skip to main content ISU bar University Faculty Senate Approved October 17, 2008 September 26, 2008 Minutes Indiana State University Faculty Senate 2008-09 GC#3 Present: W. Barratt, M. Boyer, Stan Buchanan, B. Corcoran, E. Hampton, M. Haque, B. El-Mansour, L. O’Laughlin Absent: B. Frank Speaking Seats: W. Barratt (Administrative Fellow, SOGS), Jay Gatrell (Graduate Dean), S. Gick (Registrar), G. Maughan, (Technology), R. McGiverin (Library), P. Terpelets (Student Rep.) Guests: 1. Call to Order: M. Boyer called the meeting to order at 10:04 AM. 2. Agenda: The agenda was adopted by acclamation. 3. Minutes: R. McGiverin moved approval of minutes from 9.19.08; L. O’Laughlin seconded. Minutes were approved (7-0-1). 4. Reports: a. Chairperson (M. Boyer): i. GC Committee assignments went out and conveners are convening before end of next week. ii. Dean Gatrell and Senate Chair Sheets have discussed the revisions to the Assistantship and Fellowship policy considered by GC on 9/19/08. The revisions crafted by Dean Gatrell are those sought by the GC. iii. L. O’Laughlin asked M. Boyer if we might make inquiries into how graduate students perceive and interact with the office of Financial Aid The relatonship between students and Financial Aid should be monitored further. iv. One of the Senate charges (#6) regarding domains of responsibility of GC: most committees do not work with sub-committee structure like GC. M. Boyer asks if we need to address this issue. Dean Gatrell suggests Exec Committee draft a statement. b. Faculty Senate Liaison’s Report (T. Sawyer): i. No report. c. Registrar’s Report (S. Gick): i. A card will be sent to chairs and deans listing staff phone and email addresses. d. Administrative Report (Dean J. Gatrell): i. Informational Items as presented in writing by the Dean: 1. ETD Taskforce has been formed and will begin work in October. The membership for this group is: C. May (LIB), S. Arvin (LIB), V. Sheets (PSY/FS President), L. O'Loughlin (PSY), M. Brennan (ENG), S. Powers (CoE), G. Maughan (CoT), E. Kinley (OIT), T. Demchak (CNHSS), W. Barratt (CoE/SoGS). 2. ETD Panel and Informational Sessions. Nov 5-6 ISU will host three national leaders in the ETD movement: J. Hagen (West Virginia), M. Courtois (Kansas State), and T. Brace (UT-Austin). The visitors will lead a campus panel on ETDs and ETD implementation as well as meet with interested members of GC, the taskforce, and campus leadership. Additionally, the group will meet with members of any potential implementation team (i.e., OIT and LIB) to discuss potential technical issues. The agenda will be distributed prior to the visit and public sessions posted on Global. 3. T/D Workshops. SoGS piloted a workshop last week and will be offering campus sessions Thursday Oct 2. The workshop will include a Word2007 template in the current approved format. Please contact Will Barratt if you or your students would like to participate. 4. SoGS website. The SoGS website is in the process of being redesigned and will be live the week of October 3. Pending the approval of the proposed revisions to the handbook all current policies, forms, and tools (inclusive of the Word2007 template) will reside on the revised site. a. L. O’Laughlin reminds people that if they are revising departmental websites, the SoGS website is up and running. 5. Assistant Dean Search. Search Chair Varble has informed me that there are 22 applicants as of 9-19-08. The target deadline is Oct 3. The committee anticipates identifying a short list of qualified candidates on Oct 6 and will meet with the Dean shortly thereafter to identify the final interview pool. 6. Graduation. Initial/preliminary/informal discussions between the Deans has begun with respect to the possibility/utility of holding two events: Undergraduate and Graduate. The specific rationales articulated include: length (specifically hooding) and a desire to establish/forge college affiliation. Should discussion progress (which is unknown), members of GC will be advised and input requested. No immediate/near term action is anticipated. a. M. Boyer states that there is a commencement committee and this issue could be addressed by that committee. Certain Deans want graduation to include a more meaningful connection between colleges and students. It might be time to separate graduate and undergraduate students at graduation, so as to expedite the event and give graduate students more time with their college. e. Graduate Student Report: (P. Terpelets) i. P. Terpelets agrees to ask graduate students if they have any specific issues with the Financial Aid office. Of course, international graduate students don’t have such access. ii. B. Corcoran asks that P. Terpelets expand this inquiry to include current or former military personnel. iii. L. O’Laughlin asks if there is a master listserv consisting of all graduate students’ email addresses. Dean Gatrell responds by saying that the Dean’s Office is creating a list of several hundred emails for use by graduate students. iv. M. Boyer asks that the Graduate Student Organization recruit a doctoral student willing to serve on the committee. 5. Old/Unfinished/Ongoing Business a. Subcommittee Charges: W. Barratt moves approval of motion to accept charges; Roland seconds. Vote: (7-0-1). b. Thesis/Dissertation Handbook Revisions: L. O’Laughlin moves that tabled motion be put back on the table; J. Gatrell seconds. i. W. Barratt presents change to page #2. L. O’Laughlin had concerns that students might misread document about chapter headings. Item of concern is clarified. Dean Gatrell says that if electronic Thesis/Dissertation is approved, individual departments can still produce their own hard copies. M. Haque asks if the final copy going to SoGS will be in pdf or Word? Dean Gatrell says that that this is part of the later discussion. The key is that there is consistency: if the TD is turned in with a format that is unfamiliar, it will be examined to ascertain consistency. Dean Gatrell moves to approve document; L. O’Laughlin seconds. ii. Vote: (7-0-1). iii. M. Boyer notes fine work of W. Barratt and D.Collins to clarify these documents. 6. New Business a. Assistantship/Scholarship Policy question regarding GPA. W. Barratt and D. Collins resolved the issue; it need not be brought to the table. b. Graduate Assistant Residency Issue. Dean Gatrell states that while the earlier residency issue concern involved revenue, the real question today is regarding residency for GA’s for whom residency is, effectively, irrelevant. Dean Gatrell suggests revenue issue is moot. The legitimacy of declaring someone a resident is the question. If someone moves to the state to accept a GA position, that person is a resident because they are now an employee of the university and they could have gone somewhere else. They moved here for a position and enrolled. As part of the GA offer we could grant Indiana residency. They would need to prove residency with documentation such as a driver’s license. Dean Gatrell says that international students can never be residents because of visa issues. There is a question about whether the state has rules of residency. Dean Gatrell reiterates that if a student moves to take a GA position, that is a move to take a job, and so that student is considered a state resident. D. Gatrell will investigate this and return to GC with further information. The primary concerns remain legitimacy and specific institutional benefits. i. S. Gick as member of Residency Committee says that a student from out of state must live and work in Indiana for one year before that student can become an approved resident. We would be financially better the more approved residencies we have. This opens up other benefits for students coming for BA and MA degrees and who stay on to finish a further terminal degree; if you graduate as a resident, you are always a resident from the institution’s perspective. c. Approved as Published proposal regarding streamlining approval of identified curriculum changes: Dean Gatrell says that Faculty Governance should vote on new programs. Streamlining things too quickly can cause problems. Defining up front what constitutes a major vs. minor change is important. The following is a suggested resolution based on T. Sawyer's (09.19.08) comments: “The purpose of this motion is to limit the total number of curriculum proposals submitted by Graduate Council to the Faculty Senate for their formal approval. Assuming the Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate supports this resolution, the Graduate Council will submit all approved curriculum directly to the Office of Academic Affairs as ‘approved as published’ except new programs, administrative reorganization, and/or other extra-ordinary curricular issues. Publication in Academic Notes will constitute formal notice to all constituencies. A summary of all Graduate Council curricular actions will be provided in the annual report of the committee.” i. Dean Gatrell says that this is an idea based on CAAC’s policies. ii. S. Gick: says she was requested by various Deans’ offices to look at a shortened form for curricular changes. She will work on such a form. W. Barratt suggests that GC could approve block changes. iii. M. Boyer asks if last four lines of text could be appropriate as the motion: “The Graduate Council will submit all approved curriculum directly to the Office of Academic Affairs as ‘approved as published’ except new programs, administrative reorganization, and/or other extra-ordinary curricular issues. Publication in Academic Notes will constitute formal notice to all constituencies. A summary of all Graduate Council curricular actions will be provided in the annual report of the committee.” iv. Dean Gatrell moves, M. Haque seconds. Vote: (7-0-1). d. Stan Buchanan states that he is working with distance-education graduate students, and many are uncertain about issues with MyISU login, etc. Dean Gatrell says that next semester there will be a specific orientation for distance students. 7. Upcoming Business a. Master’s thesis incomplete grading challenges – report from Task Group b. Plus/Minus Grading – report from Registrar’s Task Group c. Graduate Assistant Compensation Issues d. Request to consider GC statement on plagiarism (per B. Frank) e. Next meeting will be October 17. 8. Adjournment – 11:20 AM Respectfully submitted, Dr. Brendan Corcoran Secretary Last modified: March 03, 2009 Copyright © 2007 by Indiana State University.