October 21, 2020

Location:  Library 6^th floor conference room 625 & via MS Teams

Attendees:  Xianchang Li, Jeff Dyson, Jeffrey Forret, Joseph Kruger, Dorothy Sisk, Awais Saleem, Jerry Lin, Brett Welch, Theresa Hefner-Babb, David Short and Carly Cox

Approval of Minutes 

#458 – September 23, 2020 

Dr. Sisk moved to accept minutes, Dr. Kruger seconded.  All approved, motion passed.

Old Business 

Updates to stacked course review process? 

Dr. Hefner-Babb submitted document for review. Question from Dr. Sisk – what is major difference meant to be? Dr. Hefner-Babb answered that academic rigor between 4000 and 5000 level courses should be clear.  Sometimes there is no difference beyond the number.  We were specifically called on this issue in our last review.  Dr. Sisk suggested it would be good for us to make statements about need for research and provide opportunity for program administration to correct before reviewing.  Jerry will forward Dr. Hefner-Babb’s document on stacked course review procedures for council review then communicate standards back to departments, then we can run inventory of stacked courses in Grad Studies.  Then we can set plans for review process.  Council needs to agree upon the standard we will communicate to departments.  After allowing departments to make revisions, we can begin review process.  Dr. Kruger agrees.  Hope to make decision in November meeting.  Dr. Hefner-Babb based policy draft on other TSUS institution policies on same matter and it does include specific suggestions from SACS.

New Business 

-Discussion and voting on updated policy for Institutional Doctoral Waivers, updated Graduate Council bylaws. 

Council has not had the opportunity to review updated bylaws at this time.  Dr. Lin explained the changes to the bylaws as described below: 

1. addition of new members, associate dean and SACS liaison. Provost office will occasionally send rep to attend meeting. Ex officio members can now vote, so 11 total voting members.
2. Graduate Faculty Review Committee was disbanded and their duties are to be absorbed by this council (more info below)
3. revised grad council responsibility: review new grad courses and programs/cert programs, determine course rigor, perform periodic review.

This was tabled for review and decision in November

-The Graduate Faculty Review Committee has been disbanded and their duties are to be absorbed by the Graduate Council (G4 review/approval). 

Working w/college leadership to revise process and will likely tie to annual faculty review, but for this year we will use existing process.  CoEHD has most applications.  Council members are asked to review applications for their respective colleges and provide a yes or no decision.  Brett will assist w/CoEHD review.  Jeff Dyson with CoBusiness asked if a college committee could participate in this review and was told that yes, that was acceptable.  The goal is to have the initial review complete by our November meeting so everything can be finalized before the end of the Fall semester.  The membership levels listed on the front page of the G4 application contain the qualifications required for membership and can be used as a rubric for the review.    

Doctoral Waiver Policy

Two changes – removal of forms, will use list communicated from college dean to Grad Studies office & elimination of any possibility that waiver is applied to tuition beyond 99 credit hrs.  Dr. Kruger asked if students are required to do anything specific for stipend.  Yes, they will be research assistant or teaching assistant or graduate assistantship and these have specific duties associated.  The dept/college that owns the financial resource the stipend is pulled from are able to define the workload for students.  Departments will decide which courses (electives) will be counted towards degree program and eligible for doc waiver/scholarship.  Jeff Forret asked are new doctoral programs required to conform to these rules RE waiver/scholarship?  Yes, this is University policy and the waiver/scholarship is funded by the University.  If new programs have specific needs not addressed in the policy, that can be discussed w/council as needed.  Dr. Sisk moved to accept policy, Dr. Saleem seconded.  Motion passed.

College of Arts & Sciences 

Nursing: proposing two new 9-hour certificate programs (certificate pathways) comprised of existing courses, Certificate in Nursing Administration and Certificate in Nursing Education.  These programs would be delivered fully online on the 8-week calendar. 

Dr. Sisk commented on the value of certificate programs, particularly those that provide credits that can be transferred to a degree.  Dr. Sisk motioned to accept the proposal, Dr. Forret seconded the motion.  Motion passed.

College of Business 

M.S.-MIS:  requesting University catalog update of 11 course descriptions.  Courses and descriptions found in memo. 

David Short commented that there is an issue with these not being submitted on the course change forms.  Dr. Hefner-Babb agrees that any changes to a course should be submitted using the appropriate form.  Jeff Dyson will relay this to his colleagues in College of Business and the item will be tabled.

M.B.A.:  requesting course change, details below 

Jeff Dyson explained that this is a consolidation of what used to be two courses into one existing course, consistent with degree changes that were previously approved.  This is leveling class for undergrads and is designed for students w/o background in econ or finance.  Motion to approve from Dr. Li, seconded by Jeff Forret.  Motion approved.

Construction Management:  requesting four course deletions, courses have been updated under another course number and title 

Follow up from previously approved ending of cross listed courses.  Motion to approve course deletions from Jeff Forret, second by Jeff Dyson.  Motion passed. 

College of Education & Human Development 

Teacher Education/Educational Leadership:  request to move programs from Teacher Education department to Educational Leadership department.  Programs are: M.Ed. and certificate in Special Education and M.Ed. Teacher Leadership.  Rationale for change provided in memo.   

Dr. Kruger noted the memo states that there is no state or federal certification in special education.  This seems inaccurate and perhaps is meant to read “special education leadership” instead.  This seems to be effective Fall 2020, we can state that it will be effective January 2021.  Dr. Sisk moved to accept, Dr. Li seconded.  Motion passed.

Nutrition, Hospitality & Human Services:  updating proposal for credit by experience from last month’s meeting.  Item was tabled and info on evaluation process for awarding credit was requested.  Department has provided updated information on this. 

This does not need SACS approval only THECB notification. Dr. Hefner-Babb has already reviewed this.  Council noted issue with wording of statement: “students may submit a request until the start date of their last semester.” This seems unclear.  Jeff Forret & Dr. Hefner-Babb suggested stronger language RE establishment of credentials at admissions and requirement to maintain credential throughout program.  Item tabled for clarification.

College of Engineering 

Civil & Environmental Engineering:  requesting Course Addition for Spring 2021. Course is CVEN 5336 Engineering with Nature: Ecology. 

This course is already being taught under another name.  Dr. Hefner-Babb wants to review grading scale for letter grades.  Jerry suggests removing less than symbols and replacing with exact numbers, Dr. Hefner-Babb agrees.  Motion to approve w/revision to grading scale – Jeff Forret agrees with both ways, no motion.  Motion to approve as is – Jeff Dyson, Dr. Li seconded.  Motion passed.

Mechanical Engineering:  Dr. Li asked about CoEngineering items from last meeting, specifically course deletions for MechEng MEEN 5377 & MEEN 5356.  Justification for MEEN 5356 is that the course has been moved under MEEN 5350 and for MEEN 5377 is moved to MEEN 5362.  Motion to approve these two course deletions from Jeff Forret, seconded by Jeff Dyson.  Motion passed.

Electrical Engineering:  Course change ELEN 5325 – update to course description for updated topics.  This is a cross listed course w/ELEN 6325, cannot have same course title and content.  Also discussed was course addition ELEN 5305, which is stacked w/ELEN 6305 and has the same issue with regard to clear differentiation of levels of rigor.  We will seek clarification from the department and discuss again in November.

Motion to adjourn from Dr. Li, seconded by Jeff Dyson.  Meeting adjourned. 

Cc

10.22.2020