Graduate Council Minutes 2000

MINUTES OF THE FIRST MEETING OF THE GRADUATE COUNCIL FOR 2000

Graduate Council Room1:10-2:00 P.M. January 12, 2000

Next Meeting: January 26, 2000

Note: These minutes are subject to correction and approval at a subsequent meeting.

Members of the Council and Retirement Dates:

John Pritchett (Chair), Steve McFarland (Vice Chair and Secretary), Wayne Brewer (August 2000), Fennechiena Dane (August 2000), Tin-Man Lau (August 2000), Jim Sartin (August 2000), Narendra Singh (August 2000), William Spencer (August 2000), Heidi Anderson-Harper (August 2001), Charlotte Sutton (August 2001), Ralph Zee (August 2001), Art Chappelka (August 2002), Miriam Clark (August 2002), Chris Rodger (August 2002), Daniel Szechi (August 2002), Jean Weese (August 2002), Chris Middendorf (student 2000)

Members Absent: Dane, Sartin, Rodger (Phelps substitute), Szechi

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Minutes of November 17, 1999 Council meeting approved.

ANNOUNCEMENT
Pritchett introduced Dr. Kevin Phelps, Discrete and Statistical Sciences, who will substitute for Rodger winter term.
Zee announced that the Academic Standards Committee had approved the new graduate admissions policy previously approved on July 21, 1999, and revised on November 17, 1999.
Pritchett announced that Chappelka (Chair), Clark, Anderson-Harper, and Brewer would serve as a subcommittee to select the top 10 master’s and top 10 doctoral students for 1999-2000. Each academic program had been invited to nominate one master’s and one doctoral student for the awards. Of these, one will be selected for the Student Government Association Outstanding Graduate Student Award.
OLD BUSINESS
Credentials Committee

Brewer moved the approval of the following nominations to the Graduate Faculty. Clark seconded. The motion passed without opposition.

Robert Bernstein, Political Science (Reappointment)

Jennifer Hamner, Nursing (Appointment)

Jonathan Armbruster, Biological Sciences (Appointment)

Joanna Wysocka-Diller, Biological Sciences (Appointment)

Zhaomin Yang, Biological Sciences (Appointment)

Brewer raised the issue of Level 1 Graduate Faculty members serving as the co-chair of a doctoral committee with a Level 2 Graduate Faculty member, questioning whether there was a way to insure the Level 2 co-chair made a real and serious contribution to the student’s work. Pritchett replied that he would intervene to enforce the policy requiring supervision by Level 2 faculty member when he became aware of a problem in this regard. He asked Council members to report problems to him.

Curriculum Committee

McFarland moved the approval of the semester degree programs (Master of Science-thesis, Master of Applied Mathematics-non-thesis, and Doctor of Philosophy) and curriculum for the Department of Mathematics. Anderson-Harper seconded. The motion passed without opposition.

NEW BUSINESS
Pritchett explained to the Council the history of the GRAD0690/GRAD0790 program, allowing students working full-time on their theses or dissertations to be declared full-time students with concurrent registration in at least one hour of 0699/0799 and GRAD0690/0790. He asked the Council to consider expanding the program under the semester calendar to non-thesis master’s students working on extended internships or projects.
McFarland demonstrated semester transition plans of study, both in paper form and on the web, that will be required of all graduate students taking courses under both the quarter and semester systems.

Stephen L. McFarland

Secretary

Winter 2000 Graduate Council Meetings

January 26

February 9

February 23

March 8

MINUTES OF THE SECOND MEETING OF THE GRADUATE COUNCIL FOR 2000

Graduate Council Room 1:10-2:10 P.M. February 9, 2000

Next Meeting: February 23, 2000

Note: These minutes are subject to correction and approval at a subsequent meeting.

Members of the Council and Retirement Dates:

Members Absent: Anderson-Harper, Middendorf, Rodger (Phelps substitute), Zee

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Minutes of January 12, 2000 Council meeting approved.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Pritchett announced that the Academic Standards Committee had approved the revised admission standards, which will be presented to the University Senate on March 7, 2000.

Pritchett reminded the Council that President Muse had approved 200 additional Presidential Graduate Fellowships, 100 of which will be available for assignment beginning with fall semester 2000. These 100 will be available to master’s students as well as doctoral students and are to be aimed at recruiting new students.

Pritchett explained that Auburn originally had 68 programs that did not meet ACHE viability requirements. ACHE allowed these programs 3 years to meet the minimums. Auburn is currently in the last year of this period. Of the original 68, all but 24 have been removed from the non-viable list. Of these 24, only 6 do not meet the viability standards. Of these 6, 5 are graduate programs.

OLD BUSINESS

Credentials Committee

Brewer moved the approval of the following nominations to the Graduate Faculty. Clark seconded. The motion passed without opposition.

Dale Monks, Agronomy and Soils (appointment)

Micky Eubanks, Entomology/Plant Pathology (appointment)

John McVay, Entomology/Plant Pathology (reappointment)

Jacqueline Mullen, Entomology/Plant Pathology (reappointment)

Donald Conner, Poultry Science (reappointment)

Lorraine Gardiner, Management (reappointment)

Avery Abernethy, Marketing and Transportation (reappointment)

Michael LaTour, Marketing and Transportation (reappointment)

Rajan Nataraajan, Marketing and Transportation (reappointment)

Robert Gross, Aerospace Engineering (reappointment)

Ram Gupta, Chemical Engineering (appointment)

Brian Bowman, Civil Engineering (reappointment)

Larry Crowley, Civil Engineering (reappointment)

J T Black, Industrial and Systems Engineering (reappointment)

Judith Lechner, EFLT (reappointment)

Jerry Mathews, EFLT (appointment)

Carol Mullen, EFLT (appointment)

Margaret Ross, EFLT (appointment)

Jill Salisbury-Glennon, EFLT (appointment)

William Spencer, EFLT (reappointment)

Samera Baird, Rehabilitation & Special Education (reappointment)

Julie Spivey, Art (appointment)

Wei Wang, Art (appointment)

Paula Backscheider, English (reappointment)

David Haney, English (reappointment)

Marc Silverstein, English (reappointment)

Jeffrey Facteau, Psychology (appointment)

Douglas Robinson, Biological Sciences (appointment)

Overtoun Jenda, Discrete& Statistical Sciences (reappointment)

Mark West, Discrete & Statistical Sciences (reappointment)

Bertram Zinner, Discrete& Statistical Sciences (reappointment)

Randall Holmes, Mathematics (reappointment)

Peter Nylen, Mathematics (reappointment)

Paul Schmidt, Mathematics (reappointment)

Paul Rumph, Anatomy, Physiology & Pharm (reappointment)

James Wright, Pathobiology (reappointment)

Curriculum Committee

McFarland moved the approval of the semester graduate minor in Plant Molecular Biology. Singh seconded. The motion passed without opposition.

Postdoctoral Certificates

Sartin explained the need to regularize postdoctoral fellowships at Auburn,

including existing policies, minimum salaries, and time limits. Auburn has 47 postdoctoral fellows in the 1999-2000 academic year. Sartin distributed information concerning these positions (see Attachment #1).

NEW BUSINESS
McFarland identified two graduate courses in Sociology previously approved by the Council for the semester calendar, SOCY7800 and 7850, which are aimed to instruct Sociology graduate students in mentoring and teaching methods. Together the two courses total 4 hours of credit, which might dilute the sociology content in Sociology’s standard 30-hour semester degree program. The suggestion of the Council was that the two courses be combined and offered as a one-hour teaching course similar to those offered in other programs. If Sociology maintains both courses, only one hour should be counted toward degree minimums.

McFarland presented a request from Management to permit either the GMAT

or the GRE standardized tests to meet admissions requirements. Sutton moved approval, seconded by Chappelka. The motion passed without opposition.

Pritchett presented a request from the Pharmacy Practice Department of the School

of Pharmacy to create a special graduate faculty status for its faculty. These faculty would not direct theses or dissertations nor teach at the graduate level, but they would serve on committees in areas of their expertise. Pritchett explained that some of these faculty in Pharmacy Practice hold professional degrees, not graduate degrees, and suggested a special category of affiliate membership for them. A Pharmacy graduate student’s committee could have no more than one such affiliate graduate faculty member.

Szechi asked how such graduate faculty were handled elsewhere. Pritchett replied that he would seek such information. Brewer inquired if these affiliate faculty would be able to vote on the general and final examinations. Pritchett replied that they might, though the Council could make them non-voting, advisory members. Weese asked if similar status might be awarded to postdoctoral fellows and research professors. Pritchett answered that graduate faculty members must hold the terminal degree and hold a faculty position at Auburn. If so, they qualify for Level 1 graduate faculty membership. Phelps questioned if such special status for faculty with professional degrees was really necessary. Pritchett stated that it would be necessary for faculty in the College of Veterinary Medicine, the School of Nursing, and the School of Pharmacy. Pritchett will seek additional information from the School of Pharmacy for discussion at a future Council meeting.

Stephen L. McFarland

Secretary

Winter 2000 Graduate Council Meetings

February 23

March 8

ATTACHMENT #1

BACKGROUND: The top 50 schools (postdoctoral fellow employers) have numbers of postdoctoral fellows ranging from 239 at the Mayo Clinic to 1,836 at Harvard. Currently postdoctoral education is evolving from a small, voluntary period of advanced training to a more formal and structured form of education. The AAU report suggests this transition is similar to that seen in PhD education in the 1890s. The minimum pay scale for most fellows is based on NIH guidelines of $26,252.

PROBLEMS:

-Steady growth in number of postdoctoral appointments.

-Increasing number of postdoctoral fellows in 2^nd, 3^rd or 4^th appointment.

-Perception that the postdoctoral position is used as an employment holding pattern.

-There is a transition of the postdoctoral fellowship in many disciplines from an elective

to a required credential.

-There is a growing dissatisfaction expressed by postdoctoral fellows.

The American Association of Universities (AAU) Committee on Postdoctoral Education RECOMMENDATIONS: The AAU Committee on Postdoctoral Education met in 1998 and formulated a series of recommendations for immediate implementation by US Universities. The recommendations are paraphrased below:

Postdoctoral positions should be temporary, no more than 5 years (AU places a 4 year limit)
A central administrative officer should be assigned responsibility for monitoring postdoctoral policies (Not done at AU).
The University should establish core policies applicable to postdoctoral appointments (AU does this).
The University should establish guidelines for recruitment and appointment of postdoctoral fellows (AU does this).
All postdoctoral fellows should receive a letter of appointment signed by a faculty mentor and Department chair. Letter should provide specifics about appointment, duties, University policies on patents, writing grants, etc (Not done formally, variable).
The University should periodically evaluate the balance of interests among postdoctoral appointees, faculty mentors and home departments (Not done at AU).
The University mentor and Department should provide career advising, job placement assistance (Done informally at AU, no specific program).
The University should provide a letter or certificate of completion (Not official, may be done informally).

The American Association of Medical Colleges (October 1999) and the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy (December, 1999) have held meetings to discuss postdoctoral education and make recommendations.

Auburn University: Auburn currently has 47 postdoctoral fellows. The salary range for current fellows at AU is $25,000 to $60,000 (the AU minimum is $28,000). The average number of years in this position is 2.8 years with a range of 1 to 13 years (AU sets a 4 year limit with possibility for exceptions).

Number of postdoctoral fellows by College or Program (Source, VP for Research-Nov., 1999):

Agriculture 12

Education 2

Engineering 8

Human Sciences 3

Pharmacy 1

Science and Math 11

Space Power Inst. 3

Veterinary Med. 7

RECOMMENDATIONS: Auburn University has partially adopted the recommendations of the AAU committee on postdoctoral education. We think the University should move as soon as practical to implement the remaining recommendations.

We recommend that Auburn University provide a standardized letter containing appropriate language (benefits, salary, obligations of the postdoctoral fellow, obligations of the Department and University to the postdoctoral fellow, etc) to serve as a guide for faculty in recruiting and hiring postdoctoral fellows. In addition to the letter offering a position, the fellow being hired should be provided with a standard set of materials relaying AU policies related to research (patent policy, grants, etc).

A central administrative officer should be appointed to oversee the postdoctoral program. The two likely administrative offices to provide oversight are the Offices of the Vice President for Research or the Dean of the Graduate School. This should include monitoring University policies on hiring, termination, and education. Programs for job placement and career advising should also be considered. A series of lectures on research ethics should be provided for postdoctoral fellows (to meet NIH/NRSA guidelines for training grants).

Auburn University should provide postdoctoral fellows an official certificate upon completion of a postdoctoral position. The certificate should be signed by the central administration official in charge of postdoctoral fellows and by the research administrator from the College of residence.

MINUTES OF THE THIRD MEETING OF THE GRADUATE COUNCIL FOR 2000

Graduate Council Room 1:10-2:30 P.M. March 8, 2000

Next Meeting: April 5, 2000

Note: These minutes are subject to correction and approval at a subsequent meeting.

Members of the Council and Retirement Dates:

Members Absent: Dane (Gilliam substitute), Middendorf, Pritchett, Rodger (Phelps substitute), Sutton

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Minutes of February 9, 2000 Council meeting approved.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

McFarland advised the Council that the Graduate School and the University Senate Leadership had submitted a Peaks of Excellence proposal for priority funding to cover the in-state tuition of graduate teaching assistants. The Proposal, “Affirmation of Commitment to Quality Undergraduate Instruction: Establishing a Competitive Environment to Recruit Graduate Teaching Assistants,” calls for a two-year phase-in of this benefit and the initiation of a matriculation fee.

McFarland announced University Senate approval of the revised Graduate School admissions policy at its March 7 meeting. Spring term the Graduate Council will begin formulating suggested program admission criteria for distribution to departments and call for all graduate programs to submit admission criteria for Council approval.

McFarland announced that the new Graduate School web admissions process would be activated early spring term.

McFarland explained that John Pritchett was absent from the March 8 Council meeting due to a previous commitment to meet with the Alabama Council of Graduate Deans to help organize a program to study the impact of graduate education in Alabama and to publicize the importance of graduate education in Alabama.

McFarland announced the two SGA Outstanding Graduate Students for 2000: Dan Givens of Pathobiology and James Treharne of Industrial and Systems Engineering.

OLD BUSINESS

Credentials Committee

Brewer moved the approval of the following nominations to the Graduate Faculty. Clark seconded. The motion passed without opposition.

Joyce Evans, Fisheries & Allied Aquacultures (appointment)

Richard Shelby, Fisheries & Allied Aquacultures (appointment)

Norbert Wilson, Agricultural Economics & Rural Sociology

(appointment)

Irene Houston, Counseling & Counseling Psychology (appointment)

Arthur Chappelka, Forestry & Wildlife Sciences (reappointment)

Michael Moran, Communication Disorders (reappointment)

Greg Weaver, Sociology (appointment)

Reid Hanson, Large Animal Surgery & Medicine (reappointment)

The Department of Communication Disorders proposed a revision of its graduate faculty plan to include participation by clinical faculty. Anderson-Harper discussed her research into the practices of other institutions in granting such status to clinical faculty in pharmacy programs. Brewer expressed opposition to such faculty, who had not earned terminal research degrees requiring theses or dissertations, serving as co-chairs of master’s committees. Brewer moved to table the issue, seconded by Anderson-Harper. The motion passed without opposition.

Curriculum Committee

McFarland moved the approval of proposed revisions to semester graduate programs in Rehabilitation and Special Education. Singh seconded. The motion reduced the required minimum credits for the Master of Education and Master of Science degrees in Rehabilitation Counseling and in Vocational Evaluation to 45 semester hours. The motion passed without opposition.

NEW BUSINESS

Dan Gropper, Assistant Dean of the College of Business and Director of the MBA program updated the Council on recent developments in the MBA program. The program currently has five options: MBA on-campus, MBA off-campus through video outreach, Executive MBA, Physicians Executive MBA, and Techno-Executive MBA. The Executive MBA programs require a combination of outreach and resident courses. Gropper also demonstrated new distance technologies being developed and utilized to enhance communication and discussion in the programs.

McFarland announced the Council meeting schedule for spring term, 2000.

Stephen L. McFarland

Secretary

Spring 2000 Graduate Council Meetings

April 5

April 26

May 10

May 24

MINUTES OF THE FOURTH MEETING OF THE GRADUATE COUNCIL FOR 2000

Graduate Council Room 1:10-2:30 P.M. April 5, 2000

Next Meeting: April 26, 2000

Note: These minutes are subject to correction and approval at a subsequent meeting.

Members of the Council and Retirement Dates:

Members Absent: Dane (Gilliam substitute), Sutton, Szechi (Fabel substitute), Weese, Zee (Fergus substitute)

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Minutes of March 8, 2000 Council meeting approved.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Pritchett introduced Jeff Fergus of Mechanical Engineering (substituting for Zee), Robin Fabel of History (substituting for Szechi), Charles Gilliam of Horticulture (substituting for Dane), and Bill Haynes, chair of Communication Disorders.

Middendorf announced that Governor Siegelman had declared the week of April 3-7 as Graduate and Professional Student Appreciation Week.

Pritchett explained that Auburn University had established six Peaks of Excellence programs last year. Recently the Board of Trustees had asked that the university identify more. Fifteen programs were submitted for consideration, including a joint proposal from the Graduate School and the Senate leadership to waive in-state tuition for graduate teaching assistants. The evaluation committee ranked this proposal at the top of the fifteen submissions. The Provost will present five to the Trustees on April 7 for further consideration. Additionally, the vice presidents had recommended that the tuition waiver plan be funded from existing funds if necessary.

OLD BUSINESS

Curriculum Committee

McFarland moved approval of a request from the Public Administration and Public Policy program to modify the requirements for its doctoral program to total sixty semester hours of course work. Singh seconded. The motion passed without opposition.

McFarland moved approval of a request from the Community Planning program to modify the requirements for its master’s program to total 52 semester hours of course work. Singh seconded. The motion passed without opposition.

iii. McFarland moved approval of a request from the Community Planning program to create a concurrent master’s degree program with Public Administration. Singh seconded. The motion passed without opposition.

McFarland presented a request from the Community Planning program to approve a concurrent program that would allow fifth-year students in the Bachelor of Architecture program to apply for admission to the Master of Community Planning program and exempt such students from sixteen hours of courses (CPLN7200, 7620, 7820, and two electives) required of regular Master of Community Planning students. Additionally Community Planning requested approval of a concurrent program that would allow students in the Master of Landscape Architecture program (a first professional program; not a graduate program) to apply for admission to the Master of Community Planning program and exempt such students from sixteen hours of courses (CPLN7200, 7620, 7820, and two electives) required of regular Master of Community Planning students.

Pritchett stated his belief that students in the Master of Landscape Architecture program be required to hold a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent before entry into the Master of Community Planning program. Rodger suggested the possibility of allowing these students provisional admission to the Graduate School with full admission accompanying the awarding of the Master of Landscape Architecture or Bachelor of Architecture degree. Brewer questioned how students enrolled full-time in one of these programs would have time to enroll in the graduate courses required for the Master of Community Planning program.

Rodger moved to table consideration of the concurrent Bachelor of Architecture/Master of Community Planning proposal. Anderson-Harper seconded. Anderson-Harper moved to table consideration of the concurrent Master of Landscape Architecture/Master of Community Planning proposal. Brewer seconded. The motions passed without opposition. Pritchett stated his intention to request the presence of the associate dean of the College of Architecture, Design and Construction and the head of the Community Planning program at the next Council meeting to discuss the proposals.

Credentials Committee

Brewer moved the approval of the following nominations to the Graduate Faculty. Spencer seconded. The motion passed without opposition.

Glenn Howze, Agri Econ and Rural Sociology (reappointment)

George Young, Agri Econ and Rural Sociology (reappointment)

William Goff, Horticulture (appointment)

Bruce Lewis, Management (appointment)

Patrick McMullen, Management (appointment)

Bruce Murray, Curriculum and Teaching (appointment)

Kirk Swortzel, Curriculum and Teaching (appointment)

Yehia Elmogahzy, Textile Engineering (reappointment)

William Carey, Forestry & Wildlife Sciences (appointment)

Ann Presley, Consumer Affairs (appointment)

Mary Kuntz, Foreign Languages (reappointment)

Rafe Blaufarb, History (appointment)

Angela Lakwete, History (appointment)

Claudia Liebeskind, History (appointment)

Charles Breese, Pharmacal Sciences (appointment)

Mary Mendonca, Biological Sciences (reappointment)

James Saunders, Geology & Geography (reappointment)

Pritchett recalled the request of the Department of Communication Disorders from the March 8, 2000, Council meeting to establish a revised graduate faculty plan to allow participation by clinical faculty members in its graduate program. Department Chair Haynes explained that the department had five certified audiologists and speech pathologists who directed practicums and supervised student’s for the Master of Communication Disorders program. With the approval of the clinical career ladder at Auburn University and the potential for promotion within the ladder, Haynes described the difficulty of these faculty attempting to earn promotions when they could not get credit for their work with master’s students. The proposal was to establish a Level 0 for these faculty that would allow them to teach master’s level classes (0600-level classes under the quarter system, 7000-level classes under the semester system, to supervise master’s students in practicums, and to serve on master’s committees. These faculty would not be allowed to direct master’s students.

Brewer suggested that these clinical faculty not be allowed to serve as co-chairs of student committees. Pritchett asked Haynes to remove the references to doctoral committees from the proposal, eliminate the level 2 graduate faculty category because the department lacked a doctoral program, include a statement prohibiting clinical faculty from co-directing master’s students, and to submit the revised graduate faculty plan for consideration at a future Council meeting.

NEW BUSINESS

Pritchett stated that the revised Graduate School admissions policy approved by the University Senate on March 7, 2000, was awaiting the approval of President Muse. He explained that with that approval, the Council would develop generic plans for consideration by the various graduate programs to assist them in developing specific admissions policies for submission to the Graduate Council.

Stephen L. McFarland

Secretary

Spring 2000 Graduate Council Meetings

April 26

May 10

May 24

MINUTES OF THE FIFTH MEETING OF THE GRADUATE COUNCIL FOR 2000

Graduate Council Room 1:10-2:10 P.M. April 26, 2000

Next Meeting: May 10, 2000

Note: These minutes are subject to correction and approval at a subsequent meeting.

Members of the Council and Retirement Dates:

Members Absent: Anderson-Harper (Krueger substitute), Dane (Gilliam substitute), Middendorf, Spencer (Lechner substitute), Sutton, Szechi (Fabel substitute),

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Minutes of April 5, 2000 Council meeting approved.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Pritchett introduced Kem Krueger of Pharmacy Care Systems (substituting for Anderson-Harper); Robin Fabel of History (substituting for Szechi); Charles Gilliam of Horticulture (substituting for Dane); Judy Lechner of EFLT (substituting for Spencer); Betty Fendley, Associate Dean of the College of Architecture, Design and Construction; and John Pittari, Associate Professor of the School of Architecture.

Pritchett announced that the graduate admissions standards developed by the Graduate Council in 1999 had been forwarded to the President’s Office.

Pritchett announced that GWAAP, the Graduate Web Application and Approval Process system, began operation Tuesday, April 18. An article in the AU Report highlighted its major features.

In answer to a question from Weese concerning the new Peaks of Excellence programs, Pritchett explained that the Board of Trustees had asked for new Peaks programs at its February meeting. The Provost’s Office called for proposals and fifteen were received. The University Senate identified a Review Committee, which identified five for further development. These were presented to the Board of Trustees at its April 7 meeting. The five were the Graduate School/University Senate proposal to waive tuition for graduate teaching assistants, History, Rural Studio, a Center for Electronic Commerce, and a Rehabilitation Transitions Program. The Board separated the GTA proposal as an action item for its June meeting. Pritchett has assembled five funding scenarios for the proposal, three for full implementation in fall 2000 and two for phased implementation.

OLD BUSINESS

Curriculum Committee

McFarland summarized the discussion of the Master of Community Planning proposal (for concurrent Master of Community Planning-Master of Landscape Architecture and Master of Community Planning-Bachelor of Architecture degrees) presented and tabled at the Council’s April 5, 2000 meeting. Fendley and Pittari explained that previously students in the fifth year of the B. Arch program who began the MCP program had room in their fifth year to begin their graduate course work because they had begun the programs with previously earned bachelor’s degrees. Similarly, students without bachelor’s degrees who entered the MCP program in the fifth year of their B. Arch. program had taken some of their fifth-year course work earlier, creating time in the fifth year to pursue the MCP degree.

Weese asked if any Auburn undergraduate could enter a graduate program prior to the awarding of the baccalaureate as the College of Architecture, Design and Construction was proposing. McFarland replied that an Auburn undergraduate could enroll in up to 10 quarter hours/6 semester hours of graduate course work for potential credit toward a graduate degree if the student were within 40 quarter hours/30 semester hours of graduation, had the approval of the department offering the courses, had at least a 3.0 grade point average at the time, and had the approval of the Graduate School. Pritchett reminded the Council that the bachelor’s degree was required for admission to the Graduate School. Fendley stated that many of the students in the B. Arch. program would have earned sufficient credit by their last year to earn a BS in Environmental Design. Rodger stated that if the student had a previous bachelor’s degree, the student could meet the minimum admission requirements of the Graduate School without the need for a special policy. If the student did not have the bachelor’s degree, he or she should be limited to 6 semester hours of graduate course work that could be transferred to a graduate program in accordance with existing policy.

Pritchett reminded the Council that the MLA degree was a first professional degree, not a graduate degree. Many of the students in the MLA program would not have baccalaureate degrees required for admission to the Graduate School. Fendley stated that many of the students in the MLA program would have earned sufficient credit by their last year to earn a BS in Environmental Design. MLA students must satisfy the university’s core curriculum requirement.

Rodger moved that the Council reconfirm its existing policy. Any student in the MLA or B. Arch. programs with a bachelor’s degree who met the standards for admission to the MCP program could apply for admission and be accepted into the program. Any student in the MLA or B. Arch. program without a bachelor’s degree who was within 30 semester hours of graduation, had the approval of the department offering the courses, had at least a 3.0 grade point average at the time, and had the approval of the Graduate School could enroll in up to 6 semester hours of graduate course work that could be applied toward a graduate degree at Auburn University. Zee seconded. The motion passed without opposition.

McFarland, on behalf of the Graduate Council Curriculum Committee, moved the approval of WILD7950 Seminar for the semester transition. Zee seconded. The motion passed without opposition.

New Business

McFarland presented a request from Nutrition and Food Science to accept GMAT or GRE scores for applicants to its Hotel and Restaurant Management option. Rodger moved approval. Brewer seconded. The motion passed without opposition.

Gilliam asked if such issues as GRE and GMAT scores would need to come before the Graduate Council for approval under the new admission policy. Pritchett replied in the affirmative.

Stephen L. McFarland

Secretary

Spring 2000 Graduate Council Meetings

May 10

May 24

MINUTES OF THE SIXTH MEETING OF THE GRADUATE COUNCIL FOR 2000

Graduate Council Room 1:10-2:15 P.M. May 24, 2000

Next Meeting: July 5, 2000

Note: These minutes are subject to correction and approval at a subsequent meeting.

Members of the Council and Retirement Dates:

Members Absent: Anderson-Harper, Chappelka, Dane, Middendorf, Sartin, Sutton, Szechi (Fabel substitute), Weese, Zee

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Minutes of April 26, 2000 Council meeting approved.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Pritchett introduced Richard Tabor, Interim Director of the School of Accountancy, and Amy Campbell, Graduate Program Officer of the School of Accountancy.

Pritchett announced that current and recent members of the Graduate Council had earned promotions and tenure: Fennechiena Dane (promotion to associate professor and tenure), Heidi Anderson-Harper (promotion to full professor), and David Haney (promotion to full professor).

Pritchett reported on the Graduate Student Research Forum from the previous week that attracted more than eighty participants. At the May 19 recognition picnic, the ten outstanding doctoral students, six outstanding master’s students, four Merriwether recipients, and one Revington recipient.

The ten outstanding doctoral students were:

Boyd, Diane E. (English)

Givens, M. Daniel (Pathobiology)

Hayslette, Steven E. (Forestry and Wildlife Sciences)

Kucukcifci, Selda (Discrete and Statistical Sciences)

Kumar, Rajesh (Pharmacal Sciences)

Mathews, Becky (History)

Mathias, Karl (Computer Science and Software Engineering)

Rasmussen, Erin Brooke (Psychology)

Tew-Washburn, Suzanne (Rehabilitation and Special Education)

Treharne, James T. (Industrial and Systems Engineering)

The six outstanding master’s students were:

Cason, Joanna P. (Chemical Engineering)

Latta, Trent Edward (Civil Engineering)

D’Amico, Leigh G. (Industrial and Systems Engineering)

Adalpbjornsson, Steinar B. (Nutrition and Food Science)

Pulling, Sharyn N. (English)

Mahan, Justin D. (Geology and Geography)

The four Merriwether Fellowship award winners were:

Hayslette, Steven Edward (Forestry and Wildlife Sciences)

Higginbotham, Allan (Nutrition and Food Science)

Arenas, Jorge P. (Mechanical Engineering)

Nolan, Paul M. (Biological Sciences)

The William Revington Award winner was:

Lipscomb, Desiree (Biomedical Sciences)

Pritchett reminded the Council that the Outstanding Graduate Faculty Lecture by David South of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences would be at 4:00 P.M. in 125A Lowder on May 26.

Pritchett explained a new graduate student payment plan that would become effective fall 2000. Graduate students will be able to pay on an installment plan allowing three equal payments in September, October, and November.

Pritchett updated the Council on the status of the plan to create tuition fellowships for all Auburn GTAs. The plan will be submitted to the Board of Trustees on June 5 and will require a $200 per semester matriculation fee. Units will have to demonstrate recruiting plans to attract superior graduate students and must demonstrate efforts to enhance and to assess GTA teaching to qualify for the benefit.

Auburn University has announced a capital campaign, which will include efforts to attract funding for full-time graduate fellowships.

Pritchett announced that in its first month of operation, more than nine hundred prospective students had used GWAAP (Graduate Web Application and Admission Process).

Spencer asked about the recent University action to remove the resident status for students attending Auburn from nine nearby Georgia counties, expressing his concern over the decision’s impact on graduate enrollments in the College of Education. Pritchett replied that the decision was driven by economic concerns over lost revenues.

OLD BUSINESS

Credentials Committee

Brewer moved the approval of the following nominations to the Graduate Faculty. Singh seconded. The motion passed without opposition.

Cynthia Reed, EFLT (appointment)

Jennifer Kerpelman, HDFS (reappointment)

Alexander Vazsonyi, HDFS (reappointment)

Alejandro Lazarte, Psychology (reappointment)

Curriculum Committee

McFarland presented a request from the School of Accountancy to establish a distance education, video outreach Master of Accountancy option. Tabor explained that course lectures would be videotaped to provide students with the convenience to watch the lectures at a time convenient to the student’s schedule. Outreach students would satisfy the same course requirements as resident students. The program will use on-site approved proctors for examinations. Resident students had to perform an internship, while outreach students would achieve the same experience through their work experience. The program would require a capstone experience prior to graduation involving an extended weekend in residence involving resident and non-resident students. Outreach students would interact with faculty and other students using distance education technologies, including chat rooms, e-mail, and telephone. Faculty would be expected to designate both on-campus and off-campus office hours to facilitate such interaction.

Campbell explained that outreach students would be required to perform peer evaluations to insure each student participated in group projects.

Clark asked if e-mail and chat room participation would be a faculty discretion. Tabor replied that it would be. Spencer suggested the possibility of full-motion computer-based video for discussions. Brewer asked about the nature of the final examination. Ta bor responded that the capstone course would require oral presentations.

McFarland moved approval of the program option, with the provision that the School of Accountancy appear before the Council in fall 2001 to review its first year of experience with the program. Spencer seconded. The Council approved the program option by a vote of 7 to 2.

Stephen L. McFarland

Secretary

Summer 2000 Graduate Council Meetings

July 5

July 26

August 2

MINUTES OF THE SEVENTH MEETING OF THE GRADUATE COUNCIL FOR 2000

Graduate Council Room 1:10-1:55 P.M. July 5, 2000

Next Meeting: July 26, 2000

Note: These minutes are subject to correction and approval at a subsequent meeting.

Members of the Council and Retirement Dates:

Members Absent: Anderson-Harper, Dane, Middendorf, Sutton

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Minutes of May 24, 2000 Council meeting approved.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Pritchett introduced Randall McDaniel from the Department of Rehabilitation and Special Education

Chappelka summarized the activities of the Awards Committee, which this year awarded 130 travel grants and 17 grants-in-aid and served to nominate winners of the Merriwether Fellowship. Donna Bohanan of History will serve as the chair of the committee for the 2000-2001 academic year.

Pritchett reported that the Graduate Council room would be undergoing renovation in the next several months, requiring the Council to meet in a different location.

Pritchett announced that the Board of Trustees at the June 5 meeting had approved the plan to provide in-state tuition waivers for graduate teaching assistants. Combined with 300 Presidential Graduate Fellowships for graduate research assistants, Auburn will have 75 percent of its graduate assistants under a tuition waiver program by fall 2000.

OLD BUSINESS

Distance education option of the Master of Education degree program in Rehabilitation and Special Education

Randall McDaniel appeared before the Council to report on the results and experiences of the first year of this program. McDaniel explained that various agencies had referred 39 applicants to the program for fall 1999, 23 of whom were still in the program. The program used Internet-based synchronous streaming media for the majority of the program, with Instant Messenger to allow students to insert questions and participate in classroom discussions. Classroom lectures and discussions were stored in an electronic archive for use by on-campus and distance students asynchronously. Participants were required to attend one-week resident sessions each term. McDaniel reported that participants performed “very very well” on the whole, though students not completing their work during the term and requiring incomplete grades was a problem. Overall he rated the participants as performing as well as or better than on-campus, resident students, largely because they were practitioners with years of experience in the field.

Spencer asked if the one-week residency requirement per quarter would be increased for semesters. McDaniel answered that it would not. Szechi inquired about testing techniques. McDaniel responded that the program used approved proctors at the students’ place of work for some exams and the Cyberexam technique on the web for others. Weese asked if any students had problems with Internet access. McDaniel replied that modems had given jerky video performance, but acceptable audio performance. Students with such problems used the on-line electronic archive if performance became a problem. In the future the program will require participants to have DSL or cable modem access. The program may allow participants to utilize mailed video tapes if necessary. Students were required to videotape their presentations, which Auburn digitized and posted to the web. Spencer asked about the geographic distribution of the participants. McDaniel reported that the students were scattered across eight southeastern states. Clark asked how participation in the program had affected the students’ employment. McDaniel answered that students were seeing immediate results, with classroom materials and discussions being put into practice immediately with the patients of the participants.

McDaniel reported that e-mail volume was becoming a problem. Pritchett invited McDaniel to return in the fall semester for a demonstration of the techniques and technologies used in the program.

Credentials Committee

Brewer moved the approval of the following nominations to the Graduate Faculty. Clark seconded. The motion passed without opposition.

Faissal Hady, Textile Engineering (appointment)

Stephen Jones, Forestry and Wildlife Sciences (appointment)

John Eley, Pharmacal Sciences (appointment)

Greg Kochak, Pharmacal Sciences (appointment)

Tatiana Samoylova, Scott-Ritchey Research (appointment)

Curriculum Committee

Revisions to the degree programs of Counseling and Counseling Psychology tabled for discussion at the July 26 meeting.

NR and IN grades

The Council held a general discussion concerning the impact NR (not reported) and IN (incomplete) grades should have on a student’s grade point average. Pritchett explained that these grades currently count as Cs in grade point calculations until they are cleared. He expressed concern about the negative impact these were having on current academic action policies with regard to academic probation, academic warning, and suspension. McFarland explained the need to exclude distance education students from these rules because of the nature of distance education. He explained some of the justifications for the current policy based on previous meetings of the Graduate Council, including the need for the policy to encourage students to clear deferred grades, to prevent students from getting too far behind, and to prevent students from using incompletes to delay possible academic action. Spencer moved that NR and IN grades not count in graduate grade point calculations. Zee seconded. In discussion, Spencer stated that the motion would not change the existing policy concerning the six-month time limit for clearing incomplete grades. The motion passed without opposition.

NEW BUSINESS

None.

Stephen L. McFarland

Secretary

Summer 2000 Graduate Council Meetings

July 26

August 2

MINUTES OF THE EIGHTH MEETING OF THE GRADUATE COUNCIL FOR 2000

Samford 206 1:10-1:40 P.M. September 13, 2000

Next Meeting: October 4, 2000

Note: These minutes are subject to correction and approval at a subsequent meeting.

Members of the Council and Retirement Dates:

John Pritchett (Chair), Steve McFarland (Vice Chair and Secretary), Heidi Anderson-Harper (August 2001), Charlotte Sutton (August 2001), Ralph Zee (August 2001), Art Chappelka (August 2002), Miriam Clark (August 2002), Chris Rodger (August 2002), Daniel Szechi (August 2002), Jean Weese (August 2002), Skip Bartol (August 2003), Scott Kramer (August 2003), Dean Schwartz (August 2003), David Shannon (August 2003), Scott Boback (student 2001)

Members Absent: Rodger (Doug Leonard substitute), Sutton (Jennie Raymond substitute)

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Minutes of July 5, 2000 Council meeting approved.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Pritchett introduced Bill Haynes, Chair, Communication Disorders; Jennie Raymond, substituting for Sutton; and Doug Leonard, substituting for Rodger.

Pritchett introduced the new members of the Graduate Council, whose terms will run through August 2003: Skip Bartol (Animal and Dairy Sciences), Scott Kramer (Building Science), Dean Schwartz (Anatomy and Histology), David Shannon (EFLT), and Scott Boback (Biological Sciences).

Pritchett updated the Council on the status of tuition support for graduate assistants. As of September 11, 2000, approximately 650 graduate teaching assistants had been provided tuition waivers. In addition, up to 300 Graduate Research Fellowships were available to cover the tuition expenses of graduate research assistants.

Pritchett informed the Council of a new policy with regard to graduation. University policy previously had been to require all students to be registered the term they graduated. Effective with fall semester 2000, students must be registered the term they complete their degree requirements. Any graduate student who has completed their degree requirements in a previous term and who completes a degree completion form in the Graduate School will not have to be registered the term of graduation.

Pritchett informed the Council of a new policy with regard to GRAD7000 Clearing Registration. Previously non-resident students enrolled in this course had to pay three-times the in-state rate. The new policy sets the fee at $174 (for 2000-2001) for all students, regardless of residency status.

OLD BUSINESS

Credentials Committee

The Department of Communication Disorders proposed to create a new category of graduate faculty for the clinical faculty in the department. Level 0 graduate faculty could teach clinical graduate courses, could serve on graduate master’s committees, but could not direct theses nor serve as the major professor or chair of a student’s committee. The proposal also sought to eliminate the category of level 2 graduate faculty because the department does not have a doctoral program. Pritchett, on behalf of the Credentials Committee, moved the approval of the proposal. Anderson-Harper seconded. The motion passed without opposition.

Curriculum Committee

The Horticulture Department proposed to eliminate the Doctor of Philosophy program in Horticulture because it was not able to meet the post-implementation viability requirements set by the Alabama Commission on Higher Education. The program would be incorporated into a PhD option in Plant Sciences. McFarland moved approval of the proposal on behalf of the Curriculum Committee. Chappelka seconded. The motion passed without opposition.

Management proposed a new course, MNGT7980 MMIS Project, that would

be required of all students in the non-thesis Master of Management Information Systems program. The course would be one to six hours variable credit and satisfactory/unsatisfactory graded. McFarland moved approval of the proposal on behalf of the Curriculum Committee. Bartol seconded. The motion passed without opposition.

NEW BUSINESS

Pritchett read a proposed resolution thanking previous members of the Graduate Council for their service to the Council (see Attachment #1). Anderson-Harper moved approval. Bartol seconded. The motion passed without opposition.

Stephen L. McFarland

Secretary

Fall 2000 Graduate Council Meetings

October 4

October 18

November 1

November 29

ATTACHMENT #1

RESOLUTION

THE GRADUATE COUNCIL

AUBURN UNIVERSITY

WHEREAS the Graduate Council recommends regulations and policies affecting the graduate curricula and work leading to graduate degrees at Auburn University and assists the Graduate Dean in the execution of regulations and policies; and

WHEREAS Council members contribute much effort and many hours to the important work of the Council; and

WHEREAS Wayne Brewer, Fenny Dane, Tin-Man Lau, Jim Sartin, Narendra Singh, William Spencer, and Chris Middendorf completed their service on the Graduate Council July 5, 2000;

Therefore be it

RESOLVED, That the Graduate Council of Auburn University commends Drs. Brewer, Dane, Lau, Sartin, Spencer, and Singh, and Mr. Middendorf for their outstanding service and extends sincere thanks and appreciation.

For the Graduate Council this 13th day of September, 2000:

John F. Pritchett, Chair and

Dean of the Graduate School

MINUTES OF THE NINTH MEETING OF THE GRADUATE COUNCIL FOR 2000

Hargis Hall 1:10-1:50 P.M. October 18, 2000

Next Meeting: November 1, 2000

Note: These minutes are subject to correction and approval at a subsequent meeting.

Members of the Council and Retirement Dates:

Members Absent: Rodger (Doug Leonard substitute), Sutton (Danny Butler substitute), Boback (Kim Pruett substitute), Chappelka, Pritchett.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Minutes of September 13, 2000 Council meeting approved.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

McFarland introduced Danny Butler, Marketing, substituting for Sutton; and Kim Pruett, English, substituting for Boback.

OLD BUSINESS

Credentials Committee

Clark moved the approval of the following nominations to the Graduate Faculty. Shannon seconded. The motion passed without opposition.

Darrell Rankins, Animal and Dairy Science (Reappointment)

Barnes, Robert, Civil Engineering (Appointment)

Juan Gilbert, Computer Science and Software engineering (Appointment)

Guofu Niu, Electrical and Computer Engineering (Appointment)

Jorge Valenzuela, Industrial and Systems Engineering (Appointment)

Maria Witte, EFLT (Appointment)

Alice Buchanan, Health and Human Performance (Appointment)

Peter Grandjean, Health and Human Performance (Appointment)

Erica Jackson, Health and Human Performance (Appointment)

Wendi Weimar, Health and Human Performance (Appointment)

Shannon Bowen, Communication (Appointment)

Corrie Claiborne, English (Appointment)

Penelope Ingram, English (Appointment)

Joy Leighton, English (Appointment)

James Ryan, English (Appointment)

Michelle Sidler, English (Appointment)

Curriculum Committee

McFarland moved the approval of MATH6790 Actuarial Seminar 1 and MATH6820 Actuarial Seminar 2, with notification to the Mathematics Department that syllabi for the courses should contain grading scales and statements about accommodations for students with disabilities. Szechi seconded. The motion passed without opposition.

McFarland moved the disapproval of HLHP6406 Exercise Prescription for

Normal and Special Populations. Bartol seconded. Discussion involved concerns for the absence of measures for class participation through distance technologies, the absence of any means to encourage discussion between students through distance technologies, and the absence of any means for insuring academic honesty on examinations. The motion passed without opposition.

NEW BUSINESS

McFarland initiated a general discussion on the issue of departments setting minimum registration requirements for graduate students. He identified abroad range of requirements, ranging from the university requirement that any graduate student on assistantship must be registered for at least one course to several departments that required graduate assistants to register for a minimum of 13 hours each term. Examples included:

Department 1: 13 hour minimum while on assistantship, used to increase

departmental hour production to justify budget increases

Department 2: all graduate students in residence register for one hour

of seminar each term

Department 3: all graduate students engaged in research register for two hours of

7990/8990 each term

Department 4: all graduate students register for one hour 7990/8990 each term

Department 5: 9 hours of courses plus one hour of 7990/8990 while on

assistantship

Department 6: all teaching assistants register for one hour of teaching course each

term

Department 7: 6 hours of courses each term until complete course work to insure

good progress toward the degree

Zee stated the obvious benefit to graduate students required to enroll in the one hour research seminar and the one hour teaching seminar in order to encourage students to stay up-to-date and to improve the quality of teaching at Auburn.

Bartol observed that many graduate students in departments with significant research missions are deeply involved in research toward their master’s or doctoral degrees constantly and that requiring minimum registration in 7990/8990 was justified because of the continuous involvement of faculty in advising the students.

Zee questioned why departments requiring at least 10 hours did not require 15 because enrollments between 10 and 15 hours each term carried the same tuition charges.

McFarland asked the Council members to consider the issue for continued discussion at a future meeting.

Stephen L. McFarland

Secretary

Fall 2000 Graduate Council Meetings

November 1

November 29

MINUTES OF THE TENTH MEETING OF THE GRADUATE COUNCIL FOR 2000

Hargis Hall 1:00-2:20 P.M. November 1, 2000

Next Meeting: November 29, 2000

Note: These minutes are subject to correction and approval at a subsequent meeting.

Members of the Council and Retirement Dates:

Members Absent: Rodger, Anderson-Harper (Kem Krueger substitute), Szechi, Weese (Sareen Gropper substitute).

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Minutes of November 1, 2000 Council meeting approved.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Pritchett introduced Sareen Gropper, substituting for Weese; Kem Krueger substituting for Anderson-Harper; and Jim Kaminsky, Educational Foundations, Leadership, and Technology.

Bartol announced that Cliff Baile of the Georgia Research Alliance would be speaking in the AUHCC Auditorium at 7:00 P.M., November 8, 2000, on the subject of the commercialization of agricultural research, sponsored by the Cell and Molecular Biology Peaks of Excellence program.

OLD BUSINESS

Credentials Committee

Clark moved the approval of the following nominations to the Graduate Faculty. Chappelka seconded. The motion passed without opposition.

Anthony Guarino, EFLT (Appointment)

Gerald Halpin, EFLT (Reappointment)

David Shannon, EFLT (Reappointment)

Brian Carnahan, Industrial and Systems Engineering (Appointment)

Chan Park, Industrial and Systems Engineering (Reappointment)

John Mazaheri, Foreign Languages and Literatures (Reappointment)

Michel Raby, Foreign Languages and Literatures (Reappointment)

Jeffrey Katz, Psychology (Appointment)

Curriculum Committee

McFarland moved the approval of CTMU7566 Digital Media Production for Music Education. Bartol seconded. The motion passed without opposition.

NEW BUSINESS

General discussion on what constitutes submission of a thesis or dissertation

Pritchett explained a series of events that raised the issue of when a thesis or dissertation reaches a submitted status, especially with regards to potential charges of plagiarism and disciplinary action. Zee stated that the Academic Honesty Committee had discussed the issue and generally had adopted the standard that plagiarism would have occurred with an assignment or work achieved its final form. Zee argued, however, that such a rule could not apply in the case of theses and dissertations because a major professor would have to continue to work with and approve various drafts of a plagiarized thesis or dissertation in order to get the thesis or dissertation into final form for submission to the student’s advisory committee. He would prefer to define submission as when a complete draft was submitted to the major professor.

Bartol questioned whether a major professor should not simply refuse to accept a plagiarized draft. Pritchett offered that a major professor could always refuse to accept plagiarized drafts and force the student to develop a new topic or form a new committee. Chappelka proposed that submission might be defined as when the draft approved by the student’s committee was submitted to the Graduate School for consideration by the outside reader (representative of the Graduate Faculty). Zee pointed out that waiting until then would mean the major professor and advisory committee would have to approve a plagiarized thesis or dissertation before it could be submitted to the Graduate School.

Sutton suggested that intent should be a consideration. Gropper explained that in many areas dissertations and theses are submitted to the major professor in bits and pieces. If the major professor identified an act of plagiarism, would the professor have to wait until the entire work was submitted? Chappelka questioned if the time of submission should be defined as when the draft was sent to the advisory committee. Bartol replied that this would require the major professor approving a plagiarized work before it could be submitted to the committee. Sutton argued that submission should start with the submission of the first piece of the thesis or dissertation, whether it might be a paragraph or an entire draft. McFarland added that any policy must be clearly written and applicable to all disciplines and programs.

Bartol proposed that the most clear-cut time might be when the student requests that the major professor submit the thesis or dissertation to the advisory committee for review. Schwartz stated that in such a case the student should be required to sign a form indicating his or her desire to submit the work to the advisory committee. The form could include a statement that the student was certifying the submission to be the student’s work.

Pritchett appointed a subcommittee fo Zee (chair), Clark, and Chappelka to draft a statement defining the time of submission for the thesis and dissertation, for presentation to the Graduate Council at the November 29, 2000 meeting.

General discussion on minimum registration requirements for graduate assistants (continued from October 18, 2000 meeting)

Pritchett explained that a major concern with departments setting minimum registration requirements is that because the university was now paying the tuition and fees for many students, minimum registration requirements were decreasing the funding available to pay the tuition and fees for other graduate assistants. Gropper questioned whether the university might limit the number of credit hours that would be covered under tuition and fee waivers for graduate assistants. McFarland responded that because each graduate student’s plan of study is customized and therefore requires variable numbers of credit hours, such a limit would not be practical.

The general consensus was that departments should not require graduate assistants to register for a minimum number of hours as a condition for receiving a graduate assistantship beyond the hours normally required for the degree. Pritchett stated that he would compose a draft statement reflecting the Council’s consensus for presentation to the Council at the November 29, 2000 meeting.

Stephen L. McFarland

Secretary

Fall 2000 Graduate Council Meetings

November 29

MINUTES OF THE ELEVENTH MEETING OF THE GRADUATE COUNCIL FOR 2000

Hargis Hall1:00-2:20 P.M. November 29, 2000

Next Meeting: January 17, 2001

Note: These minutes are subject to correction and approval at a subsequent meeting.

Members of the Council and Retirement Dates:

Members Absent: Anderson-Harper (Kem Krueger substitute), Rodger (Doug Leonard substitute).

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Minutes of November 29, 2000 Council meeting approved.

ANNOUNCEMENTS
Pritchett introduced Joe Morgan (Associate Dean of Engineering), Mark Nelms (Electrical and Computer Engineering), Sushil Bhavnani (Mechanical Engineering), James Barnes (Office of Information Technology), James Kaminsky (Educational Foundations, Leadership and Technology), Kem Krueger (Pharmacy Care Systems–substituting for Anderson-Harper), Jonathan Kiel (Presidential Intern), and Mary Elizabeth Hickey (Presidential Intern).
Pritchett reported that Auburn currently had programs in place to pay the tuition for about 950 graduate teaching (Graduate Teaching Fellowships) and graduate research (Graduate Research Fellowships) assistants. Provost Walker had asked for plans to cover the remainder of the graduate research assistants still paying tuition.
OLD BUSINESS
Curriculum Committee
McFarland explained that the College of Engineering requested approval to offer 153 graduate courses using distance technology. Because these courses had been previously approved for on-campus offering, the Graduate Council was asked to evaluate and approve only their distance component. McFarland emphasized that the Graduate Council Curriculum Committee had three basic concerns when examining courses proposed for off-campus offering: provision for insuring academic honesty for course examinations, provision for insuring interaction and feedback between students and the instructor, and provision for insuring off-campus students received the same quality of instruction received by resident students.

Bartol asked what measures were used to insure academic honesty for testing. Morgan replied that tests were mailed to approved proctors and were returned for grading by the approved proctors. Krueger asked if course materials distributed via WebCT. Morgan answered that current course content was distributed via videotape or compressed video on the Web. Bhavnani explained one course he offered in cooperation with two other universities that was presented “live” on the Internet, with all Auburn students participating “on campus.” Barnes stated that WebCT used on-line testing, but could be proctored. Camera and fingerprint technology exists, but is not widely available. Bartol asked who had responsibility for administering the proctoring practice. Morgan replied that the Graduate Outreach office coordinated their activities. Distance courses are not the same as being on campus, but especially with the use of e-mail for discussions, Morgan feels that in some cases he has had more interaction with distance students than with on-campus students. Concerning laboratory equipment, Morgan stated that some distance students worked at better facilities than Auburn could offer. New lecture videotapes are prepared each time a class is offered on campus.

Zee and Bartol asked Morgan to prepare a written statement listing the standards and quality control measures used for all engineering courses offered through distance technologies. Morgan agreed and will submit the statement at a future Graduate Council meeting.

McFarland moved and Schwartz seconded approval of CTMU6956 Secondary Music Methods (the distance education equivalent of an existing course CTMU6950) . The motion passed without opposition.
McFarland moved and Szechi seconded approval of a request to reduce the credit hours of PLPA6050 Plant Disease Diagnosis from 4 to 3. The motion passed without opposition.
Credentials Committee

Clark moved the approval of the following nominations to the Graduate Faculty. Szechi seconded. The motion passed without opposition.

Clark Lundell, Industrial Design (Reappointment)

Saeed Maghsoodloo, Industrial and Systems Engineering (Reappointment)

Barry Burkhart, Psychology (Reappointment)

William Buskist, Psychology (Reappointment)

Peter Harzem, Psychology (Reappointment)

James Johnston, Psychology (Reappointment)

Philip Lewis, Psychology (Reappointment)

Virginia O’Leary, Psychology (Reappointment)

Steven Shapiro, Psychology (Reappointment)

Kenneth Barker, Pharmacy Care Systems (Reappointment)

Elizabeth Flynn, Pharmacy Care Systems (Appointment)

Robert Pearson, Pharmacy Care Systems (Reappointment)

Andras Bezdek, Mathematics (Reappointment)

Narendra Govil, Mathematics (Reappointment)

Gary Gruenhage, Mathematics (Reappointment)

John Holmes, Mathematics (Reappointment)

Olav Kallenberg, Mathematics (Reappointment)

George Kozlowski, Mathematics (Reappointment)

Krystyna Kuperberg, Mathematics (Reappointment)

Jo Heath, Mathematics (Reappointment)

Amnon Meir, Mathematics (Reappointment)

Robert Kemppainen, Anatomy, Physiology, and Pharmacology (Reappointment)

Daniel Givens, Pathobiology (Appointment)

Weese asked if faculty request appointment or reappointment to the Graduate Faculty according to a schedule. Pritchett replied that new appointments would be considered at anytime, but reappointments were due no later than December 12, 2000.

NEW BUSINESS
Statement on minimum registration requirements in departments

Clark moved and Sutton seconded the approval of a policy pertaining to minimum registration requirements for graduate students. After discussion, the following policy was approved without opposition.

Graduate students enrolled in academic degree programs are guided by plans of study approved by their major professors/advisors. Each plan of study includes but is not limited to didactic course work which addresses the requirements established by the Graduate Faculty for each graduate degree program. For thesis and dissertation students, the plan of study also includes research/thesis and research/dissertation hours which reflect the academic research requirements for the degree program and the involvement of the faculty in working with students in mastering those requirements.

Accordingly, departments will not require graduate students to register for hours not included in the plan of study as a condition of employment or to enhance credit hour production for administrative purposes. Similarly, requiring hours on the plan of study beyond the degree requirements established by the Graduate Faculty for such administrative purposes is also not permitted.

Explanatory note: University policy requires that graduate assistants be registered during each term of appointment. This statement does not supercede that policy, but rather addresses requirements for excess hours as a condition of employment or for other administrative purposes.

Statement on what constitutes submission of a dissertation or thesis

Zee presented a draft statement recommended by a subcommittee of Zee (chair), Clark, and Chappelka. Boback asked Zee to define what the subcommittee meant by “final draft.” Zee replied that a “final draft” meant the submission of the abstract and the body of the work. Pritchett stated that the statement, if approved, would be published in the University Bulletin and the Tiger Cub. Bartol stated that a student’s committee should still have the discretion to charge plagiarism or academic dishonesty after the completed dissertation or thesis was submitted. Zee moved and Bartol seconded the following statement defining submission of a dissertation or thesis. The motion was approved without opposition.

Submission of a thesis or dissertation is defined as the time at which the first complete draft of such is submitted to the major professor for review.

The motion also called for modifying the Tiger Cub (1998-99 version, Chapter 12, section 1201.1.4, page 123) to incorporate this statement, to wit “the submission of themes, essays, term papers, design projects, theses and dissertations, similar requirements or parts thereof that are not the work of the student submitting them. In the case of graduate thesis or dissertation, submission is defined as the time at which the first complete draft of such is submitted to the major professor for review.”

Zee also submitted the following statement for incorporation in the introduction of all theses and dissertations testifying that the work included therein was the work of the author, for consideration at the next Graduate Council meeting.

The work described in this [thesis/dissertation] was carried out between [month and year] and [month and year] in the Department of [department] at Auburn University. The work is entirely my own, except where reference is made to the work of others, and has not been submitted in part or in whole for any other degree or qualification.

Cooperative Education Leadership Doctoral Degree

Pritchett related that the Auburn University Board of Trustees had asked Auburn to work toward greater cooperation with Auburn University Montgomery. The Department of Educational Foundations, Leadership and Technology has proposed such a cooperative doctoral program with AUM in education leadership. Auburn is also working with AUM to establish shared undergraduate programs in Spanish, French, and German; a cooperative graduate master’s program in sociology; and a shared first professional Doctor of Audiology degree program. Pritchett explained that AUM faculty participating in the program were already approved as members of the Graduate Faculty. Kaminsky reported that a significant motivation behind the proposal was a recent State Department of Education study that indicated that one-half of existing superintendents and principals in the state would be retiring within seven years. An AUM survey indicated a demand existed for the program in the Montgomery area. Pritchett explained that participating students would satisfy alternative residency at Auburn and complete one year of didactic courses at Auburn. This will be an Auburn University degree and Auburn would award the diploma. Krueger asked what advantage this program would give to AUM. Kaminsky replied that it would expand AUM’s capabilities and enrollment. Krueger moved approval of the program. Bartol seconded. The motion passed without opposition.

Stephen L. McFarland

Secretary

Spring 2001 Graduate Council Meetings

January 17

January 31

February 14

March 14

April 11

May 9

Last modified: December 20, 2016