Graduate Council – Minutes
East Tennessee State University
February 23, 2009 1:15pm
President’s Conference Room – Burgin Dossett Hall 206
Present: Dr. David A. Arnall, Ms. Amy Arnold, Dr. Jeffrey Beck, Ms. Queen Brown, Dr. Stacy D. Brown, Dr. Scott W. Champney, Dr. Wallace E. Dixon, Dr. Bill Duncan, Dr. Wayne Gillespie, Dr. Helene K. Halvorson, Dr. Donald B. Hoover, Ms. Billie Lancaster, Dr. Cecilia A. McIntosh, Dr. Martha M. Pointer, Dr. Phillip R. Scheuerman, Dr. Marie Tedesco, Dr. Jon Webb
Absent: Dr. Judith A. Anderson (excused), Ms. Maria D. Costa, Ms. LaDonna Hutchins, Ms. Jessica King, Ms. Mary Ellen Musick, Ms. Jenny Reed, Dr. Jasmine Renner (excused), Dr. Paul Trogen, Dr. Ester Verhovsek,
Guests: Dr. Janine Richardson, Dr. Raymond McLain, Dr. Daniel Boner, Dr. Kathleen Rayman
Approval of January minutes- The minutes were approved with corrections. The PSCY was corrected to PSYC. Furthermore, the council recommended Dr. Karen Harrington’ status change from interim to associate.
Curriculum Subcommittee report and recommendations – Dr. Martha Pointer.
I. New course BLUE 4257/5257 Band Leadership Skills
An experiential course that helps students develops band leadership skills through collective and individual study and practical experience. Students desiring to lead professional Bluegrass bands will benefit from study of effective leadership skills and practice of techniques under close supervision of a faculty member.
Action taken by council: Approved
II. New course PHYS 4117/5117 Thermal and Statistical Physics
This course is the study of the laws of thermodynamics, Maxwell's relations, Kinetic theory of an ideal gas, equations of state, distribution of molecular velocities, principles of statistical mechanics, transport phenomena, Boltzmann, Fermi-Dirac, and Bose-Einstein statistics. Thermodynamics has been merged with PHYS4117 and Kinetic and Statistical Physics to create the proposed course.
Action taken by council: Approved
Graduate Faculty Subcommittee report and recommendations – Dr. Tedesco.
The committee met on February 12, 2009 and made the following recommendations. There were no new applications.
Reapplications
Applicant Department Previous Recommendation
Action taken by council: approved with corrections
Before a motion was made concerning the re-appointment recommendations, the council members discussed the criteria and the guidelines for interim, associate, and full. The discussion centered around evaluation of persons coming up for reappointment and documentation of scholarly activity. A note was made that the subcommittee would be presenting a document proposing revision of categories and criteria for discussion at the next graduate council meeting. Dr. Champney Suggested tabling further discussion for the next meeting. Dr. Halvorson made a motion to recommend Dr. Mackara (February list) and Dr. Harrington (January list) for associate status. The motion was passed with Dr. Tedesco and Dr. Hoover opposing. The rest of the recommendations for February were passed with a note that Dr. Peter Pawlowicz’s application could not be acted upon as it was returned to the department for missing signatures.
Old Business:
The IRB representatives Janine Richardson, Chris Ayers, and Kathleen Rayman were present to answer questions regarding the selection process to appoint a representative to the IRB. The ETSU IRB members are appointed by the President of ETSU upon recommendations of the Provost/Vice President for Academic Affairs, and/or the Vice-President for Health Affairs. Representation of colleges (faculty members) was shared. Additionally, two ETSU Staff representatives, two local community representatives, and one prisoner representative are on the IRB with voting privileges. Dr. Dixon asked if it would be possible for the School of Graduate Studies and/or Graduate Council members to have representation on the IRB. Dr. Duncan stated he would look into this with the suggestions being that the Dean of the School of Graduate Studies can submit a person’s name to be considered as a voting member. The council members agreed Dean McIntosh should submit the name to be considered to represent graduate education at the IRB once this idea receives approval.
Dr. Tedesco and Dr. Hoover gave a summary of their Graduate Faculty Task Force meetings. Dr. Tedesco stated the guidelines for graduate faculty appointments. Dr. Hoover gave several recommendations to change the names of the categories as this seems to be the source of may question that arise. The council members discussed the various criteria in relation to the guidelines. The council members asked the subcommittee to present a full plan for discussion at the next graduate council meeting. Dr. Champney will place on the agenda for the March 2009 meeting.
Dr. Gillespie presented the revised proposal entitled Support Award for Projects that Enhance the Public Good. Dr. Gillespie made a request for a consensus on the monetary amount and the eligibility requirements. After much discussion by the council members, Dr. Martha Pointer made a motion for the monetary amount to be $250 for all awards except the research award. The monetary research award will remain at $500. The motion was seconded by Dr. Helene Halvorson. The council members voted to accept. Dr. Gillespie will send emails to all graduate coordinators, chairs, and students reiterating the deadline for application is March 16.
New Business:
Dr. Jeffrey Beck stated the first order of new business. Dr. Beck commented that the graduate catalog lists four letters of recommendations for some doctoral programs and three letters of recommendation are listed for other doctoral programs. Dr. Beck made a motion to change the Graduate School information on letters of recommendation (current Graduate catalog on page 10) under the Doctoral degree program from four letters of recommendation to three letters of recommendation. Individual programs can still require four letters of recommendation and publish this information in the catalog. The motion was seconded by Dr. Phillip Scheuerman, and the motion was passed.
Dr. McIntosh explained the Turnitin resource that is available for use to review reports, thesis/dissertation for originality. Dr. McIntosh initiated discussion of the possibility of requiring all theses and dissertations to be run through the originality software at some point in the process (before submission to the Graduate School for final approval). Currently she encourages students to use this resource as they are writing and Jerry Shuttle has reported that graduate student use has increased. The Graduate Council would like to know more how the program works before further discussion. Ms. Amy Arnold stated she would ask Mr. Shuttle to come to one of the next meetings. Mr. Shuttle is the anti-plagiarism administrator at the Sherrod Library and will be placed on the agenda for council meeting in April (because the March meeting will be held at a site without internet capability) to provide a demonstration to the council.
Other:
There was no other council business to conduct, therefore the meeting was adjourned.
The next Graduate Council meeting will be March 30 at Brown Hall 131 conference room.