|
The regular meeting of the Graduate
Council was held at 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April 27, 2010 in 110 AIME
Building.
MEMBERS PRESENT:
Dr. Martin Bakker, Dr. Lisa Dorr,
Dr. Yuebin Guo, Dr. Carol B. Mills,
Dr. Debra Nelson-Gardell, Dr. John Petrovic,
Dr. Nancy J. Rubin, Dr. Jamie Satcher,
Dr. Edward Schnee, Dr. Lori Turner,
Dr. Roy Ann Sherrod, Dr. Wayne J. Urban,
Dr. Derek Williamson, Dr. Shuhua Zhou
MEMBERS ABSENT:
Dr. Rebecca Allen, Dr. Kim Caldwell,
Dr. Catherine E. Davies, Dr. Todd DeZoort,
Dr. Nirmala Erevelles, Dr. Robert H. Findlay,
Dr. Marysia Galbraith, Dr. Diane Johnson,
Dr. Ida M. Johnson, Dr. Stevan Marcus,
Dr. Wendy M. Rawlings, Dr. Kristy E. Reynolds,
Dr. Samit Roy, Dr. Keith A. Woodbury,
Dr. Vivian H. Wright
EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS ABSENT:
Dr. Louis A. Pitschmann
Dr. Harold Stowall
GRADUATE SCHOOL REPRESENTATIVES PRESENT:
Dr. John Schmitt, Associate Dean
Dr. Natalie Adams, Assistant Dean
Beth Yarbrough, Registrar
STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE(S):
Ms. Aziza Jackson
GUEST(S):
Dr. Matthew Curtner-Smith, Kinesiology
Dean Francko welcomed everyone, made introductions and asked if there
were corrections to the February 24, 2010 minutes. No corrections were
mentioned and the minutes were accepted as is.
I. Reports from Graduate Council Committees
A. Committee on Financial Aid – Dr. Natalie Adams reported on the
status of the Graduate Council Fellowships. Approximately 85 fellowships
were awarded this year. To date, 66 have accepted, 10 declined and 9 are
still pending a decision. 48 out of the 85 offered so far are in-state
residents.
All students that were nominated for a Graduate Council Fellowship, but
were not selected, have been ranked. Once a fellowship is declined, that
fellowship will be offered the next nominee on the ranked list.
B. Committee on Program & Degree Requirements – Dr. Carol Mills,
on behalf of both the Program & Degree Requirements Committee and the
Research & New Programs Committee, presented an alternative residency
proposal for Kinesiology. Dr. Matthew Curtner-Smith was present to
answer any questions. Dr. Mills reported that one member of the
committee opposed the proposal but the majority was in favor.
The reasoning behind the alternative residency proposal is that most
PhDs students are full-time working professionals and completing 2
consecutive semesters of 9 hours on-campus coursework is difficult. The
proposal includes the following: 6 hours of on campus coursework for two
consecutive semesters along with work off-campus in one of the key areas
listed in the proposal. (See
Attachment #1) All doctoral students must complete all the
requirement in each of the Key Areas listed.
It was suggested that a friendly amendment be added to page 1 in the
proposal, changing the question “Why the Need for More Exercise
Scientists and Sport Pedagogists?’ to “Why the Need for an Alternative
Residency?”
Dr. Bakker made a motion to suspend normal quorum and Lori Turner
seconded the motion. None opposed.
Dr. John Petrovic motioned the Graduate Council accept the proposal with
the amendment and Wayne Urban seconded the motion. All in favor – none
opposed.
II. Reports from the Dean’s Office and Academic Affairs
Dean Francko reported on the number of applicants to date for this
upcoming academic year. Applications are up 9% which is over 8000
applications. The Graduate School is processing the applications as fast
as possible, but it is too early to determine the size of the fall 2010
class. Our target is 4,500 students. (See
Attachment #2).
There are 1,400 applications that have been sent to departments with no
action taken - this is approximately 41%. Each department needs to let
the student know about the status of their application. For example,
there are students that applied fall 2009 for the fall 2010 and no
action has been taken by the department. Please keep in contact with the
student and inform each of them the status of their application.
Information from the Graduate School will be sent to the departments
regarding the status of all applications.
Part of the hold up within the department deals with the type of
information needed by the department versus the Graduate School for
admission. Most of the time, an application is complete according to the
Graduate School, but incomplete within the department. Most
“no-decision” applications are waiting for letters of recommendation.
Some students are denied because of the lack of letters of
recommendation. If the department puts the exact reason on the status
sheet for a student being denied, the Graduate School will include the
reason in the denial letter sent to the student. Putting the letters of
recommendation on the web is a project for next May.
Dr. Bakker stated that his department has most of their applications
completed with a decision. Their department tries to admit without
support and sometimes this works well, but they have approximately 150
application with no decision as of yet.
Communication with a prospective (and current) student is important. In
today's society, students are not checking email, but using text and the
Clientele has even changed on Facebook. All email is not obsolete so do
not rule out email. Of course, there is always snail mail. The Graduate
School’s goal is to leverage larger classes and be aggressive on
Graduate Council Fellowships, National Alumni Fellowships,
Assistantships, etc.
Dr. Natalie Adams reported on the changed
in the GRE testing. Below is the list of changes:
1. New Scale – 130-170 vs. 200-800 in 10-point increments - 1 point
increments. There will be more differentiation between 131 and 132.
2. First new test will be administered August 2011
3. Scores from the new test will not be available until November 2011
4. New test design (Subject Test are not changing):
• Quantitative Portion – can use on –screen calculators; revised paper
tests will have calculators to use on site; may have more than one
answer
• Verbal Portion – significant changes; no antonyms or synonyms; more
reading passages; new question types; vocabulary embedded within
passages; multiple answers; more text based and comprehension;
vocabulary in context
• Analytical Portion – isn’t changing much; more focused response
5. Free sample test
6. Score report will include concordance information; a redesigned GRE
report; concordance tables available on GRE website
7. Sign up : www.ets.org/gre/updates
8. Test - more test taker friendly; can navigate freely; can move
around; more real life scenarios; test preparation
9. Time line
• July 2010 ; free test preparation will be available to test takers
• August 2011 – first day of testing using revised test
• Nov. 2011 – score reporting
***For test takers who take the revised GRE test between August and
November 2011, score reports will be issued in November, rather than the
10-15 day reporting period now.
10. New test will be slightly longer
11. Same testing network right now
The Graduate School will bring someone in from GRE to train and updates
will be sent via email. According to the GRE people, the old test was
good, but the new test will be better and more race/gender friendly. A
Score of 150 will be the median for both the Quantitative and Verbal
areas. And the format is to help with the testing security due to
overseas cheating.
Dr. John Schmitt reported on the Electronic Thesis/Dissertation
submissions. To date, approximately 385 ETDs have been submitted since
it became mandatory 8/15/2009.
More students are using the embargo which does not allow their paper to
be released to the public for a specified period of time. Approximately
22% have selected Embargo (6% for 6 months, 6% for 1 year and 10% for 2
years). Some students are worried about plagiarism or maybe even a
patent issue.
The workshop for Graduate Teaching Assistants will be held August 12-13,
2010 at the Bryant Conference Center. Last year, there were 256
attendees. Please don’t schedule required graduate students meeting on
those days. Each attendee will receive a Certificate of Professional
Development. Please note that all New Graduate Teaching Assistants need
to attend. Even though it is not mandatory, most universities withhold
pay until a new Teaching Assistant has attended the workshop.
III. Reports from Standing University Committees
There were no standing committee reports.
IV. Old Business
There was no old business.
V. New Business
There was no new business.
Dean Francko closed the meeting by adding that a lot of good things were
accomplished this year and he appreciates each and every member for
their hard work. Meeting was adjourned at 4:30 p.m.
|