Graduate Council Meeting - Minutes
April 25, 2005

Present:Chair Bruce McLeod, Ken Bowers, Patty Holkup, Rich Howard, Robert Maher, Marc Giullian, Ben Meyer, Robert Rydell, Warren Jones (Faculty Council), Maggie Gudatis

Meeting commenced at 3:00 p.m. in SUB 271.

GRADUATE COUNCIL AGENDA ITEMS: (Numbers refer to item numbers on the Agenda)

1. College of Graduate Studies Review Task Force Report l

Item 8.3 Create a faculty-level position of Assistant/Associate Vice Provost and Director of Graduate Studies Howard recommended that the position’s title be Associate rather than Assistant, and he recommended that the position be filled by a tenured faculty member. Maher was concerned that the title was not Vice Provost for Research/Dean. Maher stated that once the tuition for a GRA is paid through a grant the department never receives anything back for paying that graduate student’s tuition. McLeod restated Maher’s concern by saying that there was no incentive given to PI’s to work with graduate students. Bowman said that the primary concern and focus of the CGS was academic and not research and that the main way of solving this issue would be to redistribute IDC’s in a way that helped PIs support graduate students. Rydell and Bowers brought up that the current VP for Research is not interested in the position. Howard stated that the university gives no reward, recognition or incentive to faculty members for their efforts in educating graduate students. Rydell stated that this was the primary reason why in some science departments there is a move away from educating grad students and instead PIs are hiring Post docs. McLeod injected that the number of doctoral students graduating today is the same as it was 10 to 15 years ago despite the consistent increase in research funding on campus.

Item 8.5 The College of Graduate Studies should be renamed the Office of Graduate Studies. McLeod stated that changing the name to Office of Graduate Studies would be downgrading graduate studies at MSU and that based on his experience it was not going to be seen as a step up from our counterparts across the country. Rydell asked if anyone had completed an analysis of what it would cost to change the name. The cost of changing the name seems to have been overlooked.

Item 8.6 and Item 8.6 Restructure the Gradate Council to Provide representative for every department offering a graduate program.Establish an Executive Committee of the Graduate Council McLeod and Bowers both sat on a graduate council committee that was comprised of members from every department before McLeod became the Dean. McLeod stated that the large committee that used to be in place did not accomplish much. Jones states that restructuring graduate council to address a communication problem might be a mistake. Jones suggested that the current body of graduate coordinators comprised of faculty members in each graduate department could be convened once a semester or once a year as a mechanism to address the really big issues that are brought up during graduate council meetings. Jones went on to say that during the annual/semester meeting that the graduate coordinators could be utilized to pick representatives for the executive committee. Bowman stated that the current graduate council has always been a body that works well. Bowman indicated say that rather than completely restructuring graduate council she thought that the current members should be chastised for not communicating with the faculty in their colleges and then they should be encouraged to do a better job. Howard stated that passive communication methods like the website were a problem. Holkup stated that the primary purpose of graduate council over the past year has been to review policy and approve programs. McLeod agreed that communication was a problem and that perhaps opening up the faculty council once a semester to visit about grad issues was a good idea.

2. Final Meeting of the Year

McLeod thanked the council for their participation and effectiveness during his 6+ years of being graduate dean.

Meeting adjourned at 4:00 p.m.