MINUTES OF THE GRADUATE COUNCIL
The University of
Alabama
April 25, 2000
The regular meeting of the Graduate Council was held at
3:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April 25, 2000, in the Forum Room of
the Ferguson Center.
MEMBERS PRESENT: Dr. Joan
L. Atkinson, Dr. Susan C. Fleming,
Dr. Lea
McGee, Dr. Margaret Johnson,
Dr.
Carol J. Pierman, Dr. Barry Jo Price,
Dr.
Harry E. Price, Dr. David R. Roskos-Ewoldsen,
Dr.
Will C. Schreiber, Dr. Paul H. Stuart,
Dr.
Jack W. Sulentic, Dr. Min Sun,
Dr. Stephen
J. Thoma, Dr. Joseph S. Thrasher,
Dr. S.
Allen Wilcoxon.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Dr.
Daniel Arce, Dr. Carol Cassel,
Dr.
Gary A. Copeland, Dr. Jeri W. Dunkin,
Dr.
Joseph A. Hornsby, Dr. Ida M. Johnson,
Dr.
Thomas A. Lee, Dr. James Leeper,
Dr.
Cynthia S. Sunal, Dr. Elizabeth K. Wilson.
MEMBERS PRESENT: Dean
Ronald Rogers
Dr. Catherine M.
Pagani, Faculty Senate Representative
STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES
PRESENT: Mr.
Gopakumar Venugopalan
PRESENT: Dr. Pat
Harrison, Assistant Dean
Dr.
John F. Schmitt, Assistant Dean
The meeting opened with the
approval of the February 22, 2000 Graduate Council minutes.
I. White
Paper Update
Dean
Rogers referred Council members to a document entitled, “Strengthening Graduate
Programs: White Paper Update and
Setting Future Goals,” dated May 2000.
It addresses the graduate-education objectives of the Provost’s White
Paper and was formulated as a result of a meeting of the Executive Committee of
the Graduate Council and the input Dean Rogers received from individual Council
members. In the document the Council
expresses strong support of the Univesity’s goals of offering quality graduate
education, attracting and retaining world-class faculty, and attracting and
retaining outstanding graduate students.
Among
the discussion items was the need for a statement regarding tuition support for
graduate students, the possible participation of graduate students in Blue
Cross and Blue Shield coverage (including dental), and the possibility of
directing part of the graduate application fee to departments to support their
recruitment activities. Dean Rogers
indicated that these items would be added to the appropriate sections of the
White Paper update. With those
modifications, the Council unanimously approved the document for transmission
to Provost Barrett.
A. Program and Degree Requirements
Dr.
Kathryn Oths, acting chair of the committee during Dr. Joesph Hornsby’s
sabbatical, presented a seconded motion
from the committee to approve a proposal from the Department of English. The proposal would change the doctoral time
limit to eight years, as it is in Psychology and Modern Languages and Classics,
for students admitted directly to the doctoral program from a baccalaureate
program. The proposal was approved
unanimously. The revised doctoral time
limit section of the Graduate Catalog
will read as follows:
All requirements for the
doctoral degree must be completed within the seven-year period following
admission to the doctoral program, with the following specific exceptions:
psychology, modern languages and classics, and English (eight years if entering
the doctoral program with a baccalaureate, not master's, degree), and the
doctor of public administration (eight years).
Previous graduate credit may be applied to the doctoral degree if the
credit was earned during the six-year period prior to admission to the doctoral
program.
B. Financial Aid
Dr. J.
Brian Gray, chairperson, reported on the $680,000 in Graduate Council
fellowships awarded for the year.
Highlights of fellowship activity are as follows:
·
62 total awards from 186 nominations (33.33% award
percentage)
·
of the 62, 8 were dissertation awards, 3 were thesis
awards, 41 were regular Graduate Council awards, and 10 were research awards
·
acceptance rates were as follows: 100% each for dissertation, thesis, and
research; 71% (up from 56% a year ago) for regular Graduate Council fellowships
·
suspected reasons for the increased acceptance rate for
regular fellowships are that the fellowships were $1,000 more than last year,
and the addition of $5,000 supplements at the master’s level for one year and
$5,000 supplements for each of two years at the doctoral level
·
68% acceptance rate for regular fellowships without
supplements; 77% acceptance for supplemented fellowships
From
the 1999-2000 Graduate Council fellowship funds, $70,000 is available for
fellowships in summer 2000. There was
discussion of the possibility of making at least some of the fellowships
available on a 12-month basis, to enhance recruitment of high-quality graduate
students. Dean Rogers said that next
year’s Financial Aid Committee will include that as an agenda item.
C. Admissions and Recruitment
There was no report.
D. Research and New Programs
There was no report.
III. Reports from the Dean’s
Office and Academic Affairs
A. Dean Rogers presented a proposal to revise the 1996 policy on
retaining graduate faculty status for one year after retirement. That policy predated the current
“Qualifications of the Graduate Faculty,” as revised by the Graduate Council
and published in the current Graduate
Catalog. The proposed revision
would permit retired faculty to be appointed as Temporary Members of the
Graduate Faculty for purposes specified by the academic unit nominating the
retired faculty member. After brief
discussion, the following revised policy passed unanimously:
After a Graduate Faculty member
retires, her or she may need to continue to serve as chair or committee member
on students’ thesis and/or dissertation committees. These Graduate Faculty members may be appointed Temporary Members
of the Graduate Faculty for these purposes and/or to perform other specific
functions. The nomination and
appointment procedures for these temporary appointments are the same as those
adopted by the academic unit and University.”
B. Dr. John Schmitt thanked the following Council members for
service on program review committees this year: Dr. Jeri Dunkin, Dr. Liza Wilson, Dr. J. Brian Gray, Dr. Will
Schreiber, and Dr. Joe Thrasher.
C. Dr. Schmitt encouraged Council members to remind department
chairs and faculty in their divisions that attendance at the Workshop for New
Graduate Teaching Assistants is required of new GTAs. He stated that this year’s Workshop will change to two full days,
as requested by a number of GTAs. He
provided Council members with a draft program for the 14th annual
Workshop, to be held August 17-18, 2000, at the Bryant Conference Center. Additional information about the Workshop is
available at the Graduate School’s Web site.
IV.
Reports from Standing University Committees
There were no reports.
There was no old business.
VI. New Business
Dr. S. Allen Wilcoxon was elected to a three-year term on
the Merger or Discontinuance of Academic Units Committee.
Dean Rogers thanked the Council members for their work on behalf of graduate education at the University this year. The meeting was adjourned at 4:00 p.m.