CORRECTED MINUTES
OF THE GRADUATE COUNCIL |
|
The regular meeting of the Graduate Council was held at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, November 15, 2012 in 110 AIME Building.
Dr. Marsha Adams (substituted by Dr. Susan
Appel),
Dr. Mary Elizabeth Curtner-Smith, Dr. Jason DeCaro,
Prof. Steve Miller
Dr. Louis A. Pitshmann
Dr. John Schmitt, Associate Dean Mr. Derrick Stokes (Absent) Mr. Jonathan Handy
GUEST(S): None
I. Approval of the Minutes of the
September 25, 2012 meeting
Dean David Francko welcomed everyone and
asked if there were corrections to the September 25, 2012 minutes. A
motion was made to approve the minutes as written and seconded – motion
passed. Dean Francko introduced Dr. Andrew Goodliffe as the new Assistant Dean for Admissions & Recruitment in the Graduate School.
McNair Scholars Program - Funding
for the McNair Scholars Program has been cut by the Federal Government
at the end of September 2012. Although The University of Alabama
appealed the scoring, UA came up one point short of the funding
threshold. The UA President has approved continuation funding for our
current students through the Spring 2013 semester, so that the current
McNair cohort will remain funded. After the Spring 2013 semester, the
McNairs program will not exist for undergraduate students at UA, but the
Graduate School will continue to sponsor the McNair graduate fellowship
program for former McNair students into the future. An updated McNair
graduate database will soon be available and will be sent out to all who
request it.
WISE – Women In the Stem Experience
- The new WISE program recently held a symposium that approximately 70
students and faculty members attended. The symposium was such a success
that the Graduate School will be holding symposiums in the future on a
regular basis. Women in STEM programs are under-represented at The
University of Alabama. Although The University of Alabama’s numbers are
in line with the national average, increased enrollment in these
programs will place us above the national average.
50 Year Anniversary – There will be
a year-long, across-the-university program in 2013 celebrating the 50
year anniversary of the “Stand on the School House Door” and how far The
University of Alabama has progressed over the past 50 years. We hope our
planned Graduate School event will coincide with the recruitment for
2013 fall so we have a large group of faculty, staff and students on
campus at the same time.
There was much publicity for the 40th
anniversary in 2003, and hopefully that will be true in 2013. Dr. Jeff
Parker stated that departments have been asked to create some type of
program in celebration of the 50 year anniversary and list the changes
over the past 50 years. This event is very important to involve the
students to participate in this event – not just the faculty and staff.
We should hear more sometime after the first of the year.
Undergraduate Scholars - Guest
lectures will be held in all Freshman Scholar classes. The Freshman
Scholar students begin research in their first year which includes
funding for the freshman year only. The presentations will inform
students about graduate education at The University of Alabama so these
students may start thinking about graduate school early in their higher
education career.
University Scholars is a great way to
transition from undergraduate to graduate school. Hopefully soon,
undergraduate students will come asking for information on the
University Scholars program. If your department does not have a
University Scholars program, you may want to bring this to your faculty
and present a proposal for a new University Scholars program. B. Associate Dean John Schmitt
Program Reviews - Several are
occurring in colleges and departments this academic year. This is part
of UA’s regular review of all 190 degree programs, whether they have
external accreditation or not.
The WISE event emphasized one
direction on which the Graduate School needs to focus in recruitment.
Dialogue will be increased between all
graduate program directors and the Graduate School.
The Graduate Parent Student Program
(GPS) - This program has grown significantly over the past few
years. Cori Perdue heads up the GPS program, and Monday, November 19,
2012, “Dialog” will have an article about the program. Please email
Human Resources on campus about the importance of this program –
Charlotte Harris or Linda Gilbert. If any of your colleagues has the
time, please ask them to email Human Resources also. It would be great
if you would please email Cori how important this program has been to
students across campus.
Tide Together – Becky Odom-Bartel
heads up the Tide Together program. Tide Together needs help with
faculty mentors from all over campus, so please volunteer. Currently,
the Tide Together program needs more mentors from the colleges, CBA in
particular. Graduate students (mostly PhD/some MS) have a faculty mentor
through Tide Together to guide them through the Graduate School and
their degree program. The faculty mentor is not the advisor. This is the
fourth year of Tide Together, and out of the 98 students that have
utilized the program, only four students here have not received their
degree or left the UA Graduate School. Two left for a dream job, and the
other two transferred to another college. This totals less than 5%
attrition.
Veterans – Currently we are looking
at a new program for assisting veterans. Last Lecture Series – The Last Lecture Series will be held sometime in late April. Nomination information will be forthcoming after the first of the year.
|