Graduate Council Meeting Minutes
Thursday, December 2, 2004
285 Rickey at 12:15
 

1. Minutes of Nov. 2^nd were approved.

2. Graduation fee to include luncheon and presentations.

 It was decided to ask the provost to pay for a graduate student brunch prior to graduation with no additional graduation fee. Students will pay for caps gowns hoods. 

3. Electronic Thesis submission.

 Members will talk with  their departments and bring feedback to the  council.

Education  department under Bill Bauer will pilot a program to test in the spring using the current students who will present theses in the spring.

Cathy Brown, Bill Bauer and Laura Little will meet and develop guidelines and details concerning the implementation of a program. 

4. Enhanced courses rewording for graduate handbook.

Ken Itzkowitz presented the council with revised wording concerning enhanced courses.

Bill Bauer motioned, Ken 2^nd passed.

 Text of revised wording:

Enhanced courses:  Upper level undergraduate courses (300- and 400-level) may be offered for graduate credit according to the following guidelines, as listed in the Appendix to the Faculty Constitution:

1. An existing undergraduate course may be enhanced or offered for graduate credit on a permanent basis subsequent to Graduate Council and Curriculum Committee approval.  In a memo to Graduate Council, the instructor must demonstrate that such approval is warranted by specifying qualifying prerequisites that assure the ability to do graduate level work and by specifying the kind of work required as appropriate to the graduate level.  To ensure that students meet necessary standards, enrollment requires prior permission of the instructor.
2. An existing undergraduate course may also be enhanced or offered for graduate credit on a one-time basis, i.e., as an independent study.  In this case, the instructor should complete a learning contract (obtainable from the Records Office).  This contract requires signatures of the student, student’s advisor, program director, and either the Registrar or Director of Graduate Programs and Continuing Education.  Again, the instructor must demonstrate that such approval is warranted by specifying qualifying prerequisites that assure the ability to do graduate level work and by specifying the kind of work required as appropriate to the graduate level.

All enhanced undergraduate courses offered for graduate credit should acknowledge a distinction between graduate and undergraduate education and the concomitant increase in expectations for students receiving graduate credit.  While there is no one way to do this, it means that graduate students must demonstrate adequate advanced standing in order to be admitted into such courses, with adequate prior understanding of the disciplines in which the courses are offered.  Attention must also be paid to the course requirements, to be sure that the readings are supplemented whenever warranted, that whole works are assigned whenever appropriate and secondary works consulted whenever appropriate.  In addition, the written assignments must demonstrate a level of achievement deemed appropriate for a graduate education, generally meaning that the student must complete one fully developed extensive investigation related to the course material, such as a research paper, or equivalent project, in addition to as many of the undergraduate assignments that are deemed to be most useful and fair.