Stearns asked the Council their opinion of using price differentials in masters programs. The concensus was that some related programs should be priced the same so students will not "game the system" by taking less expensive classes that count toward a degree, and will not create artificial enrollment changes based on tuition prices. Goor also suggested giving certain populations, like teachers, special tuition prices as is done in other unversities in the area.

In general, it was agreed that charging tuition on a per-credit basis vs a full-time student basis would not make much difference in income to GMU. There are very few students who enroll for more than 12 credits so that they get a significant break in tution cost.

B. Graduate assistant allocations
Hill was not able to be present at the meeting, so this item was dropped.

VII. Adjournment at 2:15

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