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The regular meeting of the Graduate
Council was held at 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 16,
2010 in 205 Gorgas Library.
MEMBERS PRESENT: Dr. Marsha Adams, Dr. Rebecca Allen,
Dr. Kim Caldwell, Dr. Mary Curtner-Smith,
Dr. Lisa Dorr, Dr. Marysia Galbraith,
Dr. Yuebin Guo, Dr. Diane Johnson,
Dr. Margo Lamme, Dr. Debra Nelson-Gardell,
Dr. John Petrovic, Dr. Leslie Rissler,
Dr. Nancy J. Rubin, Dr. Edward Schnee,
Dr. Steve Thoma, Dr. Lori Turner,
Dr. Wayne J. Urban, Dr. Derek
Williamson, Dr. Vivian Wright
MEMBERS ABSENT: Dr. Martin Bakker, Dr. Kim Bissell,
Dr. F. Todd DeZoort, Dr. Susan Gaskins,
Dr. Timothy Haskew, Dr. Stevan Marcus,
Dr. Steve Miller, Dr. Michael Picone,
Dr. Wendy Rawlings, Dr. Kristy Reynolds,
Dr. Jamie Satcher
EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS: Dr. Louis A. Pitschmann
ABSENT: Dr. Harold Stowell
GRADUATE SCHOOL REPRESENTATIVES PRESENT: Dr. John Schmitt,
Associate Dean
Dr. Natalie Adams, Assistant Dean
Ms. Beth Yarbrough, Registrar
STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE(S): Mr. L. J. Moore
GUEST(S): Dr. Rob Morgan – College of Commerce & Business Admin.
Dr. Marietta Stanton – Capstone College of Nursing
Dr. Roy Ann Sherrod – Capstone College of Nursing
Dr. Joe Benson – Vice President for Research
Dr. Tanta Miles – Director & Research Compliance Officer –
Institutional Review Board
Dean Francko welcomed everyone and introductions were made. Dr. Francko
asked if there were corrections to the September 28, 2010 minutes. A
motion was made that the minutes be accepted as written. The motion was
seconded and the minutes were accepted.
Dr. Joe Benson, Vice President for Research, and Dr. Tanta Myles,
Director & Research Compliance Officer, were introduced. In the past,
the Psychology Strategic Planning Core has noticed delays with the
Institutional Review Board (IRB) holding up research in relation to a
student’s dissertation. After looking into the submissions from this
past year, just between Psychology and Social Work there were 86
separate submissions. Although the average number of days waiting for a
response from IRB after submission was 39, the final approval takes
about 56 days. The ad hoc committee listed a few suggestions:
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More help – Graduate Student
Assistant.
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Purchase Better Software.
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Recruit more members to serve on IRB
Committees.
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Increase training for investigators.
-
Increase training in specific areas of
human subjects.
-
Implement a system to track reviewers.
-
Form an informal Committee on Issues
with IRB.
Dr. Joe Benson spoke about the protocols –
this year alone, the University of Alabama’s submissions are up to 900
with two people handling the workload. Previously, approximately 300
submissions were processed per year. A new compliance specialist has
been hired and currently the department is advertising for another
compliance specialist.
The Current IRB Process is as follows:
-
Project is submitted and logged in.
-
The project is sent to a specialist
for processing.
-
If all paperwork is approved, the
proposal is sent to the committee for approval.
-
If changes are needed in the proposal,
there is a limit of 60 days to make the changes and send back to the
reviewer. Once all paperwork is approved and completed, then the
proposal will go to the committee.
The major problem is with the number of
reviewers working at this time in conjunction with the number of missing
documents and protocols in the submissions. Steps are being made to
shorten the time using email notification to the reviewer and all people
involved. Complete information regarding submissions can be found on the
web at
http://osp.ua.edu/site/irb.html.
Currently, 30% of the protocols are submitted through E-Protocols and it
would help if this increased. There is also a need to increase the size
of the committee and the size of the quorums. While any minor changes in
the submission are completed in the office through a sub-committee, all
major changes must go back to the committee.
Most protocols were developed for biomedical research; however, these
protocols must be held for all types of research. IRB is working toward
improving this process better through the following steps:
Faculty members have expressed opinions
regarding the new training model being tedious and very time consuming.
The “CITI” program is used nationally for testing and retesting faculty.
The University of Alabama retests their faculty every 2 years - whereas
most schools review yearly.
New faculty members receive the following training:
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IRB Training
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Mini Session Training
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Self Evaluation
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E-Protocol
I. Reports from Graduate Council
Committees
A. Committee on Program & Degree
Requirements – Dr. Derek Williamson, on behalf of both the
Program & Degree Requirements Committee and Research & New Programs
Committee presented a new dual degree program between the Master of
Arts in Management and the Master of Science in Nursing.
See Handout #1. Only 12 hours
will be allowed to double count toward both degrees, i.e., 6 in each
degree. The committee was in favor of the proposal. After some
discussion, a motion was made and seconded to accept; 17 were in
favor, none opposed, one abstained. The motion passed.
B. Committee on Admission & Recruitment – Dr. Edward Schnee,
on behalf of the Committee on Admissions & Recruitment reported.
a. Currently, the Higher Education Administration (HEA) department
has a waiver for the GRE exam. The department will not seek to renew
this exemption. As a result, next year, all applicants will be
required to take the exam for admission purposes.
b. Creative Writing has submitted a proposal to waive the GRE test
for admissions. Most other schools with a similar program do not
require the exam. This was considered a strong proposal due to the
fact that most of the admission evaluation is based on writing
submissions, and the test has no correlation to the admissions
decisions made by the department. A motion was made and seconded to
accept the exemption for Creative Writing proposal along with a
follow-up. 14 were in favor, none opposed, one abstained and the
motion passed.
C. Committee on Financial Aid – Dr. Natalie Adams spoke on
Dr. Diane Johnson’s behalf. The deadlines for the 2011-2012 Graduate
Council Fellowships (GCF) are as follows:
a. Round 1 – 1/20/2011
b. Research/Creative Activity Round – 2/10/2011
c. Round 2 – 3/3/2011
d. Round 3 – 3/31/2011
Currently, there is an 80-81% acceptance rate. Although the stipends
cannot be raised, there is a new program to share money between the
Department and the Graduate School.
The new Fellowship Enhancement Partnership (FEP) program will be
used to augment standard GCF awards instead of cannibalizing
valuable department assistantship lines that could be used to
recruit another new student. See
Handout #2.
II. Reports from the Dean’s Office and
Academic Affairs
Dean Francko spoke about the upcoming Recruitment Seminar. There
will be a representative from the GRE test center to talk about the
upcoming changes to the exam. The new GRE test will begin August 1, 2011
and the changes will affect scoring, scaling and contents.
Many new items are being used for recruitment. In the local newspaper,
it was not mentioned about the growth of the Graduate School in an
article on UA growth. The new goal for graduate student enrollment is
approximately 5200 by the year 2013. Currently, the Graduate School
enrollment percentage increase is greater than the Undergraduate
percentage increase. The set goal is to add 150-200 students this year
in order to have approximately 4700 students by the year 2011.
With these preliminary numbers, we need to increase the Graduate
Assistantship funding and the GCF funding. In 2009, there were
approximately 1500 Graduate Assistantships (.50) and 25 of those were
faculty grant positions. In 2010, we have increased to approximately
1621
Graduate Assistantships (.50) and this does not include the GCF. If we
can increase our overall number to 1750 students, then funding would
increase to 38%.
Normally, there is approximately $2,000,000 more generated by graduate
student tuition revenue than the costs of funding graduate student
support. This year, the positive difference is approximately $7,000,000.
This is due to several factors, including the increase in outside
grants. Dean Francko expressed his appreciation to the entire faculty
for their hard work in securing outside grants.
Dr. John Schmitt reported that committees are reviewing the college
nominees for UA Outstanding Thesis and Outstanding Dissertation. The
Graduate Council’s Committee on Teaching, Research and Service Awards
will begin its reviews in mid-January for the 5 awards for Outstanding
Teaching (masters and doctoral), Outstanding Research (masters and
doctoral), and Outstanding Service (by a graduate student at any degree
level).
The McNair Scholarship submissions are due January 14-February 26th.
This year there will be a major change in the commencement ceremony.
Beginning in December, the dissertation chair (or hooder) will sit with
his or her student and have a photo taken with each student. If the
chair (or hooder) has more than one student, then all students will be
hooded together. As a result, the lineup will not be in alphabetical
order.
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.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:30 p.m. |