Guest Present: Stephen Bieda, President of the Graduate and Professional Student Council

Judith Effken, College of Nursing (substitute for Member Kathie Insel)

Members Present: Chair Andrew Comrie, Zhao Chen, Emily Connally, Matthew Cordes, Steven Dvorak, A. Quadir Khan, K. Tsianina Lomawaima, Lisa Ordonez, Betul Ozkan, Timothy Secomb, Donald Slack, Gail Varin, Maria Teresa Velez, Kevin Vinson, David Chisholm, Suzanne Knosp

Members Absent/Excused: Nathan Cherrington, Barbara Cone-Wesson, Dennis Doxtater, Stephanie Fryberg, LouAnn Gerken, Dianne Horgan, Chuck Hutchison, Kathie Insel, Lane Kenworthy, Carl Maes, Andrei Sanov

Call to Order and Roll Call. The meeting was called order at 3:02 p.m. by Chair Comrie and a member sign-in sheet was passed. Chair Comrie welcomed everyone to this first meeting of the 2008-2009 academic year. New members on the Graduate Council for 2008 - 2012 are Beth Ozkan, representative from UA South; Matthew Cordes and Andrei Sanov, representatives from the College of Science; and Emily Connally of Social and Behavioral Sciences, representing the Graduate and Professional Student Council (GPSC). Chair Comrie also reported that Member Dennis Doxtater has returned from sabbatical and is back on the Graduate Council. Additionally, Member Suzanne Knosp (who rotated off the Council in the Spring of 2007) has been selected to represent the College of Fine Arts and will serve another 4-year term.

The minutes of the last Graduate Council meeting (April 11, 2008) were read and after a correction was made to the adjournment time of that meeting, the minutes were approved.

Dean's Report.
A draft of the Roles and Responsibilities document was distributed to and discussed by the membership. This document, in general terms, describes the roles, responsibilities of various players in graduate education at the UA and the relationships among the parties. The only recommended change was under the heading of "Director of Graduate Studies" and the sentence that reads, "This person is responsible for the administration of the graduate program, often working with a faculty committee or the entire faculty." A phrase will be added so that the sentence will read, "....often working with graduate committees, a faculty committee, or the entire faculty."

Chair Comrie reported that Mosaic will be replacing every computer system we have at the UA.
This new system will enable all UA departments to access data that in the past they have been unable to do because the data was spread over many different computer systems. Mosaic will have five to six major database components. It will be fully implemented in two to three years.

Chair Comrie shared with the Council the Graduate College Strategic Plan and let the Council know that as of last week the Graduate College enrollment was up 160 students - 80% of whom are traditional graduate students and 20% are professional students. This represents a growth of 1%, which is pretty much the national average. We are graduating between 400 - 500 Ph.D.s per year.

GPSC Report.
Because Guest Bieda, President of the Graduate and Professional Student Council, was in attendance, Members Khan and Connally turned the GPSC report over to him.

New Business.
The GPSC's request for a 3rd seat on the Graduate Council was discussed. This issue had been brought before the Graduate Council a few years back and the GPSC was asked for more justification before the GC could vote on the issue. Guest Bieda explained that sitting on the Graduate Council is an extremely sought after position by GPSC members. The GPSC currently has two seats allocated to represent the student voice and interest of the GPSCA community at large. A third seat would provide a wider range of diverse opinions and another student perspective to policies that impact graduate education. He stated that the Faculty Senate is considering the role GPSC will have in Shared Governance. Member Chen asked Guest Bieda how GPSC members are chosen to serve on the Graduate Council and he stated that it is on a volunteer basis but the final selection decisions are made by the President of the GPSC, who ensures that GPSC representation is diverse and represents different colleges. A call for the vote to faculty representatives was made. Member Vinson made the motion to approve the request, seconded by Member Chisholm. Because this change would result in a change in the Graduate Council Bylaws, it must pass by 2/3 of the 24 members eligible to vote. A vote of members present at the meeting and an electronic vote of the rest of the membership resulted in the motion passing with 20 yeas, 2 abstentions, and 2 nays.

Selection of a new Vice Chair of the Graduate Council.

Graduate Council Bylaws state that an Associate Dean of the Graduate College will serve as the Vice Chair of the Graduate Council. Last spring, the Graduate Council approved a motion to change the eligibility requirements in the Graduate Council Bylaws to align with the anticipated change that the Faculty Senate will vote on this fall - that change being that the Vice Chair will be chosen from the faculty membership. This change in the Bylaws required a 2/3 vote of the members and it passed 24 to zero. It was decided that the selected Vice Chair of the Graduate Council would also serve as the Graduate Council liaison to the ICPC.

The call for nominations was given and Member Lomawaima nominated Member Vinson, seconded by Member Slack. Member Vinson accepted the nomination and no additional nominations were made. Because the change in eligibility for the Vice Chair position requires a 2/3 vote of the faculty membership, an electronic vote was conducted. Member Vinson was unanimously selected to serve
as the Vice Chair of the Graduate Council and the Graduate Council liaison to the ICPC by a vote of
24 to 0.

Discussion took place on Dr. Shelton's memo of September 29, 2008 to the campus community.
Chair Comrie gave some background on the transformation activities taking place and the need to use our resources in strategic ways to make the University of Arizona one of the best research universities. Colleges and departments offering undergraduate degrees will submit White Papers, to include transformation plans and how newly formed schools/departments would be organized, to the Provost by October 15. Colleges and departments have been given a mandate from the President and the Provost that input is to be sought from faculty members, staff, and students.

Graduate Council goals for the coming year
Chair Comrie mentioned that in the future, the allocation of funds to colleges will possibly based on a measurement of performance to metrics such as time to degree, completion rates, etc., etc.

The new website design for the Graduate College will be up soon and Chair Comrie encouraged members to contact the Graduate College if they had any comments or suggestions.

Chair Comrie asked the membership if they had any concerns or issues they would like to be brought before the Graduate Council in future meetings. Member Ozkan indicated that she would like more information about on-line education - definitions, qualifications, guidelines, etc. This item will be placed on the list for future meetings; Chair Comrie indicated that perhaps a workshop could be done on the subject of on-line education.

The next meeting of the Graduate Council is scheduled for Friday, October 17, 2008 at 3:00 p.m. Location is yet to be determined.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:50 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Linda Nultemeier
Graduate Council Secretary