GRADUATE COUNCIL
Minutes of
September 12th, 2008
MEMBERS PRESENT: Marcus Agustin, Scott Belobrajdic, Rakesh Bharati, M. Jane Gillespie, Steve Hansen, Shunfu Hu, Stephanie McAndrews, Chair, Steve McCommas, Michael Shaw, Mariana Solares, G. Stacey Staples, Erin Timpe, Valerie Yancey, Jianpeng Zhou
MEMBERS EXCUSED: Regina McBride
GUESTS: Christa Johnson, Associate Dean, The Graduate School
Ronald Schaefer, Associate Dean, The Graduate School
I. Announcements
A. Graduate Council Agenda for 2008-09
Associate Provost Steve Hansen presented the agenda for the coming year. He asked that the Graduate Council consider the following items:
B. Other Announcements
Associate Provost Hansen announced that the Graduate School Open House will be held on October 16th. Graduate Enrollment is up by 76 students and there are 2179 graduate students now, according to 2007 data. He also distributed copies of President Poshard’s Goals and asked the Council to consider how it will help SIUE address these goals. Lastly, Hansen asked that members of the Council continue the discussion of the Teacher Scholar Philosophy, which is posted on the Graduate School website at www.siue.edu/graduate.
Associate Dean Christa Johnson announced that there were 411 new proposals and 303 awards for FY08, which totaled $27,217,600. For FY08, research grants total $8,103,499. Significantly, 42% of the faculty submitted a grant in FY08. According to NSF, SIUE has the 13th highest R&D expenditures among the nation’s master’s institutions.
II. Approval of Minutes of May 2nd, 2008
Rakesh Bharati made a motion to approve the minutes; Michael Shaw seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
III. Report of the Executive Committee
The Executive Committee met during the summer term to make committee assignments. Mike Shaw announced that the Faculty Senate had discussed the next steps in working on the Teacher/Scholar philosophy.
IV. Report of the Programs Committee
The Programs Committee did not meet.
V. Report of the Educational and Research Policies Committee
The ERP did not meet. This year, it will review the RCR issue, the policy on co-presenters for R&D travel awards, and the definition of “seed money” for the STEP program.
VI. Research and Development (R & D) Committee Elections
The R & D elections had been postponed due to the reconstitution of the committee. The Graduate Council passed at its May 2, 2008 meeting the following:
“Due to recurring concerns regarding the review process for internal funding programs, the Graduate School proposed to restructure the Research and Development (R & D) Committee, one of the Graduate Council’s committees. The problems cited with the current system include quality and consistency of the school/college research committee reviews; concern about the quality and consistency of reviews from non-specialists on the Graduate Council’s committees; managing the distribution of work between the appropriate committees; and the impact of the new University Research Grant (URG/STEP) program.
The R&D will be “charged with overseeing the review process for the new program and will be restructured as follows:
R&D will consist of 8 total at large elected members, 2 members for each of the following four academic disciplinary groups:
Group 1: Life Sciences, Nursing, Pharmacy, Dental Medicine
Group 2: Physical Sciences and Engineering
Group 3: Social Sciences, Business, and Education
Group 4: Arts and Humanities”
The proposal also included a review scoring scale and specified that the Associate Dean for Research will chair the committee. The remaining programs, such as the Hoppe, Lindsay, Assigned Time for Research, Equipment and Tools, Multi-disciplinary Teams, and the Simon award shall be reviewed by the Research and Projects Advisory Board (RPAB).”
Based upon this new structure for the R&D Committee, the Graduate Council considered nominees. After balloting, the following individuals were elected to the R&D Committee:
Group 1: Life Sciences, Nursing, Pharmacy, Dental Medicine
William Kolling, School of Pharmacy
Erik Kirk, School of Education
Group 2: Physical Sciences and Engineering
Kevin Hubbard, School of Engineering
Edward Sewell, College of Arts and Sciences
Group 3: Social Sciences, Business, and Education
Stephen Marlette, School of Education
Jennifer Rehg, College of Arts and Sciences
Group 4: Arts and Humanities
Charles Berger, College of Arts and Sciences
Elza Ibroscheva, College of Arts and Sciences
VII. Old Business
There was no old business.
VIII. New Business
Dean Hansen and Scott Belobrajdic encouraged the faculty to send their undergraduate students to the Graduate Fair during the first week in November to expose them to opportunities for graduate education.
IX. Adjournment
Marcus Agustin made a motion to adjourn; Mike Shaw seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
The meeting adjourned at 2:50 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Stephen L. Hansen,
Associate Provost for Research and Dean,
The Graduate School
