Graduate Council Meeting
March 27, 2009
3:00 P.M.
McClelland Park Building
(Corner of 4th Street and Park)

MINUTES

Invited Guests:  Paul McDonough and Phil Malan, Department of Surgery
                        Sandra Soto, Women’s Studies
                        Malcolm Compitello, Spanish & Portuguese
                        Sherry Hoskinson, McGuire Center for Entrepreneurship, Eller Administration
                        Stephen Bieda, GPSC

Members Present: Andrew Comrie, Zhao Chen, Matthew Cordes, Steven Dvorak, Kathie Insel, A. Quadir Khan, Suzanne Knosp, K.; Tsianina Lomawaima, Lisa Ordonez, Andrei Sanov, Timothy Secomb, Donald Slack, Sarah Smith, Kevin Vinson, Rose Ylimaki, LouAnn Gerken, Dianne Horgan,

Members Not Present: Andrew Carnie, Nathan Cherrington, Renae Watchman Dearhouse, Dennis Doxtater, Stephanie Fryberg, Gautam Gowrisankaran, Molly Hunter, Chuck Hutchinson, Lane Kenworthy, Carl Maes, Betul Ozkan, Gail Varin, Bridget Barker

The meeting was called to order by Chair Comrie at 3:05 p.m. and a sign-in sheet passed. The minutes of the February 20, 2009 meeting were read and modifications were made. The minutes were approved as amended.

Dean’s Report. Chair Comrie notified the Council membership of the passing of Dr. Thomas Hixon, former Associate Vice President for Research, Dean of the Graduate College, and Director of the Graduate Interdisciplinary Programs.

Chair Comrie announced the completion of the review of the Graduate programs at the UA by the Graduate Programs Assessment Committee, and the submission of its report to the Provost. The report can be found at grad.arizona.edu. He also reported that negotiations are underway as to logical fee increases and/or new fees that might be implemented at the UA and how to minimize the impact on students getting assistance (i.e., Graduate Assistants).

GPSC Report. The GPSC is reviewing the 11 page document of proposed changes and implementation in fees. The GPSC would like a “sunset clause” added to the document to state that after two years (during which the economy will have recovered somewhat, hopefully) fee increases and additions will be reviewed again. The GPSC would like administration to wait and see what happens with stimulus package money before fees are increased.
The GPSC is sponsoring a Graduate Appreciation Week beginning March 29, 2009. Activities will include a Family Fun Day, a breakfast for graduate students (hosted by the College of Medicine), and a BBQ on the Mall. The Graduate Achievement Awards Ceremony and Luncheon will be held on April 2, 2009.
GPSC elections will conclude next week. The GPSC will have a new Executive Committee and students from the College of Law will fill the top two GPSC positions.

New Business.
1. Implementation Proposal for M.S. & Ph.D. degrees in the Department of Surgery. Drs.
McDonough and Malan of the Department of Surgery were present at the meeting to answer questions from the Graduate Council membership about the proposal. If approved, they stated that the Department of Surgery is ready to finance this pilot program. It is hoped that these degrees will be open to other majors in the College of Medicine, in the future...
The motion to approve the implementation proposal was made by Member Insel, seconded and passed with a vote of 16 in favor, 0 opposed, and 0 abstentions.

2. Pass/Fail Option. Member Horgan brought to the Council a proposal for graduate students to register under the pass/fail option. This would be for not more than 2 courses per semester. Graduate students could change from pass/fail enrollment to enrollment for a regular grade, or vice versa, during the up to the last day of the fourth calendar week during which classes are held, except with special permission of the student’s college dean. Each department will decide which of its courses will be available under the pass/fail option, with the instructor of the course approving whether the course will be offered as pass/fail.The motion to approve was made by Donald SlackDonald Slack and seconded by Kevin Vinson. The motion passed with 13 in favor, 0 opposed, and 3 abstentions.

3. Request from Women’s Studies to change the name of the department and the department name on graduate certificate and majors for all degree levels. Dr. Sanda Soto of Women’s Studies attended the meeting to provide background of the request and answer members of the Graduate Council’s questions. The motion to change the name of Women’s Studies to Gender and Women’s Studies was made by Tsianina Lomawaima and seconded by Donald Slack. The motion passed with 15 in favor of the motion, 0 opposed and 1 abstention.

4. Implementation proposal from the Department of Spanish and Portuguese for a PhD degeedegree with major in Hispanic Linguistics. Dr. Malcolm Compitello was present to give background to the request and answer questions from Graduate Council members.Aftermembers. After discussion, the motion was made to approve the proposal and passed with 12 in favor, 1 opposed, and 3 abstentions.

5. Planning Authorization for Doctoral Minor in Entrepreneurship in the Eller College. Dr. Sherry Hoskinson of the McGuire Center for Entrepreneurship was present at the meeting to answer questions from the Graduate Council. The motion to approve was made and passed with 16 in favor, 0 opposed, and 0 abstentions.

6. Request to move the Planning Program from SBS to CALA. The motion to approve was made by Member Lomawaima, seconded by Member Vinson and passed with 15 in favor of the motion, 0 opposed, and one abstention.

7. Request to change the name of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics to “Biochemistry” and then merge with the Department of Chemistry to become the “Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.” After discussion Member Lomawaima made the motion to approve the request and it was seconded by Member Secomb. Following discussion, the call for the vote was made and the motion passed with 13 in favor, 0 opposed and 3 abstentions.

Announcements. Member Horgan informed the Members that on March 3, 2009 the Undergraduate Council approved a policy to place a Maximum Unit Limit on enrollments via WebReg for all continuing students with the exception of students who are active participants in the Honors Program. On March 6, Member Horgan, representing the Graduate Council, approved the policy to be applied to graduate students also. Following the Priority Registration period, all continuing students will have access to WebReg to add additional units, if they wish, up to the 19-unit maximum set by their college. This policy will become effective with the Priority Registration period for Fall 2009, beginning March 23rd and ending April 24th.

The next, and last, meeting of the 2008-2009 academic year will be April 17, 2009 at 3:00 p.m. in Room 402 of the McClelland Park Building (4th and Park).

Respectfully submitted,

Linda Nultemeier

Graduate Council Secretary