GRADUATE COUNCIL
for the
Wednesday, Nov. 28
Members attending:Peter Stearns (Chair), Linda Schwartzstein (Provost Office), Peter Becker (COS), Jamie Cooper (CHSS), Yariv Ephraim (IT&E), Joan Isenberg (CEHD), ), Roy Hinton (SOM), Daniel Menasce (IT&E), ), Linda Miller (CVPA), Agnieszka Paczynska (ICAR), James Pfiffner (for Chris Hill,SPP), Ellen Rodgers (CEHD), James Vail (CHHS).
Special Attendees:Andrew Flagel, Dean, Admissions Office; Susan Jones, University Registrar; Matthew Kluger, Vice President, Research & Economic Development, Office of the Provost; Wendy Payton, Assistant Provost, Academic Affairs; Victoria Salmon, Director, Graduate Studies, CVPA; Matthew Zingraff, Associate Dean, Research, CHSS.
I. Call to Order-
Provost Stearns called the meeting to order at 1:30 pm.
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The minutes of the October 17, 2007 meeting were approved as written.
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Linda Schwartzstein stated that the search committee for the graduate education position would be meeting the
following day to select three finalist candidates. The goal is to complete the search process before the winter break.
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A. Graduate Academic Policies (GAP) Membership (Linda Schwartzstein)
Linda Schwartzstein encouraged Grad Council members to consider becoming a member of Graduate Academic Policies (GAP), a sub-committee of the Council, formed last academic year to discuss issues prior to submission to the Council. She asked that anyone interested in participating in GAP email her.
B. New Forms Re 998 - 999 Credits (Susan Jones & Jamie Cooper)Susan Jones presented statistics which show that most doctoral students complete their degrees in approximately five years. She also mentioned that the current time limits (six years to advance to candidacy; five years to complete the degree) have been in effect for 11 years, and most students are subject to these limits.
On the other hand, some students take many more credits of 998 and 999 than the university maximum of 24. This is a problem for students on F-1 visas, who must make good academic progress to continue on their student visas. It is also a problem for students who are deferring repayment of educational loans based on full time status that derives from credit hours that cannot count toward the degree.
Ms. Jones proposed monitoring students’ progress through their doctoral degrees more closely, using a Doctoral Academic Status Report distributed to doctoral programs after each semester. She proposed requiring a unified Advancement to Candidacy form, through which programs would approve this status and the Registrar’s Office would code students. (Date of official advancement would be one element of the Doctoral Academic Status Report.) She further proposed limiting registration in 999 to students who have officially advanced to candidacy, effective in the Fall 2008 semester. Finally, she proposed expanding the “Grace Period for Full-time Status Form” to collect additional information from the student regarding progress in the degree program. Once approved by Chair (and Dean if the student has already completed 24 credits of 998/999), the student is approved for full-time status while registered in only one credit of 999. This is an expansion of a form used to implement existing policy for students who have already reached the maximum credits of 998 and 999 required by their program, but have yet to complete the dissertation.
The Graduate Council approved the recommendations as outlined above.
C. Report of the Research Funding Planning Committee (Peter Stearns)Provost Stearns stated that the “Report of the Research Funding Planning Committee” would be presented to deans and directors at their meeting on the following day. The Provost asked Matthew Zingraff, chair of the Research Funding Planning Committee, to give the Council a brief summary of the committee’s recommendations.
Dr. Zingraff stated that the committee’s number one priority was to come up with a plan to attract the best and brightest graduate students to Mason and to be more competitive especially with other institutions in Virginia The committee believes that in order to be more competitive, Mason must find better ways to advertise; encourage faculty to work harder to bring in more money to support graduate students; to tie doctoral education directly to the research enterprise of the university. The committee suggested that the university explore the cost to provide health insurance for all funded graduate students; make sure that stipend levels currently in place are competitive, realizing that it will vary across the disciplines and across the different colleges and schools. It is the committee’s hope that it will get the support of the Council, and deans and directors, to examine more closely what is currently being done, the related costs incurred, what the university can afford to do and how that cost will be shared across the university.
Daniel Menasce stated that the committee wants to know the number of students currently in funded research, the cost involved and compare this information with other universities, especially in Virginia.
In response to Linda Miller’s question on the current amount of funding, Linda Schwartzstein stated that Mason funds $7-8,000,000 in graduate support.
Provost Stearns said that assuming the deans and director would deem this a priority, it is logical for the committee to follow-up to determine what is currently being done at Mason and what the costs to the university would be to make Mason more competitive. The Provost asked for volunteers from the Grad Council to serve on the committee. Peter Becker agreed to serve.
Proposal from the College of Education and Human Development
Contact Person: Ellen Rodgers, 3-2034, erodger1@gmu.edu
New Courses (Action Items): Approved
EDCI 544 Curriculum and Methods of Teaching in Elementary Education
EDCI 545 Assessment and Differentiation
EDUT 805 Personnel Preparation and Professional
Development in Early Education of Diverse Learners
EDUT 806 Early Childhood Cognition, Language, and Literacy for
Diverse Young Learners
EDUT 804 Families of Diverse Young Learners – Interdisciplinary
and Cross-cultural Research, Policy, and Practice
Modified Courses (Announcements):
EDCD 660 Multicultural Counseling
EDCD 602 Foundations in Counseling
EDUC 542 Foundations of Education
New Program (Action Items): Approved
MS in Educational Psychology
(The Provost recommend that additional text be added to emphasize that this is a collaborative program
with the Psychology Department.)
Modified Program (Announcements):
MS in Elementary Education
Proposal from the College of Health and Human Services
Contact Person: James D. Vail, 3-1913, jvail@gmu.edu
Executive Summary for the Proposal for Masters of Public Health
New Courses (Action Items): Approved
NURS 950 Special Topics in Nursing
GCH 751 Nutrition Assessment, Monitoring, and Surveillance
GCH 740 Applied Physiology: Cardiorespiratory System
GCH 611 Planning, Implementing and Evaluating Health Promotion
Programs
GCH 610 Foundations of Health Education and Behavior
GCH 555 Human Biology
Modified Courses (Announcements):
SOCW 687 Empowering Communities for Change
SOCW 684 Social Work & the Law
SOCW 675 Selected Topics in Clinical Practice
SOCW 658 Direct Social Work Practice II
SOCW 657 Direct Social Work Practice I
SOCW 652 Social Policies, Program & Services II
New Certificate (Action Items): Approved
Graduate Certificate in Nutrition
Graduate Certificate in Rehabilitation Science
Proposal from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Contact Person: Jamie S. Cooper, 3-8414, jcooperb@gmu.edu
New Courses (Action Items): Approved
ANTH 555 Policy and Culture
ENGL 502 Research Methods in Rhetoric and Professional Writing
ENGL 508 Digital Rhetoric and Design
Modified Courses (Announcements):
CTCH 685 Practicum
CTCH 885 Internship in College Teaching and Administration
ECON 812 Microeconomic Theory II
ENGL 501 Introduction to Professional Writing and Editing
ENGL 613 Technical and Scientific Writing
ENGL 697 Composition Theory
GOVT 540 International Relations
GOVT 706 Federalism and Changing Patterns of Governance
GOVT 715 Statistical Methods in Political Science Research
GOVT 745 Issues in International Security
PUAD 613 Economic Analysis in Public Administration
PUAD 632 Homeland Security: Terrorism, Threat, and Vulnerability Analysis: Theory and Practice
PUAD 664 Nonprofit Financial Management
PUAD 703 Third-Party Governance
PUAD 731 Homeland and Security: Transportation Security
Administration
PUAD 741 Policy Analysis
Deleted Courses (Announcements):
GOVT 703 Seminar in the Courts and Constitutional Law
(originally posted as a modified course)
GOVT 708 Law and Social Control
GOVT 709 Politics of Crime Policy
GOVT 792 Crime and Crime Policy
New Certificate (Action Items): Approved
Public Management
Modified Concentration (Announcements):
Community College Teaching
Professional Writing and Editing
Contact Person: Peter Becker, 3-3619, pbecker@gmu.edu
New Courses (Action Items): Approved
GEOG 650 Introduction to GIS Programming
NEUR 634 Computer Modeling of Neurons and Networks
Proposal from theVolgenau School of Information Technology & Engineering
Contact Person: Daniel Menasce, 3-1537, menasce@gmu.edu
New Courses (Action Items): Approved
CEIE 501 Sustainable Development
CEIE 580 Real Estate Development Fundamentals
CEIE 581 Real Estate Analysis, Valuation and Development (Withdrawn at the meeting)
CEIE 582 Real Estate Client Leadership and Project Management
CEIE 671 Best Engineering Management Practices
CEIE 673 Leading Engineering Innovation
CEIE 674 Infrastructure Finance
IT 774 Advanced Dynamic Programming
OR 674 Dynamic Programming
OR 774 Advanced Dynamic Programming
SYST 674 Dynamic Programming
Modified Courses (Announcements):
CS 818 Topics in Computer Systems (originally posted as a deleted course)
CSI 876 Measure and Linear Spaces
CSI 972 Mathematical Statistics I
CSI 973 Mathematical Statistics II
IT 818 Topics in Computer Systems (originally posted as a deleted course)
IT 876 Measure and Linear Spaces
IT 971 Probability Theory
IT 972 Mathematical Statistics I
IT 973 Mathematical Statistics II
STAT 876 Measure and Linear Spaces
STAT 971 Probability Theory
STAT 972 Mathematical Statistics I
STAT 973 Mathematical Statistics II
Modified Program (Announcements):
PHD in Statistical Science
Modified Certificate (Announcements):
Systems Engineering
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The meeting adjourned at 2:03 pm.