GRADUATE COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES


March 11 , 2004
PRESENT: Paul Adogamhe, Mohammad Ahmadi, Kathy Asala, John Aulerich, Wade Dazey, Will Drago, Robert Gruber, Andrew Kapp, Sharon Kolb, Jim Larson (for Cynthia Mullis), Denton Marks, Pete Mesner, Anene Okocha, Barbara Penington, Tim Reutebuch, Steven Sahyun, Richard Salem (for Leda Nath), William Skelly, Lauren Smith (for Alison Townsend), Bambi Statz, Tony Truog, John Zbikoswski, and Yushan Zaho.
ABSENT: Marshall Anderson, Scott Bradley, *Glenn Hayes, Steve Karges, Dan McGuire, *Kerry Nale, Manuel Ossers, John Patterson, Julimar Rivera, and *Deanna Schollmeyer.
GUESTS: Don Zahn.


*Previously notified.


John Stone called the meeting to order at 2:20 p.m. Tony Truog moved, seconded by Bambi Statz, to approve the February 5, 2004, minutes. With no additions or corrections, the motion carried.


Announcements

  1. The graduate assistant allocations for the 2004-05 academic year have been calculated. The allocations are identical to the 2003-04 allocations; that is, College of Business, 6 full-time assistants; Education, 1 full-time assistant; and Letters and Sciences, 1 full-time assistant. The application deadline is March 15th and departments must notify the Graduate Office of the awardees by April 15th. A full-time graduate assistant will be paid $9,359 for twenty hours of work.
  2. Starting with the fall 2004 term, international students will not be issued an I-20 until they have paid a required $100 deposit. This deposit will be applied to their tuition once they have registered for courses.Also, faculty should be careful when granting permission to international students to drop a course because this may put them below the required minimum number of credits. If an international student is out-of-status, even for a day, they must return to their country.

Information Only Items

Andrew Kapp moved to approve the Information Only items, A-E, of the agenda. Pete Mesner seconded the motion. The motion carried. Curriculum items approved included:

  1. Curricular Action: Course Deletion from the Department of Occupational and Environmental Safety and Health: SFTYIND 696 Special Studies.
  2. Curricular Action: Course Deletion from the Department of Special Education: SPECED 657 Curriculum and Methods Cognitive Disabilities – Academic – Elementary.
  3. Curricular Action: Course Deletion from the Department of Special Education: SPECED 659 Curriculum and Methods Cognitive Disabilities – Academic – Secondary Level.
  4. Curricular Action: Requisite Change from the Department of Special Education: SPECED 665 Curriculum and Methods:Cognitive Disabilities Functional.
  5. Curricular Action: Requisite Change from the Department of Special Education: SPECED 676 Curriculum and Methods:Multiple Disabilities.

New Business

Tony Truog moved to approve Item A from the Department of Occupational & Environmental Safety & Health. John Zbikowski seconded the motion. The motion carried. Wade Dazey then moved to approve Item B from the College of Business and Economics. This proposal allows students to choose from six courses in the International Business emphasis, rather than four. Tony Truog seconded the motion. The motion carried.

  1. Curricular Action: Creation of Subject Area to SAFETY from the Department of Occupational & Environmental Safety & Health.
  2. Curricular Action: Change in Degree from the College of Business and Economics: MBA: Business and Economics.

John Stone then distributed a document proposing the mandatory information that should be included on all 500 or 600-level course syllabi.Since this information is already included in all course proposals, this should not be an onerous task.Tony Truog moved, and Steven Sahyun seconded, approval of the document as presented (see the following):

Mandatory Information in the Syllabus Relevant to Graduate-Level Requirements


The proposed policy would require that any syllabus in a 500- or 600-level course (course available for both undergraduate and graduate students) demonstrates that the course is appropriate for graduate-level education and that there are clear distinctions between requirements for graduate and undergraduate credit.As such…

Motion: Effective fall term 2004, all syllabi used in 500- and 600-level courses will be required to specify the unique expectations of graduate students registered for the course in three dimensions:
  • Content: What content areas of the course will graduate students explore with greater depth, and/or what additional content areas will graduate students examine?
  • Intensity: What are the unique course requirements for graduate students—in terms of additional readings or assignments, different requirements in assignments, different role expectations, and/or different evaluation methods and/or standards—that reflect greater intellectual intensity and rigor?
  • Self-Directed: What outside-of-class activities are required of graduate students, including research, and how do they reflect a greater degree of self-directed learning?

(Current) Mandatory Information for Course Syllabi

By actions taken under agenda item 3.a. of its November 10, 1998 meeting, the 1998/1999 Faculty Senate approved the following required content of all course syllabi (reference FS989-11): The following is the required content of a syllabus:

  1. The instructor’s name
  2. The instructor’s office location, telephone number, and office hours
  3. Title of the course
  4. Department prefix and number of the course (e.g. English-101)
  5. Course objectives
  6. Attendance policy with defined excuses
  7. Grading policy
  8. Dates (subject to change) for major projects, assignments, exams
  9. *Expectation of graduate students (in 500- and 600-level courses)
  10. The following additional statement:

    11. The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater is dedicated to a safe, supportive and non-discriminatory learning environment. It is the responsibility of all undergraduate and graduate students to familiarize themselves with University policies regarding Special Accommodations, Academic Misconduct, Religious Beliefs Accommodation, Discrimination and Absence for University Sponsored Events (for details please refer to the Schedule of Classes; the “Rights and Responsibilities” section of the Undergraduate Catalog; the Academic Requirements and Policies and the Facilities and Services sections of the Graduate Catalog; and the “Student Academic Disciplinary Procedures (UWS Chapter 14); and the “Student Nonacademic Disciplinary Procedures" (UWS Chapter 17).

By including this information, students are getting a view of what is required, there would be more uniformity, and any student contemplating taking the course in the future could use this information in their decision-making. Considerable discussion followed, centering on the fact that this policy may be unenforceable, as well as the fact that some courses don’t have outside-of-class activities. Denton Marks then moved, seconded by Sharon Kolb, to amend the policy by replacing “in three dimensions” with “labeled according to the following three dimensions” and adding “for example” before each of the three categories and changing “Self-Directed” to “Self-Directedness.” The policy, as amended would read:

Mandatory Information in the Syllabus Relevant to Graduate-Level Requirements


The proposed policy would require that any syllabus in a 500- or 600-level course (course available for both undergraduate and graduate students) demonstrates that the course is appropriate for graduate-level education and that there are clear distinctions between requirements for graduate and undergraduate credit. As such…

Motion: Effective fall term 2004, all syllabi used in 500- and 600-level courses will be required to specify the unique expectations of graduate students registered for the course labeled according to the following three dimensions:
  • Content: e.g., content areas of the course graduate students will explore with greater depth, and/or additional content areas graduate students will examine.
  • Intensity: e.g., the unique course requirements for graduate students—in terms of additional readings or assignments, different requirements in assignments, different role expectations, and/or different evaluation methods and/or standards—that reflect greater intellectual intensity and rigor.
  • Self-Directedness: e.g., outside-of-class activities required of graduate students, including research, that reflect a greater degree of self-directed learning.
The amended motion was approved with two no votes.

Discussion then centered around the category of “self-directedness.”Steven Sahyun moved a second amendment to the original motion, seconded by Richard Salem, to remove the “self-directedness” category altogether, as well as changing“three categories” to “two categories.”This motion was defeated.

The question was then called on the original motion, as amended.This motion passed with one “no” vote and three abstentions.

With no other business to attend to, the meeting adjourned at 3:25 p.m. on a Drago/Truog motion.

Respectfully submitted,
Sally Lange
Secretary