Graduate Council Report to Board of Trustees Academic and Student Affairs Committee
February 9, 2022
This report includes the activities of Graduate Council (GC) since our last report on December 8, 2021.
We continue to hold meetings of the Council and Executive Committee in WebEx format given challenges presented by the Omicron variant and virus pandemic.
Over the last Council meetings, Drs. Amy Thompson, Acting Dean of the Graduate College, Frank Calzonetti, Vice President of Research, and Ali Imami, President of the Graduate Student Association provided updates, discussed initiatives and concerns, and helped set agendas and lead discussions with GC members.
GC Chair Giovannucci was honored to serve as Grand Marshall and represent GC in participation at the 2021 Fall Commencement and Doctoral Hooding andGraduate Ceremony held Friday, December 17, 2021.
GC Chair and Vice Chair Aboualaiwi have continued to meet regularly with Provost Bjorkman, and appreciate her willingness to meet and transparency in discussing matters relevant to graduate education.
GCEC and GC discussed council member and graduate student concerns regarding implicationsof proposed House Bill 327, the student deregistration plan, and campus parking. We remainattentive to these issues aware of the ongoing dynamics regarding these concerns. In addition, itwas recently brought to the attention of GC that new federal government requirements that students hold ACA compliant health insurance, often more costly than the insurance theycurrently hold, is negatively impacting our international students who in many cases are already financially vulnerable. This was a discussion topic of broad concern.
At our January 25th meeting, Chair Giovannucci was honored to introduce our new Vice Provostfor Academic Administration and Faculty Affairs, Dr. La Fleur Small, who discussed her vision and the University’s recent subscription to the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity.
Other presentations to note this semester were Dr. Lori Deshetler, Assistant Dean for Assessment and Accreditation who presented the assessment reporting cycle; an update on the new Slate admissions software package and training plans by Elissa Falcone, Provost’s Office and Julie Quinonez, Registrar; and Dr. Llew Gibbons, Research Integrity Officer who discussed how the research compliance and responsibility training program might be more useful to graduate students. In addition, we note the upcoming visit to GC by President Postel (March 22).
The Curriculum and Membership committees, chaired by Drs. Tim Muesser and Svetlana Beltyukova, respectively, presented to GC 33 new proposals for new or modified programs, certificates or courses for discussion and vote and 47 new or renewed graduate faculty appointments.
Respectfully submitted, David Giovannucci, Ph.D.,
UToledo Graduate Council Chair, 2021-2022