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Graduate Studies Committee

Minutes of October 9, 2012

Members present: Sloane Burke, Sandra Chong, Amine Ghanem, Beth Halaas, Richard Moore, Bruno Osorno, Jared Rappaport, Abraham Rutchick, Merril Simon, Jackie Stallcup, Mary-Pat Stein, Mary Woodley

Executive Secretary: M. Helena Noronha

Guests: Tami Abourezk, Elizabeth Adams, Kamiran Badrkhan, Nagwa Bekir, Beverly Cabello, Hira Cho, Darrick Danta, Eric Edson, David Gray, Stacy Holman Jones, Lynette Henderson, Dan Hosken, Evelyn McClave, Juana Mora, Mike Rivas, Ken Sakatani, Steve Thachuk

Staff: Hedy Carpenter, Lani Kiapos, Gloria Roberts

I. Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 2:04 p.m.

II. Approval of Minutes

Minutes of the September 11th meeting were approved.

III. Announcements

Hedy Carpenter announced that the Office of Graduate Studies has changed their evening hours and the office is now open until 6:00 p.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The graduate coordinators and department chairs will be notified and the hours will be posted on the website. Carpenter also announced that Sustainability Day is on October 25th and encouraged the committee to invite their students to attend a talk given by Dr. Naomi Oreskes, author of “Merchants of Doubt” at the USU, Theatre at 2:00 p.m.

IV. Informational Items

Elizabeth Adams discussed the Wait List feature that was added to SOLAR in Summer 2012. She explained that the new feature allowed students to secure a position on a waiting list for closed classes during nonrestrictive registration for Fall 2012. Students who are wait listed for a class section will automatically be enrolled in the class when a seat becomes available and all the requirements are met. She reported that several thousands students were added to classes across all colleges, but the vast majority were undergraduate students. Adams also discussed some of the issues with the feature involving lecture/lab courses that are linked together. A number of faculty asked if the wait list could continue into the semester, especially for faculty that teach large lecture classes to help manage their time with permission numbers. The request to continue the wait list feature into the term will be discussed at an upcoming Senate meeting. Adams asked the GSC to send her any questions or feedback.

The Communication Studies Department has voted to change the application and admissions requirements for the M.A. in Communication Studies. The following modifications were listed: 1) Change the admissions deadline from March 15 to February 15 to align the admissions deadline with other graduate programs in Communication Studies; 2) Require all applicants in the program to take and submit GRE scores with their application materials; and 3) Set the minimum GPA for applicants to the M.A. program in Communication Studies at 3.0. Gloria Roberts will send the modifications to Greg Mena for the University Catalog.

V. Curriculum Review

A. College of Arts, Media and Communication

Art

1. Course modification proposal in ART 400/L-Developing Visual Literacy and Lab was withdrawn.

2. Course modification proposal in ART 479/L-Art Education Across Cultures and Lab to change course description and subject abbreviation number was approved.

3. Course modification proposal in ART 485/L-Studio Problems in Teaching Crafts and Lab to change course title, course abbreviation, course description, and subject abbreviation number was approved.

4. Course modification proposal in ART 486/L-Studio Problems in Teaching Art and Lab to change unit value, course title, course abbreviation, course description, and subject abbreviation number was approved.

5. Program modification proposal for the Single Subject Matter Credential Program in Art Education to modify the required courses based on course content, sequencing, and programmatic issues and the current 13-unit requirement will be changed to 12 units required was approved.

Cinema and Television Arts

1. Course modification proposal in CTVA 692-Research Practicum to change course title, course abbreviation, course description and requisites was approved.

2. New course proposals in CTVA 505-Contemporary Film Analysis, CTVA 510-Screenplay Scene Writing, and CTVA 625-Writing the Feature-Length Screenplay were approved.

3. Program modification proposal to change the program requirements by adding new courses and modifying an existing course for the Master of Arts in Screenwriting was approved.

Music

1. New course proposals in MUS 407A-Keyboard Literature I, MUS 407B-Keyboard Literature II, MUS 605-Teaching Music in Higher Education, MUS 632/L-Graduate Piano Master Class and Lab, MUS 639A-Individual Lessons in Composition, MUS 676-Collaborative Keyboard Practicum, MUS 678A/L-Graduate Piano Pedagogy Resources and Practicum and Lab, MUS 678B/L-Graduate Directed Teaching in Piano Pedagogy and Lab, and MUS 692A-Z-Selected Topics in Music History were approved.

2. Program modification proposal to change program requirements for the Master of Music, Options in Performance, Conducting, and Composition was approved.

3. Program modification proposal to add a new option in Collaborative Keyboard Performance for the Master of Music was approved.

B. College of Education

Elementary Education

1. Course modification proposal in EED 698-Thesis/Graduate Project to change requisites and change the number of times the course may be taken was approved.

Secondary Education

1. New program proposal to add a new option in Multicultural and Multilingual Education for the Master of Arts in Secondary Education Option.

Special Education

1. Course modification proposals in SPED 682D, 682EC, 682MM, 682MS-Advanced Clinical Practicum in Special Education, SPED 697-Directed Comprehensive Studies, SPED 698-Thesis or Graduate Project, and SPED 699X, 699Y, 699Z-Independent Study to change course classification were approved.

C. College of Health and Human Development

Family and Consumer Sciences

1. New course proposal in FCS 453/L-Fashion Promotion and Visual Merchandising and Lab was approved.

D. College of Humanities

English

1. Course modification proposal in ENGL 611-Seminar in Historical Linguistics to change course title, course abbreviation, course description, subject abbreviation number, and requisites was approved with the requested revisions.

Linguistics/TESL

1. Course modification proposal in LING 404-Morphology and Syntax to change course title, course abbreviation, course description, and requisites was approved with the requested revisions.

2. New course proposals in LING 403-Introducation to Morphology and LING 578-English for Specific Purposes were approved with the requested revisions.

VI. Program Review

Bruno Osorno attended the History program review. He reported that the external reviewers comments were very positive.

VII. Discussion Items

The GSC and the associate deans continued to discuss alternative mechanisms to satisfy the Graduate Writing Assessment Requirement (GWAR). The policy states that students must satisfy the GWAR. However, how students satisfy the GWAR is a practice or implementation. Via discussion and concurrence, the GSC approved a procedural change that will allow a score of 3.0 or higher on the GRE-A section to meet the GWAR requirement. Graduate programs that require a higher score for classification may submit a memo to the GSC as an information item. The written proposed implementation for the GWAR alternative will be revised and sent to the committee for review and final approval for implementation.

Carpenter proposed that the Interdisciplinary Studies Program be put on hiatus and remove the program from CSU Mentor for new incoming students. She explained that there are several problems with the program, such as students having difficulty with creating a thesis committee, several department chairs and graduate coordinators have complained about the program, and students have defaulted into the program because they were not admitted into their desired graduate program. She also explained that the majority of CSU campuses no longer offer the program primarily due to budgetary constraints. She recommended that the only way to retain the program is to raise the GPA requirements, have a rigorous application process, and receive buy-in from departments. The committee and the associate deans discussed how to construct a successful program. The committee voted to put the Interdisciplinary Studies Program on hiatus. In the future, a subcommittee will be formed to develop a stronger program.

Merril Simon reminded the committee to send her feedback regarding the CSU International Executive Orders. Simon reported that one committee member sent her feedback.

Lani Kiapos discussed the issue of departments allowing students to enroll in the culminating experience without being classified in their program. She contacted the associate director of Admissions and Records to ask if a prerequisite for classified status could be built in SOLAR for the culminating experience course. She reported that it is not an option since it involves a great deal of encoding and the request would be placed on the five-year list. The committee requested that Graduate Studies send a memo that states that departments must verify that the student’s requirements are completed and they are classified before issuing a permission number for a culminating experience course.

Simon reported that she requested student disqualification data from Institutional Research. The committee and the associate deans discussed the option to disqualify a problematic student from a program that is not based on GPA requirements or because of academic dishonesty. The committee will continue the discussion at the November meeting.

VIII. Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 4:04 p.m.

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