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Governance Minutes ArchiveOctober 2, 1991
MINUTES VPI&SU COMMISSION ON GRADUATE STUDIES 2 OCTOBER, 1991 3:30 P.M. 206 SANDY HALL Present: Drs. Boyle, Brown, Eaton, Hooper, M. Johnson, R. Johnson, LaBerge, Lutze, McCoy, Niles, Orcutt, Snoke, Sporakowski, Stephenson, Strickland Absent with notification: O'Brien, Stout, Townsend Absent: Comeaux, Harris, Tideman Visitors: Susan Trulove - Spectrum, Marvin Foushee - Registrars Office, Judy Faw - Classified Staff Representative 1. ANNOUNCEMENTS - Dr. Hooper asked Bernard LaBerge to comment on the new immigration laws. Dr. LaBerge stated that the Immigration Act of 1990 substantially altered provisions of the H-Visa, a temporary visa which is used extensively to hire foreign faculty and researchers. Due to the slowness of the Department of Labor in publishing new rules governing the hiring of foreign "workers", it is now not possible to hire any foreign faculty under the provisions of this visa. He expects this situation to remain as it is for about three months. Dr. Arthur Snoke announced that the GSA would be having a Health Insurance Meeting on October 2 at 5:00 pm in Room 100 of the Burke Johnson Center. Dr. Hooper commented that Fred Weaver and a Blue Cross/Blue Shield representative will be at this meeting to discuss health insurance as related to the graduate student population. Dr. Martha Johnson stated that the GEM (Graduate Engineering for Minorities program) Teleconference will be held on October 3, from 1:00-2:00 in the rear auditorium at the CEC. There will be two students, (Nick Snow from Chemistry and Jennifer Tank from Biology) on the panel representing Virginia Tech. From 2:30-3:30 - in 201 McBryde a teleconference will be held regarding the history of the GEM program. 2. INFORMATIONAL HANDOUTS - Dr. Hooper distributed two handouts that will relate to future issues discussed by the CGS membership. (1) Retired faculty serving as PIs on sponsored programs, (2) Policy memorandum #14: regarding departmental standards in graduate programs. 3. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA - The agenda was approved with the addition of item 8.0 - Report on Enrollment presented by Marvin Foushee and Dr. Eaton. 4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF 20 SEPTEMBER 1991 - the minutes were approved with corrections. 5. COMMITTEE REPORTS Scholarship - Dr. John Eaton stated that the minority student incentive program has awarded an additional $45,000.00 to departments who are supporting their minority students with tuition scholarships. 6. GRADUATE STUDENT ASSEMBLY - no report. OLD BUSINESS NEW BUSINESS 7. 8.0 - REPORT ON ENROLLMENT - Marvin Foushee stated that the latest total enrollment figures are 23,912 students on campus. The graduate enrollment is 4,297 students. Dr. Hooper stated that, despite the resource situation at the University, we have had a good response and interest in the University and have increased our enrollment. Dr. Snoke asked Mr. Foushee questions regarding the availability of classroom space with the impact of increased enrollment. Mr. Foushee stated that there are times throughout the day that classroom space is totally in use. General assignment classrooms have a utilization during prime time (8 am - 5 pm) of almost 85%. Dr. Hooper stated that a thorough report of enrollment will be presented at a future CGS meeting. Dr. Stephenson asked that a report be supplied regarding the number of students on support (tuition waivers, assistantships, etc.). Dr. Hooper stated that a report is forthcoming and will be distributed to the members. 8. 8.1 - POLICY MEMORANDUM 14 - Dr. Hooper asked the membership to review the policy that was distributed earlier in the meeting. The original policy was developed in l979 and there have been a few wording changes since that time. The policy revolved around the question of whether the University should have a graduate faculty. The answer was - no, a graduate faculty should not be designated as different from the other faculty but we did need to deal with the quality standards or our graduate programs, therefore Policy Memo 14 was instituted. In the past, on a rotating basis, departments have submitted statements to the Graduate School regarding the standards that they maintain. All statements are filed in the Graduate School in departmental order. It appears that students are not always being advised of their departmental policies and interpretations and, therefore, we (the Graduate School) are getting more and more complaints. Dr. Hooper asked that the Degree Requirements, Standards, Criteria and Academic Policies Committee, chaired by Mike Sporakowski, review this policy and see if it needs to be re-evaluated, restructured or whether a major policy change needs to be instituted. Dr. Snoke suggested that the GSA survey the graduate students to see whether departmental requirements/standards are being explained to the graduate students by the departments. 9. 8.2 - REVIEW OF PRIORITIES FOR AGENDA ITEMS AND COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS - Dr. Hooper asked for suggested additions to the listing of issues that face the CGS this year. Additional issues suggested were: Student Health Insurance Benefits Package for Students Support and Recruitment Package for Students Dr. Hooper stated that the listing is currently being grouped into categories such as: (1) Future Professoriate and Professionals, (2) Graduate Student Program Policy/Practices, (3) Diversity of Graduate Student Body, (4) Off-Campus Issues, (5) Graduate Administrative Matters, (6) Philosophy of Graduate Study and (7) Transition to new Commissions/ Governance Structure. As the groups are being developed, each issue is being suggested to individual committees for examination. Copies of the "Issues for the Graduate Community" will be sent to CGS members as soon as completed and will be discussed at our next meeting. Committee chairs were asked to convene meetings before our next CGS meeting on November 6 and be prepared to report regarding any progress on any of the issues listed. 10. ADJOURNMENT - 4:53 p.m. Respectfully submitted, John L. Eaton Secretary
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