May 19, 2021

 Attending: Jeff Forret, Joe Kruger, Theresa Hefner-Babb, Jerry Lin, Brett Welch, Jeff Dyson, David Short, Carly Cox, Awais Saleem

 Approval of Minutes 

#465 – April 21, 2021 

Forret:  list as present, correct name for just one T in last name.   Hefner-Babb:  correct Cioci last name.  Motion to accept with corrections – Forret, second – Welch, motion passed.

Old Business

• Minimum admission standards for LU Graduate Program    
• University-level policy regarding application of credits from Master’s degree toward D.E. or Ph.D., “double counting” courses
• Thesis/Dissertation course grading - update
• M.S.N./M.B.A. dual degree program – update
• Request to change major in the first semester after admission – finding of investigation
• Planning for syllabi review – Summer 2021 courses

College of Education & Human Development

Nutrition, Hospitality & Human Services - Changes to existing M.S. in Nutrition, addition of new online graduate certificate in Sports Nutrition, addition of new Didactic Program in Dietetics certificate including four new course additions NUTR 5311 Advanced MNTI, NUTR 5313 Advanced MNT II, NUTR 5317 Food Principles & Preparation and NUTRT 5319 Menu & Production Management. Updates on communication with the College of Education.

Response from previous questions RE need for faculty line has been communicated and discussed with Provost and CFO, also provided a list of program activities to be implemented next year.  These proposals have passed through our Planning & Assessment office and are drafted in a high-quality fashion.  Motion to accept proposals – Forret, second – Welch, approved.

College of Engineering

Civil & Environmental Engineering – add a new graduate certificate program in Sustainable Infrastructure Engineering. A supplementary document has been provided.

After last meeting there were questions about the program, resources needed and accreditation framework.  Dr. Haselbach provided supplementary documents to share with council, including program objectives, admissions and assessment requirements, etc.  Council asked to review and provide additional comments/questions.  Hefner-Babb: concern with assessment language, i.e. demonstrate and describe, recommends using higher level of Bloom’s taxonomy such as synthesize, etc. This version of the proposal is much more elaborated than the previous version.  Will council consider making decision pending supplemental info/revision on learning outcomes?  No concerns voiced, Forret: notes that the marketable skills section is very detailed and could be adapted into the learning outcomes.  Kruger: list marketable skills but possibly remove mentions of ABED since not required.  Lin: directly related job market need using labor statistics, remove ABED and ASCE references? Hefner-Babb: this is an internal document so the references may be helpful after all.  Doesn't see need to remove these.  Reiterates need to strengthen wording with higher level Bloom’s taxonomy.  Motion to accept pending revision of student learning outcomes: Dyson, second – Forret, motion passed.

Port & Terminal Management – proposal of new form for Graduate Course Waiver. Policy being formed by CAPM.

Discussed SACS requirements on this issue with department, asked to see correspondence between qualifications and degree plan coursework.  Center is now working on this with program faculty members.  No additional documentation currently.  Lin: asks council for questions or comments on development of this policy that can be related to the program director?  Dyson: suggests asking them to create special topics course(s) to enhance professional context, considering what college of business does at graduate level with regard to waiving coursework for credit.  Hefner-Babb:  SACS expects that they will have a detailed rubric and expectations, cannot be vague, must be very specific process.  Not a good fit as it stands right now.  Lin: we need them to come up with a content specific plan but we can work on an overall University policy for this later on to ensure we are holding students to a certain level of rigor with faculty oversight to ensure mastery of the content.  CoGS and Planning & Assessment can schedule meeting including Dr. Brown to discuss this.  Kruger: test for competency in these courses to be waived?  Lin: Faculty-based objectivity is weaker than competency exam for purposes of awarding credit.  Forret: asks about maximum hours allowed under this type of waiver. Lin:  cannot exceed 50% of degree requirements, so 18 credit hours in this case.  Hefner-Babb:  50% amount is concerning, seems high.  Lin:  letter from SACS to President Evans indicated the 50% measure.  Hefner-Babb:  DoE may have gotten involved and changed these percentages, she will check into this and let us know if this indeed has changed.

New Business  

College of Arts & Sciences

Earth & Space Sciences – GRE waiver request effective Summer 2021

Kruger: Doing this because this is a new program and they want to attract students.  Two of the three current applicants have not taken the GRE, though one has.  GRE is expensive and students prefer to not take it.  Many Universities are not currently requiring GRE.  Has been in discussion with Dr. Amer RE making some of these criteria more stringent.  Program may make these waiver requirements more stringent later but need to seek approval now since students are hoping to start this summer.  Can department set more stringent requirements later?  Lin:  if criteria can be applied consistently and uniformly there should be no problem.  Dyson:  Business has done this, points out that work experience qualification can vary and be difficult to determine.  Kruger: notes that supporting documents are required and waiver is considered on a case-by-case basis, so they have the option of not counting “entry level” or other work that would not qualify.  Is it possible to waive the GRE entirely?  Lin:  not possible at this time, would need University level approval and application across all programs.  Hefner-Babb:  question about military enlistment criteria. Two years is basics and wouldn’t include exposure to anything relevant to content area in a 2-year military career.  Suggest this be more specific.  Kruger:  Dr. Amer was trying to give military an advantage, no matter experience level.  Hefner-Babb:  if they only need to meet one of the criteria, this may not be the one we want them to be admitted based on.  Kruger:  agrees, will communicate this to Dr. Amer.  Hefner-Babb:  could be a secondary consideration but uncomfortable with this as a single criterion for admission.  Lin:  asks Kruger if this could be revised and presented to council again?  Kruger:  can let Dr. Amer know that we can accept the criteria with modifications, drop military qualification, etc. Would like to seek approval today so that students can be admitted for summer and modify proposal later.  Lin:  need to better define criteria number 2 and revision of number 10, doesn’t feel number 9 is necessary as GRE scores within 5 years can be reported.  Motion to accept pending revisions of criteria 2, 9 and 10 – Welch, second – Saleem, motion passed.

Dyson:  need to initiate discussion of plan to end COVID related waivers for admissions.

Computer Science – request for transfer credit policy exception, request exceeding 6 hours

Lin: requested that official transcripts be provided, and syllabi evaluation performed, department provided.  Motion to accept exception to policy – Forret, second – Dyson, motion passed.

History – request for grade replacement policy exception, replacing grade earned prior to Fall 2014

Forret:  Grade being replaced dates to 2009.  Student did poorly in 2009 when getting started then took many years off.  Upon her return, she is excelling in her coursework.  Have completed a directed reading with this student this spring and she did very well.  Replacement would be F to A.  Lin:  asks David Short if courses taken long ago still count in GPA?  Short:  under current policy, yes.  UG has some options that allow course removal/replacement, but there is no time limit on consideration of credits.  If course no longer counts toward GPA, policy modification needed to address this.  Lin: explained policy on course recertification for expired courses but no need to recertify courses with insufficient grades, must be retaken.  Motion to accept – Kruger, second – Hefner-Babb, motion passed.

College of Fine Arts & Communication

 Speech & Hearing Sciences – degree plan change & course addition; increasing hours from 30 to 33 by adding one 3-hour elective, SPHS 5303-Voice Disorders & Cleft Palate

Hefner-Babb:  this program recently went through reaffirmation and were told they needed to add a course to degree plan for accreditation.  Hefner-Babb: learning outcomes language seems too low for graduate level, suggests update to wording.  Motion to accept pending updates to wording as suggested – Welch, second – Hefner-Babb, motion passed.

G4 Approvals

CoFAC – Dawn Kidd, Martina Bienvenue, Outside Committee Members - Lindsey Snyder (student Brian Cheslock L20357425), Thangi Appanah (student Rajmonda Krasniqi L20384724)

CoEHD – John Boatwright

Lin:  requests council members to review and provide feedback/decision.  Kruger:  already reviewed and approves.  Dr. Welch will add to workbook so council members can review and approve.