MINUTES

Members Present: Andrew Comrie, Zhao Chen, Nathan Cherrington, David Chisholm, Steve Dvorak, Stephanie Fryberg, LouAnn Gerken, Dianne Horgan, W. Jake Jacobs, Lane Kenworthy, A. Quadir Khan, Donald Slack, Gail Varin, Maria Teresa Velez, Kevin Vinson

 

Members Excused: Stephen Bieda, Barbara Cone-Wesson, Norma Gonzalez, Richard Hallick, Chuck Hutchinson, Kathie Insel, Tsianina Lomawaima, Carl Maes, Lisa Ordonez, Donato Romagnolo, Ignacio San Martin, Timothy Secomb, Marvin Waterstone

 

Invited Guests: Dennis Jones, Director, School of Art

Lynn Beudert, Art and Visual Culture Education

Elizabeth Garber, faculty, Art & Visual Culture Education

Ryan Shin, faculty, Art and Visual Culture Education

Jacqueline Sharkey, Department Head, Journalism Department

 

I. Call to Order and Roll Call. The meeting was brought to order by Chair Comrie and a sign-in sheet was passed in lieu of a verbal roll call.

 

II. Approval of the Minutes. The minutes of the March 11, 2008 meeting were approved as read.

 

III. Dean's Report

 

A. TA Task Force Recommendations. Member Velez announced that the Teaching Assistant (TA) Task Force was established one year ago and is comprised of 25 people from large departments who have a lot of experience working with TAs. As a result of their recommendations, GATO has been revamped to focus on learner-oriented teaching methodology and culturally responsive teaching strategies. The program is offered at the beginning of each semester. Member Velez announced that all international graduate students wanting to be hired as Graduate Assistants in Teaching (GATs) who have scored below 26 in the Speak portion of the TOEFL-iBT test are required to take the Task-Based English Speaking Test or T-BEST designed to measure one's ability to communicate in English.

 

All international graduate students wanting to be hired as Graduate Assistants in Teaching may also participate in a T-BEST study conducted by Dr. Jun Liu, head of the English Dept. at UA, to norm the responses of international graduate students to T-BEST and to determine the extent to which T-BEST and TOEFL-iBT scores are correlated. Participation in the study is confidential and voluntary.

 

B. IRB Update. Member Horgan distributed a handout from the Human Subjects Protection Program Investigator Handbook that indicates that students conducting research as part of their Advisor's approved research project may now be listed as a Student Principal Investigator. Further information on the process required can be found on page 8 of of the Handbook.

 

C. Schedule Change Policy/Procedure

 

D. Member Horgan distributed a draft of a document which describes, in general terms, the Roles and Responsibilities of various players involved in graduate education at the University of Arizona. After reading the draft document, if any Graduate Council Member has comments or suggestions, Member Horgan asked that they contact her.

 

E. Faculty Senate Reorganization. Revisions to the Faculty Senate's Constitution & Bylaws were recently approved by the Faculty Senate to go to faculty vote in the Fall of 2008. Member Horgan distributed a copy of the revisions that pertain to the Graduate Council section of the Faculty Senate's Constitution & Bylaws.

The revisions are in bold type.

Constitution

The Graduate Council provides a forum in which matters of concern to graduate education will be discussed and the mission of the Graduate College fulfilled ...

All instruction and curriculum action items approved by the Graduate Council are forwarded to the Instruction and Curriculum Policy Committee for review and submission to the Faculty Senate for approval.

 

Bylaws

1. Membership

a. Faculty. Faculty members of the Graduate Council shall be chosen by the faculty in each academic college, according to a process approved the the faculty in each college. Terms are four years, renewable. ... Faculty members shall always comprise at least 75% of the membership of the Graduate Council.

2. Officers

b. One of the faculty members of the Council, elected by the Council's faculty representatives, shall serve as Vice Chair of the Council.

 

Member Horgan also distributed a draft of proposed revisions in the Graduate Council's By-Laws that are required to bring them into agreement with the Faculty Senate's Constitution & Bylaws. The proposed revisions are in bold type:

 

Article II: Membership

Section 1......The Dean and one Associate Dean of the Graduate College shall also be members.

Section 2......The term is four years, renewable.

Section 3. The Graduate Coordinators elect two representatives. The term is 2 years, renewable. Terms shall be staggered.

 

Article III: Officers

Section 1.

c. Section 2. One of the faculty members of the Council, elected by the Council's faculty representatives, shall serve as the Vice Chair of the Council.

 

Because a quorum was not present at the meeting, an electronic vote was conducted on the portion to accepted the proposed changes. The vote was concluded on May 9, 2008 and passed, with 20 votes in favor and 0 opposed.

 

F. Enterprise Systems Replacement Update. Chair Comrie and Member Horgan announced the University will undergo a three-year process to implement a PeopleSoft system that will eventually replace SIS, FRS, and PSOS. Five key people from the Graduate College will be on the PeopleSoft implementation team.

 

G. Qualifications to Teach. Member Horgan distributed a document titled, "Qualifications to Teach" for discussion.

 

IV. GPSC Report. Member Khan announced that Stephen Bieda is the new GPSC President.

 

V. New Business

A. Planning Proposal for a Ph.D. Program in Art and Visual Culture Education. Guests Jones, Beudert, and Garber of Art and Visual Culture Education provided the Graduate Council with the background for this planning proposal. Member Chisholm made the motion for the call for the vote and the motion was seconded by Member Gerken. However, because a quorum was not present at the meeting, an electronic vote of the membership was taken. The vote was completed on April 23, 2008 with 20 votes in favor and 0 opposed.

 

B. Name change of the Department of Journalism to the School of Journalism. Guest Sharkey, Head of the Journalism Department, was present at the meeting to respond to questions from the Graduate Council. Because a quorum was not present at the meeting, the motion was put before the membership for an electronic vote. The electronic vote was completed on April 28, 2008 with 20 in favor and 0 opposed.

 

VI. Old Business - There was no old business.

 

VII. Announcements. Chair Comrie announced that the Office of the Vice President for Research, Graduate Studies, and Economic Development has recently hired Dr. Elizabeth Boyd to fill the position of Assistant Vice President for Research Compliance and Policy. She will have oversight of all Research Compliance units at the University.

 

Four members of the Graduate Council were scheduled to rotate off of the Council this year, after serving on the Council since 2004. Members Fryberg and Dvorak have volunteered to serve on the Council for another term. Members Donato Romagnolo and Richard Hallick were presented with plaques of appreciation for their service to the Graduate Council. The plaques and letters of appreciation from Dean Comrie will be mailed to them as they were not present at the meeting.

 

VIII. Adjournment. The meeting was adjourned at 3:20 PM. The next meeting of the Graduate Council will be in August 2008. Date, time and location are yet to be determined.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Linda Nultemeier

Graduate Council Secretary