April 22, 2020

 NEW BUSINESS

 General – Proposed additions to Graduate Council Bylaws covering syllabi review of stacked courses

Discussion:  Amend Graduate Council bylaws to state that when new graduate-level stacked courses are submitted for council approval, the undergraduate-level syllabus must also be included for council review. 

Discussion regarding the most effective method to review existing stacked courses produced the following suggestions:  establishment of a sub committee specifically to review stacked courses, establishment of a schedule by departments to review graduate courses for rigor while also reviewing stacked courses, splitting the review task between the Graduate Faculty Review committee and the Graduate Council, asking department chairs to report on their own courses with periodic follow up, and sending this communication very soon so that the process could begin over summer, thus providing evidence to SACS of progress toward improvement, and drafting a questionnaire for each department chair regarding stacked syllabi and admissions requirements.  A future follow up meeting will be held to approve and formalize the process for stacked syllabi review, date TBD. 

College of Engineering

Chemical Engineering M.S., M.E.S. :  Course Addition CHEN 5379 Applied Bioprocess & Fermentation Engineering.  Dr. Li motioned to approve.  The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.

Civil & Environmental Engineering M.S.:  request to allow for up to 6 credit hours of approved UG work to be shared between the two UG and Grad degrees (Enviro Engineering M.S. and Enviro Studies M.S.);  Course Changes:  CVEN 5325 Fundamentals of Air Pollution, CVEN 5334 Sustainability: Green Engineering and CVEN 5366 Travel Demand Analysis – request to change reporting level to 6 – DR on all three courses.  Dr. Haselbach attended the meeting and described this request to council members.  Dr. Rissman motioned to approve.  The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.