September 18, 2019

Lamar University Graduate Council

MINUTES #451

September 18, 2019

Approval of Minutes

• #449 – May 16, 2019
• #450 – Summer 2019 (items approved via email June-August 2019)

Council members reviewed minutes and noted the need for two edits: include approved modifications to Master's of Engineering Management (M.E.M.) degree and include the approved deletion of Nursing course MSNC 5312.  Council secretary will update official minutes.  Motion to accept minutes with these edits was made, seconded and the motion was passed.

New Business

College of Arts & Sciences

Biology – M.S. Biology: Course Change: BIOL 5303 Medical Microbiology – change from Special Topics course, effective Fall 2019

• Council noted that the course description on the course addition form and on the syllabus states that the course may be repeated for credit when topics of investigation differ and suggested that this be updated by the department. Motion to accept the course addition pending this change to the course description was made, seconded and the motion passed.

Computer Science – M.S. Computer Science: Course Changes: COSC 5322 Computer Vision and COSC 5331 Image Processing – change from Special Topics courses, effective Fall 2019

• Council noted that the grading scale appears under the “accreditation” area on the syllabus and suggested this be updated by the department. Motion to accept the course addition pending this change to the syllabus was made, seconded and the motion passed.

Earth & Space Science – new graduate certificate in Geographic Information Systems (GIS): Course Additions: GEOL 5312 Advanced GIS and GEOL 5313 Research Project, effective Fall 2019

• Council tabled this item because it was unclear whether the other GEOL courses in the certificate plan had been approved. Per the Registrar, GEOL 5311 and GEOL 5316 were not currently in inventory.  Two course additions were submitted but not approved.  The non-GEOL courses do exist in inventory.  Council wishes to review any new GEOL courses for this certificate at one time.  Council President contacted the department regarding approval of other courses.

English & Modern Languages – M.A. Teaching Spanish: Course Additions: SPAN 5391 Thesis and SPAN 5392 Thesis II – adding thesis option to degree plan, effective Fall 2019.  M.A. English: Course Addition: ENGL 5342 Academic Writing – adding options beyond creative and technical writing for grad students, effective Spring 2019.

• Motion to accept the course additions was made, seconded and the motion passed.

Nursing – Requesting change to admissions requirements: 3.0 or higher for last 60 hours of college coursework; Requesting change to Suspension/Probation policy: graduate students must maintain 3.0 GPA, earning 3 C’s in any MSNC, MSNA or MSNE course will lead to dismissal from the program.

• Motion to accept the policy change was made, seconded and the motion passed.

Psychology – M.S. Applied Psychology: Adding practicum component to meet Texas State Board of Examiners of Psychologists requirements for licensure as Psychological Associate.

Course Additions: PSYC 5305 Ethical and Legal Implications for Psychologists (effective Spring 2020), PSYC 5325 Personality & Psychopathology (effective Spring 2020), PSYC 5332 Practicum III (effective Spring 2021); Course Changes: PSYC 5302 Advanced Data Analysis (effective Fall 2019), PSYC 5321 Advanced Organizational Psychology (effective Fall 2020), PSYC 5322 Advanced Industrial Psychology (effective Spring 2021), PSYC 5323 Experimental Design (effective Spring 2020), PSYC 5350 Multivariate Data Analysis (effective Spring 2020)

• Motion to accept all course additions and changes was made, seconded and the motion passed.

Sociology, Social Work & Criminal Justice – M.S. Criminal Justice: Course Addition: CRIJ 5345 Capstone in Criminal Justice, effective Fall 2019. Requesting change to Grade Replacement/Course Repetition Policy: department wishes to limit grade replacement to one-time only, effective Fall 2020.

• Council tabled this item for further discussion with the Provost and Dean of Arts & Sciences.

College of Business

Information Systems & Analysis – M.S. Management Information Systems: Change MGMT 5370 form core to elective to offer students flexibility in degree plan. 

M.B.A. – New M.B.A. concentrations in Management Information Systems, Financial Management (online) and Business Analytics.  New graduate certificate in Business Analytics.  Proposing change to electives in M.B.A. marketing concentration to provide students with more flexibility.  Admissions: proposing change in undergraduate GPA requirement for graduate certificate programs from 2.7 to 2.5 to help increase enrollment in these programs. Also proposing change to M.B.A. admissions requirements: acceptance of GRE scores, GMAT/GRE waiver policy and pre-M.B.A. admissions criteria.

• S. Bandyopadhyay went over all proposed changes at the opening of the meeting and took questions from councilmembers. Motion to accept all changes was made, seconded and the motion was passed. 

College of Education & Human Development

Educational Leadership – M.Ed. Digital Learning & Leading: change from 5-week to 8-week courses with 3-5 start dates, reduce degree requirements from 36 to 30 hours, remove EDLD 5314 Digital Learning in Local & Global Contexts and EDLD 5316 Digital Citizenship from degree plan but keep in course inventory for M.Ed. Educational Technology degree plan, and change degree program title from Digital Learning & Leading to Applied Technology.

• Motion to accept all changes was made, seconded and the motion passed.

Nutrition, Hospitality & Human Services – proposing new online M.S. Hospitality Leadership, including 12 new courses: HOSP 5335 Intro to Hospitality & Tourism, HOSP 5341 Research Methods in Hospitality, HOSP 5357 Hospitality Operational Analysis, HOSP 5358 Hospitality Law, HOSP 5360 Organizational Management for Services, HOSP 5361 Service Management, HOSP 5362 Current Marketing Topics, HOSP 5371 Data Analysis, HOSP 5372 Leadership Strategies, HOSP 5373 Ethics and Diversity, HOSP 5374 Contemporary Issues, HOSP 5381 Thesis: Hospitality Leadership

• Council noted that the proposed degree plan contains only one Thesis course when at least six hours of Thesis is required. Council President contacted department to address this and the item was tabled for the next meeting. 

College of Fine Arts & Communication

Deaf Studies & Deaf Education – M.S. Deaf Studies & Deaf Ed: Updated degree plan describing exemptions from PEDG 5330, 5344, 5345, 5350 & 5375 for students already holding teacher certification, effective Fall 2019

• Millie Musyoka went over this item at the beginning of the meeting and took questions from councilmembers. Motion to accept update was made, seconded and the motion passed.

Speech & Hearing Sciences – M.S. Speech-Language Pathology:  Adding pre-requisite courses to degree audit, effective Fall 2019

• Motion to accept update was made, seconded and the motion passed.