Graduate Affairs Committee



Graduate Affairs CommitteeMinutesDate: February 25, 2020Time: 1:30 p.m.Location: University Library 1126Meeting called by: Dr. Janice BlumAttendees: Janice Blum (Chair), Marta Antón, Melissa Cyders, Fred DiCamilla, Margie Ferguson, Jan Fulton, Tabitha Hardy, Brittney-Shea Herbert, Marjorie Hovde, Thomas Hurley, Josette Jones, Kim Lewis, Sara Lowe, Karl MacDorman, Jennifer Mahoney, Jacquelynn O’Palka, Barbara Pierce, Zachary Riley, Patrick Rooney, Randall Roper, Paul Salama, Sam Tiras, Constantin Yiannoutsos; Staff: Dezra Despain Guests: Sara Allaei, John Mann, Amanda Holder, Thomas Upton, Jordan Gusich, Office of International AffairsMinutesApproval of the Minutes for January 28, 2020 - approvedBlumIU Dean's ReportNot in attendanceWimbushPurdue University ReportNot in attendanceMohlerAssociate Dean's ReportThe state of Michigan has opted out of the MSEP program, which means that their students no longer get the scholarship associated with it. That scholarship allowed participating institutions to charge students no more than 150% of the in-state resident tuition rate for specific programs. Enrollment Management is recommending we continue to offer this reduced rate to applicants from Michigan but outside of MSEP. They want to set policies for this new scholarship for the campus. Currently the policies apply to undergraduates and are as follows: Michigan applicants can receive the same tuition discount as MSEP applicants, and they must have a 3.0 GPA upon application. Enrollment Management wants to know if the graduate and professional programs also want to set the same policies. We have reached out to your units and have received responses from the following: Philanthropy, Informatics, Engineering & Technology, O’Neill, Dentistry, Liberal Arts, and Health and Human Sciences thus far. The questions that we asked were:We are still agreeable to continue offering reduced tuition to Michigan residentsEveryone but Dentistry said yesWe do not want a GPA requirement linked to this scholarshipMixed responseWe do want a GPA of 3.0 tied to this scholarshipEveryone but Liberal Arts said yes. Liberal Arts asked if MSEP currently requires 3.0. The response was that in general most Schools require 3.0 for admission; the point of the requirement is to ensure higher quality applicants. This is an entrance requirement and does not need to be maintained, though the student must adhere to each School’s grade requirement policy. This clarification allowed Liberal Arts to accept it.Discussion about MSEP in general ensued in order to get clarification on a few points that helped members understand what it means to keep Michigan involved.Overall, the response from the graduate and professional programs was to continue accepting Michigan but under a different yet similar scholarship. Dr. Blum will take this discussion to Enrollment Management. The schools who had not responded will weigh in when they get information from their deans.After additional discussion – a decision was made to indicate on the Graduate Office website no specific GPA requirements but rather that applicants should refer to their programs of interest to learn more about any specific academic requirements.The campus completed a study on food insecurity and shared it in JagNews. The study only involved undergraduates, so not much is known about food insecurity with regards to graduate students. However, we do have data from Paws Pantry (and Paws Closet).Two hundred ninety-three (293) graduate and professional students were identified as using Paw's Pantry or Paws' Closet in 2018-2019. Two hundred eighty-eight (288) used Paws' Pantry solely and 40 used Paws' Closet solely. Paws' Pantry -- 288 graduate and professional users The spring 2019 retention rate of graduate and professional students who used Paws' Pantry was 95 percent. Female, Asian, Latinx, First-Generation, doctoral, and professional students, those under 25 and between 35-39 years old had higher fall-to-spring retention rates than their peers. The one-year (fall-to-fall) retention rate of graduate and professional students who used Paws' Pantry was 86 percent. Female, Latinx, International, and doctoral students, those who were not First-Generation students, and those under 25 and between 35-39 years old had higher one-year retention rates than their peers.Paws' Closet -- 40 graduate and professional users The spring 2019 retention rate of graduate and professional students who used Paws' Closet was 95 percent. Female, Black, International, white, Master's and professional students, and those under 25 and between 30-34 years old had higher fall-to-spring retention rates than their peers. The one-year retention rate of graduate and professional students who used Paws' Closet was 93 percent. Female, Asian, white, doctoral and professional students, those who were not First-Generation students, and those between 25-29, and 40-44 years old had higher one-year retention rates than their peers.BlumAssistant Dean's ReportWe had the 1st meeting of our Graduate Parent Network Wednesday, Feb. 26th and it was very successful. We will host our next meeting of the Graduate Parent Network March 25th from 12-1pm in UL1116. This is an opportunity for graduate students who are parents to learn about campus resources and to share resources and information with one another.PFFP: We will host a “Career Conversation Session” with Dr. Diana Azurdia, Director for recruitment and inclusion for graduate Programs in Bioscience at UCLA from 9-10am March 4th.We have a number of workshops we are conducting in collaboration with the Center for teaching and learning including those on:Grad students and postdocs: Making the most of guest lecturing experiences (Webinar)Monday, March 21:30 – 2:30 p.m.Teaching portfolio guide for graduate students and postdocs (Workshop)Tuesday, March 24 in UL 112611 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.Grad students and postdocs: Preparing and delivering a teaching demonstration (Workshop)Thursday, March 26 in UL 01101:30 – 3 p.m.Drafting your diversity statements: workshop for graduate students and postdocs Tuesday, April 7 in UL 112611 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.We accept PFFP scholars on a rolling basis and the application is linked on our website. The app does require a letter of rec from a faculty member so please be supportive of those scholars who come to you about this opportunity. Recruitment: Last week Dr. Hardy went with faculty from Informatics and Library sciences to Alcorn State University, and Tougaloo College in Mississippi Feb 17th and 18th. We had a fantastic trip where we spoke and met with about 100 students. We also met with campus leadership and faculty members and hope to move forward with collaborations at these institutions. This was done as a part of our faculty exchange program that is funded through the President’s Diversity Initiative Please contact me if you are interested in planning a Faculty Exchange at a Minority Serving Institution.HardyGraduate Mentoring CenterOn Wednesday March 4th we are hosting Dr Diana Azurdia for our 2020 Trailblazers and innovators Scholar. (See attached Trailblazers-2020.pdf) She is a first-generation Guatemalan-American student and the current Director for Recruitment and Inclusion for Graduate Programs in Bioscience at UCLA. She will present three lectures.12 - 1:30pm: Lunch and Public Seminar: "Promoting Inclusion: Perspectives from a First-Generation Minority Scientist"1:30- 2:30pm: Faculty Workshop: "Fostering Trainee Self - Efficacy"3-4pm: Graduate Student Seminar: "Building Resilience During Graduate Training"Our Midday Mentoring Dialogues for Graduate and Professional Students happen each month. On February 18th, we had session on Interviewing with Robert Smith & Shelly Snider from Career Services.? On Tuesday March 31, we will hold a session on Sexual Harassment Awareness with a panel to educate and address questions from the students. As always, there is pizza for lunch so please encourage your graduate and professional students to attend. We will have another Faculty and Staff Mentoring Dialogues covering the NRMN Entering Research Curriculum on May 27 and May 28, from 12-4. See our website and sign up!Graduate Student Writing Group meets Thursdays from 3:30-5:30 in the graduate commons room UL 4115U all semester long.RoperGraduate and Professional Student GovernmentNot in attendanceAkinroGraduate Office ReportsThe Graduate Office will be offering IUPUI Graduate Admissions Deep Dive Workshops in the University Library, Ashby Browsing Room from 2:00 – 3:30 p.m. The Deep Dive Workshop for Purdue will be Tuesday, March 31 while the Deep Dive Workshop for IU will be Thursday, April 2.BlumCommittee ReportsCurriculum Subcommittee ReportThe committee saw six new courses and course requests of which four were approved and two were approved contingent on minor adjustments. Courses will need to be received by this Friday to have them on the March agenda.O’PalkaFellowship Subcommittee ReportFellowship subcommittee meeting will be Monday, March 2.The Sherry Queener Graduate Student Excellence Award recipients were Ph.D student, Kristen VanderWall in the School of Science (Biology, and Master student Lauren Ryan in the School of Health & Human Sciences (Kinesiology).Spring Travel Fellowships: If students are traveling between March 1, 2020 and September 30, 2020, the application deadline is March 13, 2020. Award notification by April 5, 2020. Applications received after the deadline will not be reviewed. Please encourage your students to apply.BlumGraduate Recruitment Council ReportThe Graduate Recruitment Council met Thursday, February 20th. We had a presentation about communications/marketing and a review of student research by IUPUI Brand Leader, Linda Ramey-Griewe. We also had a presentation by Valerie Lim Diemer in Engineering & Technology on a report she created based on a survey of IUPUI recruiters about best practices.We offered our first virtual Getting into Graduate School Information Session on Wednesday, February 5th. Dr. Hardy did the presentation and it was well-received. The link to the recording is now on our website on the “How to Apply” page.Jennifer distributed an Excel spreadsheet showing the graduate programs/schools IU CRM onboarding as of February 20. She also provided a handout regarding the Recruitment Communications Service Center (RCSC), which is run through Undergraduate. The RCSC is the unit fielding graduate programs requests to onboard the IU CRM. They provide training as well. Schools/Departments should request a consultation with the RCSC, by completing a form. Questions about the RCSC should be directed to Terry Brown in Undergraduate Admissions.MahoneyDiscussion:Representatives from OIA will be available to answer questions on the following:Changes in International Student Visa and Thesis depositDeposit policy has changed so students who have deposited can still work through the weeks of finals.Updates on English Proficiency testingStudents in china cannot take language tests due to the coronavirus. The testing centers have closed.One possibility for language testing that is being considered is Duolingo. Bloomington will accept Duolingo for undergrads and has been in communication with graduates about using Duolingo since it can be a potential solution to language testing. It’s online so students can take it at home. There is also a financial advantage. The coronavirus is spreading worldwide so we may see future closings in other areas. The committee discussed using Duolingo to replace the GRE and IELTS testing at length. Purdue West Lafayette is not interested at this time, which presents a concern for our campus if IU approves using it. A big concern brought up by the GAC is the potential for cheating. The response was that there have been procedures built in to safeguard against cheating, but as with all tests, the potential is there.Another alternative that is viable for all Schools is the Program for Intensive English (PIE), an on-campus program. The Program for Intensive English (PIE) is an intensive English program at IUPUI that offers academic English training (ESL) in seven levels to all non-native speakers. Students who pass Level 7 meet the English proficiency requirement for graduate study (Master's) at IUPUI and Purdue University (W. Lafayette). PIE is a full-time course and takes place over 6-8 weeks with 20 hours class time. It comes with the tuition cost so is more expensive than GRE/IELTS testing. Not currently offered online but if there’s enough interest and they get the go ahead from Dr. Blum, they will work to make it an online course. A concern though is that since this is a course, it could delay acceptance into programs because of when it falls in the admissions process. These testing options are under consideration. More discussion will continue.Program ReviewNew graduate certificate in Archives Management in the School of Informatics and Computing - approvedBS Construction Management to MS in Technology (Facilities Management concentration) in the School of Engineering and Technology - approvedChanges to the MAT in Spanish in the School of Liberal Arts - approvedBA/MAT in Spanish accelerated degree in the School of Liberal Arts - approvedAdding an online/distance education component to the existing MS and MSE degrees in the School of Engineering and Technology - approvedCurriculum changes to the MS in Biostatistics in the Fairbanks School of Public Health - approvedName changes to the MS and the PhD Anatomy & Cell Biology degree programs and the Physiology degree programs to reflect the new department name - approvedBlumNext Meeting and Adjournment (March 24, 2020, 1:30 pm, Ashby Browsing Room, University Library) ................
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