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Governance Minutes ArchiveNovember 18, 1992
MINUTES VPI&SU COMMISSION ON GRADUATE STUDIES AND POLICIES 18 NOVEMBER, 1992 3:30 P.M. 206 SANDY HALL Present: Drs. Chaloux, Eaton, Eustis, A. Haney, J. Johnson, M. Johnson, McCoy, Orcutt, B. Smith, Snoke, Sporakowski, Tideman, Wokutch, Mr. Ken Kahn, Mr. Timothy Schell Absent with notification: Boyle, Burch-Brown, O'Brien, L. Haney, N. Stewart, Mitchiner Absent: Clough, Comeaux, Eyre, La Berge, Poindexter, Tuthill Visitors: John Aughenbaugh - Student Affairs Coordinator from the Vice-President for Student Affairs Office Marvin Foushee - Registrar's Office Representative Susan Trulove - Spectrum Representative 1. ANNOUNCEMENTS- Dr. Eaton described the new application package avail- able for prospective students. Dr. Sporakowski reported that several committees will share their minutes with the commission for informa- tional purposes. Minutes from the library committee were circulated. 2. INFORMATIONAL HANDOUTS none 3. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA - Approved 4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF 7 OCTOBER 1992 - The minutes were approved as amended. 5. COMMITTEE REPORTS Course and Program Criteria - David Orcutt presented the minutes of the last meeting. First item - new course PHIL 5344 - History of Ethics was approved. Second, new course PHIL 6204 - Advanced Topics in the History of Philosophy was approved with modifications. Third, new course - PHIL 6324 - Advanced Topics in Social and Political Philosophy was approved with modifications. Fourth, new course - UAP 4224 - Policy-making in the Federal System was tabled - Dr. O'Brien will bring it back at a future meeting. Fifth, new course - UAP 5544 - Public and Non-profit Finanacial Management was approved with modifications. Sixth, new course - UAP 5764 - International Development Studio was approved. Graduate Student Relations - Ken Kahn said the committee had begin to set up an agenda and was scheduled to meet December 11. Graduate Appeals - Nick Tideman reported on a set of proposed procedures for appeals. The proposal formalized what was already being done but also to an extent streamlines the process. After much discussion the decision was made to table the Proposed Appeals Procedure and Nick Tideman will bring a modified copy back to the Commission Meeting February 3. Degree Requirements, Standards, Criteria and Academic Policies - Steve Boyle was not at the Commission meeting, however, he sent notes and Dr. Sporakowski gave the report: ISSUE 1: Because the Regional Consortia for Continuing Higher Educa- tion has been disbanded by SCHEV, the transferability of credits to Virginia Tech programs by students of former consortia members needs to be addressed. It is recommended that 1) the transfer of credits be permitted by students from the former member state institutions: namely, University of Virginia, Longwood College, Mary Washington Col- lege, George Mason University, William and Mary College, Christopher Newport College, Hampton Institute, Norfolk State College, Old Dominion University, James Madison University, Clinch Valley College, and Radford University; and 2) The Dean of the Graduate School amend the graduate catalog to reflect the disbanding of the consortia and to indicate the specific institutions from which students can still transfer credits. Dr. Sporakowski stated that there were several things the Degree Re- quirements Committee needed to take a look at and pursue and try to make some specific recommendations that the Commission can either ac- cept or reject. ISSUE 2: Readmissions policy - The various Deans and Department Heads are being polled by PROFS as to their specific opinions as to the pro- posed changes in the readmission policy; these opinions will be dis- cussed at the next meeting. ISSUE 3: Integrity regarding changing of grades - Two specific con- cerns- relating to the changing of grades were discussed: 1) the need for verification at the departmental and college level prior to the request being forwarded to the Graduate School and 2) the time beyond the ending of a course at which an instructor can change a grade. The consensus of the discussion was that it would be difficult to come up with specific recommendations to address these issues. Policy Memo- randum No. 126 dealing with Graduate Program Standards and Policies would probably be the best means to ask that the various colleges to state their procedures used to insure that the integrity of grade changes be maintained and that the circumstances and time intervals beyond the end of a course be defined which permit the changing of a grade. Both Dr. Sporakowski and M. Foushee volunteered to draft statements concerning the resolving of these issues for consideration by the committee; these will be discussed at the next meeting. Graduate Research Policies and Programs - Dr. Eaton told the Com- mission that Clough, McCoy, Stewart and himself met and talked about the issue of Graduate Students on wage versus Graduate Students on assistantships for summer. Dr. Eaton said he explained the situation to the committee and helped them try to understand the ramifications of any change in that present policy. The committee will meet with Kathye Johnston, Budget Office, and Joyce Williams-Green, who directs the summer school to get their input and then they will come back to the Commission with a statement. Scholarship - no report Commencement - Dr. Martha Johnson reported that the ad hoc Com- mencement Committee met early in the semester. She said that the com- mittee would like for the Spring doctoral ceremony to remain the same as it did last year, which was out in Squires Ballroom and the same procedures to be followed. She reported the space had been reserved. The December Commencement is scheduled for December 19 and will be held in Cassell Coliseum. Candidates and major professors are asked to report at 9:15am. The ceremony begins at 10:00am. The last day of final exams is December 17. This is the first December commencement to be held after final exams. As of November 18, there were 300 mas- ter's students on the list eligible to attend and 130 doctoral stu- dents. This, of course, is subject to change if the students do not get their thesis or dissertations turned in. The graduate student speaker is Zaiqi Wang, a doctoral candidate in Biochemistry and a Pratt Fellow. Review of criteria for selection of graduate student speaker is that they must be a fellowship student graduating that term. Graduate Student Assembly Report - It was reported that there were a couple of changes to the constitution. The speaker position was changed to president and the vice-speaker position was changed to vice-president. Also, adopted a procedure for allocation of monies after restructuring of the budget board. That is going through the appropriate channels now. There was a Thanksgiving dinner at Hillcrest for the students on campus during the holiday. The APEX came out the end of November. Ken Kahn met with the Graduate Dean, Dr. Eaton, and the Student Affairs Officers in Richmond. Dr. Eaton reported that the agenda at the State Graduate Dean's Meeting, in Richmond, was virtually or entirely devoted to Graduate Student issues and in large it was on part of our Graduate Student Assembly and the graduate students and the GAPSAV. - Graduate and Professional Student Association of Virginia - GAPSAV have proposed a series of agenda items to the Chair of the State Graduate Dean's Meeting. It concerned stipends, it also, concerned graduate student assurances that are made to them when they come to the university, which are sometimes not kept. Housing, health and parking were also talked about. It was a very educational experience for the Virginia Tech graduate students and they found out that at other institutions, graduate students are a little worse off than they are in some respects and it was useful for the Deans and the Graduate Students. While the graduate students were there they met with Gordon Davies, the Chairman of the Council of Higher Education, and Education Secretary James Dyke, and they were well received from both of those groups. Both expressed a willingness to do a study on graduate education in Virginia. It is not clear what they would study. GAPSAV is to put together a list and bring them back to the Deans that might be studied. The students went home feel- ing good, because they had been heard and the Deans went home thinking there were things they could do in house to answer many of the questions. 6. OLD BUSINESS - New Procedure for New Degree Programs from Pat Hyer - This is the information the Commission requested from Pat Hyer. She referred to this as the "rolling approval process". This is to stream- line and shorten the process for approval of courses. It will probably take one year instead of two or more. We will be discussing the pro- posed degree, etc. What we have to deal with including the issues of funding and resources. We will be studying further. 7. NEW BUSINESS There will be a storage facilities built for the library within the next two years. This will replace the space we currently rent at the old Cheds building. It was suggested that Committee Reports be part of the agenda packet. 8. ADJOURNMENT - 4:35 p.m. Respectfully submitted, John L. Eaton Secretary
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