Graduate Studies Senate Committee Minutes

April 9, 2008

105 Hullihen Hall

1:30 pm

Members present: Charles Mason, Chair; Darwin Davis, Matthew Kinservik, Mary Martin, Peter Kolchin (excused), Susan Brynteson, Richard Fang, James Flynn (excused), Andrew Teplyakov, Jeffry Fuhrmann, Adam Marsh (by teleconference), Robert Opila, Graduate Students Rachel Schiavone and Alan Stottlemyer.

Old Business: A) Program Policy Statements for the College of Marine and Earth Studies: As requested by the Committee, separate program policy statements have been completed for the degrees in Marine Studies and the degrees in Geology. The Committee unanimously approved the documents with the final review and approval by Mary Martin, Assistant Provost for Graduate Studies.

B) Committee discussion on options for the graduate catalog: Several ideas were presented by the committee with regard to other options for the presentation of the information in the Graduate Catalog section of the University Catalog and the Program Policy Statements of the individual programs. Richard Fang, chair of the subcommittee (Rachel Schiavone, and Andrew Teplyakov) circulated the Committee recommendations.

The Committee requested that Havidan Rodriquez meet with the Committee so as to hear the perspective on the future plans of the University Undergraduate and Graduate Catalog. In addition, it was agreed that Chuck Mason, Robert Opila and Mary Martin would meet with Havidan prior to the next meeting to discuss the Committee's perspectives on the availability of the Program Policy Statements.

C) Members of the Committee reported on the status of their review of the graduate courses that were identified on the Course Challenge list. Darwin Davis had requested clarification on the faculty input in MAST 651 as the signatures only reflected administrative signatures and not faculty approval. It was verified by the Dean of Marine Students that the course had been approved by the College's Academic Council. Dr. Tom Ilvento, chair of Food and Resource Economics Department with the MS program in Statistics, had challenged CIEG 638 because is contained similar material to a STAT course. As a result, the submitting department chose to withdraw its proposal for the new course, CIEG 638. All other challenges were resolved and approved.

New Business: A) Based on the request of Matthew Kinservik, information on the Publishing Agreement and Guides for theses and dissertations was distributed by Mary Martin. The discussion on the information was deferred to the next meeting.

Announcements: Chair Chuck Mason reminded the Committee to review and make comments on the PSPR (Senate Instructions) procedures and policy document.

Next Meeting: April 23, 2008

1:30-3:00 pm

105 Hullihen Hall

Minutes submitted by Mary Martin, Assistant Provost for Graduate Studies