skip to main content ISU bar University Faculty Senate Approved November 02, 2006 October 12, 2006 Minutes Indiana State University Faculty Senate 2005-06 GC#5 Present: W. Barratt, M. Boyer, H. Chait, B. Corcoran, B. Frank (Senate Liaison), A. Gilberti, M. Haque, C. MacDonald, C. Mayer, L. O’Laughlin Absent: D. Collier (student rep) Ex Officio: J. Kuhlman (Interim Graduate Dean), G. Maughan, S. Powers (Ed), L. Romero (student rep) Guests: none 1. Call to Order: C. MacDonald called the meeting to order at 9:00. 2. Agenda was adopted by consensus. 3. Minutes unanimously accepted as amended. 4. Unfinished/Ongoing Business a. .Graduate Assistantship and Fee Waiver Guidelines (item numbers refer to handout) i. Life Sciences contacted Chair with concerns about Grad Assistantship Guidelines. They have teaching assistants in labs who are teaching more than 3 contact hours but officially less than 3 credit hours by virtue of multiple one-hour labs. Committee asks whether this involves numbers of students. If there are few students in this situation, is this not an issue between the individual department and Graduate School? ii. Dean Kuhlman states that 1a and 1d of the Guidelines document need to be amended to indicate that a 3.5 GPA is required for good academic standing in the College of Education PhD Program. iii. Dean Kuhlman also says that at 1b regular admission status should be require a 3.0 GPA—this might be on the Dean’s Wish List. How many students are admitted with less than 3.0 undergraduate GPA? iv. It is suggested to move 1.b. to 1.a. v. The objective is to maintain satisfactory progress as determined by the individual department. It was determined to separate Section 1 into 2 sections: one for the initial award and one for continuing eligibility. vi. Changes to document means that it will have to go back to Executive Committee. vii. Discussion regarding 2.b. and the requirement to a have valid passport and visa: Graduate School sends offer of admission and assistantship which is awarded upon enrollment. viii. Regarding 3.a.i., Graduate School needs to reinforce efforts to enroll full time students. Changes need to be made to adjust language from 18 credit hours per year to 9 hours per semester. The biggest problem is the final semester of graduate study. ix. Referring to Table I, some departments express need for 2.5 years of stipends to complete the master’s degree. Graduate School needs to stipulate that Graduate School only funds for 2 years. Clarification is needed to explain that these term limits apply to University Funded assistantships. x. Only other problem in Section 10: the eligibility requirement. Statement on eligibility for fee waivers needs clarifying. As more grants are funded, fee waivers need to be built into grants because we are running out of fee waiver money. (Life Sciences argues that students need additional coursework beyond minimum to produce higher quality research.) Additional statements to be inserted into document: 1) Eligibility for fee waiver awards is based on the academic criteria listed in section 1. and 2) fee waivers will be granted only for the minimum number of hours required for the degree. This might force students to finish degrees in a more timely manner. Could fee waivers be tied to the SAP hours (hours designated by departments)? SAP numbers appear to be the real numbers, but students look at catalog hours. Change needs to be announced this year for next year. Some areas have put in inflated number of hours. At this point, the key is to stick to the published catalog hour minimums. xi. Changes to document will be available by 10/26. xii. New catalog is available including changes from last spring. 5. New Business a. Dean’s List (numbers referenced from handout) i. #1) On revision of the dissertation/thesis manual, action will be taken by late February through subcommittee work. ii. #3) The front material of the Graduate Catalog needs revision – can wait until February iii. #5) TOEFL has new exam, mostly electronic; there is now a written and spoken part of the verbal exam. We have set a cutoff as for 80 iBT. Section on spoken and separate section minimums can be discussed. Spoken section needs to be considered if students are admitted as teaching assistants. Concern is expressed that a 550 score is too low. We may require Interlink students to take TOEFL. This needs to go to a subcommittee. iv. #6) A statement is needed on responsibilities of thesis/dissertation chairpersons. v. #7) Residency requirements for GAs: we may want to change our definitions of “in-state”. vi. #8) All undergraduate students from ISU should get in-state residency. vii. Other issues: PhD students should not serve on MA thesis committees. There is concern that a blanket statement is not usable. Further discussion in subcommittees is needed. 6. Reports: a. Chairperson (C. MacDonald): i. Subcommittees have begun meeting. ii. Executive Committee of Faculty Senate rejected the Graduate Faculty Requirement policy. Concerns about “for cause” and people having graduate faculty status revoked for other than due-cause. Some senators liked a 5 year review. One of the principle issues is quality control; departments are not trusted to do their jobs. Statement on committee chair responsibilities might help. iii. Graduate Council will ask for written responses to specific issues. b. Senate Liaison’s Report (B. Frank): c. Administrative Report (Interim Dean Kuhlman): 7. Upcoming Business 8. Adjournment – 10:16 am Respectfully submitted, Brendan Corcoran Secretary Last modified: March 03, 2009  Copyright © 2009 by Indiana State University.