Graduate Council Minutes
March 21, 2023
Present: Wissam Aboualaiwi, Marcelo Alvarado-Vargas, Brian Ashburner, Tomer Avidor-Reiss,
Sharon Barnes, Larissa Barclay, Frank Calzonetti, Ritu Chakravarti for Saurabh Chattopadhyay),
Madeline Clark, Jim Ferris, Bashar Gammoh, David Giovannucci, Noelle Haughton, Gary
Insch, Ahmad Javaid, Andrea Kalinoski, Kristen Keith, John Laux, Patrick Lawrence,
Linda Lewin, Mark Mason, Bindu Menon, Scott Molitor, Ling Na, Patrick Naranjo (GSA),
Jeanine Refsnider-Streby, Patricia Relue, Barbara Saltzman, Youssef Sari, Joseph Schmidt,
Rebecca Schneider, Zahoor Shah, Snejana Slantcheva-Durst, Joseph Slater, Weiqing Sun,
Jerry Van Hoy, Eileen Walsh, Kandace Williams.
Absent: Jami Taylor, Rebecca Zietlow.
Excused: Arun Anarantham, Connie Schall.
Guests: Svetlana Beltyukova, Tim Mueser, Michael Mallin, Gabriella Baki.
Call to Order, Roll Call, and Approval of Minutes
The meeting was called to order and roll called.
Executive Reports
Report of the Executive Committee of the Graduate Council
On behalf of Graduate Council, Chair, Dr. Wissam AbouAlaiwi reported:
- GCEC Meeting March 14, 2023
Prepared GC Agenda for today, March 21, 2023. Extensive curriculum received; thus, the GC Curriculum Committee will be moved up in the agenda today to allow sufficient time for discussion and voting. - President Postel will be joining GCEC March 28, 2023
Please send topics or concerns to GCEC prior so that we share with him. - Search Committee for Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs
Graduate Council should have representation on the search committee to work with the search firm to draft the position description with the goal having the position filled for 2024-2025. Nominations to represent GC on this committee are open and may be sent to Chair AbouAlaiwi for consideration by GCEC to forward to the President’s Office. - Graduate Student Recognition Nominations
Nomination form link that includes criteria for the award has been shared. Deadline is March 24th. Recognition will be held at the April 3rd in -person Graduate Council meeting. - ParkUToledo
As requested by GC member at our last meeting to compile data for ParkUToledo, GCEC followed up and will have a discussion later today on this topic. - College Elections for GC Representation for Graduate Council 2023-2024
Elections are underway with results due by April 14, 2023.
Report of the Vice Provost for Graduate Affairs and Dean of the College of Graduate
Studies
Dr. Scott Molitor, Interim Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and Acting Dean, College
of Graduate Studies provided the following updates:
- Responsible Conduct in Research Training - Saturday, April 1, 2023
- Graduate Research Awards and COGS Annual Fellowship and Scholarship applications
Thanks to Terri Hayes for organizing and sending applications out to the committees for their review. - Curriculum
We are in the process of reviewing how some related programs are coded in Banner in terms of being listed as different degree programs or being listed as a single degree with separate concentrations. The Master’s in Public Health program has agreed that it is a single degree with multiple concentrations versus separate majors. We have identified a way to handle programs in the College of Nursing who are coming in from the BSN versus the MSN into their Doctor of Nursing programs. Rather than having those coded as separate majors, we think we found a way to code the students who are coming in from the bachelor's level under a pre-master’s concentration until they complete the required coursework to proceed at the master’s level. This also applies to some programs in Health and Human Services, such as the Master’s of Social Work. This does not involve curriculum changes but how these programs are coded in Banner. - Pipeline Program process
https://www.utoledo.edu/offices/provost/program-development/creating-pipeline-program.html
Establishing a pipeline for existing programs requires a program modification form submission at the undergraduate level to indicate the graduate level courses that will satisfy undergraduate program requirements and at the graduate level to specify admission requirements. The latter is required as you are admitting undergraduate students into the graduate program without their undergraduate degrees. If they successfully complete the graduate level coursework at the undergraduate level and achieve any other admission standards, these students should transition into your graduate program directly. You can work with me or Cathy Zimmer with any questions regarding proposing a pipeline program. - Bylaws of the Graduate Council
The College of Law has had representation on GC for many years because of their Master’s in Law (MLAW) program. The college suspended admissions to the MLAW program in Fall 2022, therefore, they will no longer have a representative on GC. As College of Law faculty are coming up from renewal for graduate faculty membership, we are extending the offer that they may continue applying for graduate faculty membership if they so choose with the intent of potentially supervising or participating in a thesis and dissertation committees or have the possibility of being invited to teach graduate coursework in other colleges. I wanted to make sure that we extended the opportunity to College of Law faculty to continue their graduate faculty status if they chose to do so.
Report of the Vice President for Research
Dr. Frank Calzonetti provided the following report:
- Summary Results of University Research and Fellowships Opportunities (URFO) Program
2022-23
The Office of Research and Sponsored Programs administers this program with the help and direction of the University Research Council and Dr. Rick Francis. It is a very well run program and we take every step to ensure that we follow best practices used by the NSF and other federal agencies in reviewing these programs. Applicants have been notified.
Below is a summary showing the distribution of awards for these programs across the different colleges.
The Archaeological Research Fund is a small foundation fund with only one application
this year, proposing quality work in the College of Arts and Letters. The deArce-Koch
for Medical Research is a foundation account for medical related research, and we
were able to give four awards distributed across four colleges. The Research Awards
and Fellowships program supports many summer research projects by faculty members
from all disciplines. Review of both the deArce and the Research Awards and Fellowships
program requires significant time for Research Council members to review. We assign
proposals to subcommittees weeks prior to a meeting of the whole Research Council
to discuss and determine the distribution of awards. Each year it is difficult because
we always have more meritorious projects that we can support. The larger awards, Interdisciplinary
Research Initiation and the Research Innovation, can be awarded up to $50,000 dollars.
This involves a two-stage process: first, letters of intent concept papers are reviewed
and a selection made by the Research Council, resulting in an invitation to submit
a full proposal.
Second, the invited proposals are sent out for external review, with a minimum of
three reviews on each. The University Libraries provides good support in identifying
potential external reviewers.
A number of the reviewers pointed out the importance of graduate education, often indicating whether or not the project had a good plan for graduate education. The relationship of these research proposals to graduate education is particularly important.
Many thanks and appreciation to the members of the Research Council for the diligent work. It is a well-run program and I wish we had more funds available to award.
- Faculty Research Recognition – May 11, 2023
The president and the provost will recognize 22 invited faculty members for outstanding success in securing competitive external awards. Last year, the event was based upon scholarly and creative activities such as publications, books, law reviews, articles, worth of work, and things of that nature. This year, it is based upon sponsored research awards. - Scholars Institute programs
Over spring break, we hosted a successful week-long program organized by Eva English that provides guidance on how to prepare quality research proposals. Twenty-eight faculty members participated, 13 from COMLS. Thank you to all those who participated.
Chair AbouAlaiwi expressed appreciation for this program and hopes that it will be
continued.
Standing Committee Reports
Curriculum Committee
On behalf of the Curriculum Committee, Dr. Timothy Mueser, Chair, presented the committee’s
reports. There are at least 120 more proposals in the queue for review/processing.
Owing to the substantial number of proposals, the reports were categorized and presented
by proposal type:
Council unanimously approved all proposals.
CCR = Curriculum Change Revision
NCP = New Course Proposal
PCR = Program Change Revision
NPP = New Program Proposal
GCCC Chair, Dr. Mueser stressed that proposers carefully review proposals to ensure that credit totals are correct (add up) particularly when variable. He asked for clarification on 0 credit hours to faculty workload.
Dean Molitor pointed out that there are courses with 0 credits rather than variable 0-1 for consistency. This determination can be based on contact hours.
Dr. Tomer Avidor-Reiss inquired as to the purpose of 0 credit hours.
Dean Molitor explained that seminar courses may not always have a weekly seminar, for example, only when there are external speakers. Time is devoted to it to the class but there may not be enough contact for 1 hour. It is a placeholder to attend when scheduled.
GCCC Chair Mueser added that this started to occur during the change from 15 to 9 graduate credit hours as full time.BIPG proposals require a Program Change Revision.
Notes:
Education changes were in response to accreditation and/or dual licensure that the
State is interested having us offer. Educational Psychology changes were in response
to a new standard for licensure. Special Education changes were related to dual licensure
to middle or secondary and can be also licensed for special in that grade band. Separate
internships. All are related in some way to accreditation and licensure requirements.
NNDP 6910 should be associated with program, not department.
NURS 5740 minimal grade should be B, not D-. GCCC will correct and Dr. Eileen Walsh,
Nursing, gave permission to do so.
Nursing – changes are listed separately as they are all specialty tracks within the
same degree.
BU-ABAN-MABA Applied Business Analytics
Dr. Mike Mallin explained that since the thesis was eliminated in one of the programs
that has been eliminated, they are added the master’s thesis as an option for the
MABA program. The master's thesis traditionally has been 6 credit hours so that required
an additional 3 credit hours so INSF 6750 to be taken with the master’s thesis option.
Applicants from India have a 3-year bachelor’s degree and to allow them admission to our program and other schools, they have to have fulfilled some other conditions put in place by World Education Service (WES). We are adopting these standards so that we can accept students from India who have met these conditions. They must have graduated in what is considered a division one school, which is a high standard that has been adopted worldwide as well. As having their degree awarded by an institution that is accredited by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) which is graded as ‘A’ or better and the students are held to certain grade point average standards.
In response to the frequency of this assessment, Dr. Bashar Gammoh, Associate Dean in the College of Business and Innovation replied that MAC institutions receive an updated list by each August from online database and their rating.
Pharmacy Practice
- New Graduate Degree, MS Cosmetic Sciences and Formulation Design
Gabriella Baki from the College of Pharmacy indicated the college is proposing a new master’s degree, an MS in Cosmetic Science and Formulation Design, a graduate certificate that could lead into the master’s as well as a pipeline into the master’s degree for our own undergraduate students. - Cosmetic Formulation Design Graduate Certificate
- Cosmetic Science and Formulation Design, pipeline
Proposals were approved. There were no questions.
Membership Committee
On behalf of the Curriculum Committee, Dr. Svetlana Beltyukova, Chair, presented the
committee’s Spring II 2023 report for applications submitted January 17 - February
27, 2023:
Majority were approved as applied, except the following notations:
- External applicants from academic should apply for Adjunct status.
- Internal, non-tenure track applications. A few were received with the applicant requesting Special status. However, after review, the committee determined to recommend Professional status.
- There were several instances of applicants who were non-tenure track, and the committee recommended Professional membership.
- One interesting application from Pharmacy, applicant requested Professional status, and the committee was leaning toward Associate or Full, because the applicant was tenure track and research active. It was not clear why the applicant requested Professional. Depending on the appointment, applicants may be qualified for associate or full membership.
- One application was somewhat conflicting whether internal or external as there seemed to be conversation that a person may be hired as a lecturer, but we did not have evidence so it was treated as an external application.
Discussion:
Dean Scott Molitor questioned whether the Professional category is misnamed as it
seems there is confusion as to which types of applicants should apply for Professional
versus other categories.
Membership Committee Chair, Dr. Beltyukova replied that is possible and that prior to the Professional category, there used to be Associate I and Associate II levels, and Associate II level was changed to Professional.
Bylaws and Constitution - Amendments to GC Bylaws
Chair AbouAlaiwi informed Council that there will be two readings of revisions to
the Bylaws by the committee chair at regularly scheduled GC meetings to help GC members
comprehend and suggest changes. Dr. Andrea Kalinoski will present the tracked changes
today and synthesize any additional changes and bring back to another meeting this
semester to finalize and call for a vote.
Dr. Andrea Kalinoski, Bylaws and Constitution Committee Chair thanked her fellow committee member who had met four times contributing to updating the GC Bylaws. The revisions were shared with Council with tracked changes as well as displayed during the meeting.
Committee:
Medicine and Life Sciences - Andrea Kalinoski (Chair)
Education - Snejana Slantcheva-Durst
Health and Human Services - Madeline Clark
Natural Sciences and Mathematics - Steve Sucheck
Nursing - Susan Sochacki
Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences - Frederick Williams
Graduate Student Association - Patrick Naranjo, GSA President
College of Graduate Studies - Scott Molitor
Office of Research - Frank Calzonetti
The revisions listed in blue were read by Dr. Kalinoski. Highlights noted here:
- Name Change - COGS to Office of Graduate Affairs
Dr. Kalinoski noted that the revisions includes a preamble regarding the reorganization of the College of Graduate Studies (COGS) that is eventually going to become the Office of Graduate Affairs and the COGS Dean will become the Vice Provost. This preamble has been included because the name has not yet been approved by the Board of Trustees. - Updates were made to the graduate faculty membership categories to correlate with
the current language used by the committee. Sections 3, 4 and 5 are new and have been
included to address revocation of graduate faculty membership and possibly appeal
of such.
Dean Molitor noted that this is similar to other institutions and should be outlined. Sections 4 and 5 offer the opportunity to appeal. - GCEC Empowerment over Summer - Removal
- Article II, Section 5 and 6 is language regarding removal of GCEC Empowerment over the summer for curriculum approvals. This has been removed with the advent of the new CIM system and because curriculum proposals must be submitted by a specified date for catalog and registration. Otherwise, it moves to fall.
- Standing Committees – Removal of Graduate Program Review Committee
Removing Graduate Program Review Committee since we no longer have this committee. We now have the University Academic Programs Review Committee (UPARC) which includes two Graduate Council representatives. The UPARC provides an annual report that is shared with the Vice Provost for Graduate Affairs and the Graduate Council. - Report of Vice Provost for Research
Has been added to the GC Agenda reports. - Mentorship Training – Not included in Bylaws
it was determined through discussions with the committee that the GC Bylaws would not include language regarding mentorship training as this would be more properly addressed at the Provost Office as well as the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (RSP). There are multiple types of mentoring including post-docs, graduate and undergraduate students. There are also situations when graduate students are supervised by non-graduate faculty, and we thought it would be better handled by the Provost’s Office or with RSP.
Discussion:
Tomer: Does eliminating GCEC empowerment to approve graduate curriculum during the
summer eliminate important flexibility should there be an urgent need to approve something?
Dean Molitor replied that our system requires you get it in by a deadline or you must wait until the fall semester. I think you are asking whether the GCEC would need to be empowered to do an urgent review over the summer. If removed, the answer would be no, but I am hard pressed to think of an instance. We could certainly consider retaining with wording to make sure the purpose is clear on making approvals on behalf of the Graduate Council, unless it is absolutely necessary.
David Giovannucci added that there have not been many occasions where GCEC has approved curriculum over the summer. When it did occur, there was consternation from graduate faculty that there had been an end run over the faculty. There are not occasions where we would need to have emergency approval over the summer. And, even if we do, it causes more downstream problems.
Dean Molitor added that early registration for courses opens before the end of the spring semester. So, you do not want to make changes that are already on the books and students registered. Even with a potentially urgent situation it would miss the appropriate oversight.
Dr. Patrick Lawrence pointed out that Faculty Senate has no such provision in its constitution, bylaws or operating procedures.
Dr. Jami Taylor, expressed concern about Article 5, Section 5, that the amendment process in the Constitution says ‘may’ require notice but should read ‘shall’ require notice to the faculty. How long does this need to be presented before vote? Would indicate that informational sessions actually be Graduate Council meetings. And provide notice to the graduate faculty. People need notice.
Dean Molitor pointed out that this section conflates amending the GC Bylaws and amending the Graduate Faculty Constitution. The Constitution is the larger, overarching document that must be approved by a vote to all Graduate Faculty, whereas, the Bylaws are approved by amendment by the Graduate Council.
Dr. Jami Taylor suggested that as the representative body of the graduate faculty, the Graduate Council should still provide notification that the Graduate Council has changed its Bylaws.
David Giovannucci made a motion that Dr. Andrea’s Kalinoski’s excellent work on the reading and summarization of changes to the Bylaws serve as one reading of the required two readings of amendments to the Bylaws.
Dean Molitor seconded the motion.
Committee Chair, Dr. Andrea Kalinoski agreed to suggested edits mentioned by Dr. Taylor.
Dean Molitor further suggested possibly separating Section 4 into two sections one for the process for the Constitution and one for the process for the Bylaws with Dr. Taylor’s note to make sure Graduate Faculty are informed of both. Amending the Constitution still requires a vote of the Graduate Faculty.
Dr. Andrea Kalinoski will be invited to a future GC meeting for a second reading.
Information and Discussion Items
ParkUToledo Data
Discussed at last meeting, a GC member requested Council to look at data corresponding
to the substantial number of citations, 35,000. GCEC has discussed two options:
Option 1: Form an ad hoc committee to follow up with ParkUToledo and the Finance office.
Option 2: Pursue data directly with the Finance Office.
Since we are close to this GC term it would be short timing to fully investigate this issue to come up with recommendation, Vice Chair, Dr. Patrick Lawrence has taken lead on this issue with the Finance Office and they have responded with some data. He promised he will take on this issue with the ad hoc committee so we address with the administration when there is time to negotiate the contract with ParkUToledo. Faculty Senate (GS) is also interested in pursuing this information. Perhaps GC and FS can form a joint committee for a stronger impact when decisions are made during contract negotiation.
Dr. Noella Haughton requested the charge of the committee.
Chair AbouAlaiwi replied to initially collect the data and look at revenue from citations. And to come up with recommendations such as not giving citations during first week of semester or forgiving the first citation. Perhaps a resolution by GC or with FS and submit to university administration. It can be taken into consideration.
Vice Chair Dr. Patrick Lawrence added that the consideration is to have both the Graduate Council and Faculty Senate form an ad hoc committee when these groups reconvene in the fall. This will allow them time to review data and bring ideas and proposals forth to both bodies.
Chair AbouAlaiwi reminded Council that President Postel meets with the GCEC on March 28th and with Graduate Council on April 18th. This topic will shared. Other issues or topics for the President should be sent to Chair AbouAlaiwi.
Old Business
None.
New Business
None.
Adjournment
There being no further business, the Council adjourned at 2:00 p.m.