College of Graduate Studies

Graduate Council Minutes

September 3, 2024

Present:    Marcelo Alvarado-Vargas, Tomer Avidor-Reiss, Saad Andalib (GSA), Brian Ashburner, Dan Boden, Mai Dao, Jennifer DeVries,
                   Jim Ferris, Bashar Gammoh, Rafael Garcia-Mata, David Giovannucci, Dan Hammel, Noela Haughton, Ed Janak,
                   Ahmad Javaid, Andrea Kalinoski, John Laux, Patrick Lawrence, Ling Na, Nagalakshmi Nadiminty, Megan Petra,
                   Barbara Saltzman, Youssef Sari, Angela Scardina, Beth Schlemper, Connie Schall, Zahoor Shah, Snejana Slantcheva-Durst,
                   Kuo-hui Su, Varun Vaidya, Jerry Van Hoy, Eileen Walsh, Kandace Williams, Qiuying Zhao, Jianglong Zhu.

Absent:     Qian Chen, Marcella Kehus, Hossein Sojoudi.

Excused:   Kristen Keith, Patricia Relue.

Guests:     COGS - Teri Green.

 

Call to Order, Roll Call, and Approval of Minutes
The meeting was called to order and roll called.  The Minutes of March 19, April 2, April 16 and May 30, 2024, were approved.

Executive Reports
Report of the Executive Committee of the Graduate Council
On behalf of the Graduate Council, Chair, Dr. Barbara Saltzman welcomed new and returning Graduate Council members and thanked them for their commitment to shared governance.

•  Graduate Council Executive Committee (GCEC) has:

      Scheduled GC and GCEC meetings for AY2024-2025. Both will be held Webex only. Feedback from GC members overwhelming
      supported this.

      -  Set the agenda for today’s GC meeting.
      -  Met three times during summer 2024 receiving updates from COGS and identifying issues for GC as well as inviting guest
          speakers:
          September 17, 2024   Interim Provost and Exec. VP for Academic Affairs -Dr. Scott Molitor
          October 29, 2024       Interim President - Matt Schroeder
          Will seek questions/comments prior. All graduate faculty members are welcome to attend.

      Plans to invite guest speakers/presentations to Graduate Council.
      -  Dr. Alana Malik, Director of University Assessment to report on assessment update
      -  Breanne Simkin, Interim Vice President for Enrollment Management to discuss strategic enrollment plans
      -  Wade Lee, Professor, Research Engagement Librarian and Science Research Librarian Discuss resources for journal
          publication fee waivers through University Library contacts
      -  Artificial Intelligence (AI)
          There will likely be a presentation on AI since Provost Molitor has called for several committees to explore AI use and policies
          around the university. If anybody has some additional ideas of who should be invited to come speak to the council, please
          contact me or another executive committee member so that we may plan to have those speakers come at some point during
          the year.

•   Provost Search Committee
    A new Provost Search Committee has been convened and Dr. Saltzman has been asked to serve as a graduate representative.
    There will be numerous constituents across the university, outside of the search committee, there will be opportunity for more
    broad input.
  
  
•   Meetings with Interim Provost Molitor
    GC Chair, Dr. Barbara Saltzman and Vice Chair, Dr. Dan Boden discussed the following with Provost Molitor:

      Candidate Searches
      That were ongoing throughout summer 2024

      Program Prioritization
      Ongoing with a focus on identifying programs to invest in rather than program clean-up closing out programs that were inactive
      or no longer sustainable. This coincides with President Schroeder’s focus “Winning in our Backyard’.

      Graduate Recruitment and Retention
      There is a newly formed graduate recruitment committee, with a mix of enrollment staff administrators that are part of the
      strategic enrollment implementation process. Dr. Saltzman has been asked to serve as a graduate representative.

      Report to Academic and Student Affairs Committee of the Board of Trustees – June 25, 2024
      Gave brief report on June 25 ASAC. Since the 2024-2025 GCEC was recently convened there was not much to report except that
      we populated GCEC and GC. The next report will be on September 25, 2024.

Report of the Vice Provost for Graduate Affairs
Dr. Dan Hammel, Acting Vice Provost for Academic Affairs welcomed new and continuing members of Council. He provided an overview of the College of Graduate Studies as well as a few updates.

•   Overview of COGS
    Hammel serves as Acting Vice Provost for Graduate Affairs until end of June 2025, when if everything goes well with the Provost
    search, Dr. Scott Molitor, will return to this position as Interim Vice Provost for Graduate Affairs and several other things until
    permanent Provost is in place who can make Dr. Molitor’s position permanent.

      Dr. Hammel started his current position early last September 2023 after essentially being out of administration for about
      14 months and was very much shocked by the changes that had occurred in graduate studies in a relatively short period of time.
      What we do in the College of Graduate Studies may be somewhat different than even three years ago.

      Graduate Academic and Student Affairs
      Involves a number of activities with student programming and student development, but also graduation clearance and
      higher-level thesis and dissertation (ETD) review.
      -  Teri Green, has been with COGS for many years and, serves as the Director, and is also involved with graduate programing
          and electronic thesis and dissertation approvals.
      -  Yasmeen Hamdah is involved with graduate programming, graduate orientations and directly responsible for supervising
           the GSA officers.
      -  Michelle Buck oversees graduation clearance.

      Graduate Application Management and Admissions Operations
      -   Tara Hanna is the Director and has been at UToledo a little over 3 years, assisted by
      -   Henriette Njabon working directly with customizing Slate application system.
      -   Daemon Blair and Carmen Caldwell, our two admissions analysts, both new this year.
      -   Brenda Minor, Student Services Counselor – who handles a lot of initial frontline contact with potential applicants and students.

     Administrative Affairs
      -   Terri Hayes is Executive Assistant to the Vice Provost for Graduate Affairs and the Graduate Council committees and
           manages the data and processing of Graduate Faculty. Additionally, she manages COGS fellowships and scholarships.

     COGS does not:
     Provide funding of graduate student assistantships since the onset of the Incentive Based Budget (IBB) budget model, in which
     funds are distributed to the academic colleges. Accordingly, we also are not involved in graduate assistant employmen
     processing. That is handled by the academic employment office, which handles faculty, graduate student and student
     employment, located in University Hall 3190. However, the Vice Provost for Graduate Affairs still signs offer letters made by the
     colleges. Questions may address to GradAsst@utoledo.edu, Beth Gerasimiak and Peggi Szymanski and Dr. Hammel if needed.

•  Strategic Enrollment Plan (SEP)
   Vice Provost Dr. Hammel is deeply involved with the Strategic Enrollment Plan (SEP) implementation process as many of you are
    as well. The SEP has a significant graduate component. The Huron Consulting Group felt there was room for growth in graduate
    enrollment in the region. Interim President Schroeder is refocusing efforts within 150-200 miles. This process is focused on
    revenue-producing programs where students pay their own tuition. There are basically three categories:

      1)   Research-based programs where students are brought in on either internal funding as a teaching assistant or external funding
            as a research assistant. These programs rarely have students paying their own way and will remain that way as long as there
            is funding.
      2)  Primarily professional-based programs in which students are expected to pay their own tuition. In general these programs
           have never funded students.
      3)  Programs that typically had funded students at the master’s level, that really are experiencing some significant changes
            because we are likely not going to continue funding them. Some of these programs have been suspended, others may convert
            to having a mix of more fully funded or unfunded students.

      A graduate recruitment committee is part of this discussion that will be a standing committee. Right now, Barb Kopp Miller,
      Vice Provost for UToledo Online and Workforce Development and Dr. Hammel are co-chairs of this committee that includes
      several Graduate Council members. It is a tactical, rather than a strategic, committee. The strategic idea of identifying programs
      to invest in is going to be decided as part of that prioritization process which the deans are already working on under the direction
      of Interim Provost Molitor.

      This committee will focus on:
      -  Learning from one another as there are areas on camps that do an excellent job of marketing our programs, bringing in
          students, and making the process run smoothly.
      -  Developing best practices in graduate admissions and attracting unfunded students.

      The first project will be to map the application experience from the first contact with UToledo, whether through COGS and the
      program, through matriculation. While there are differences across programs there is also some commonality where we can
      identify what we do well and the roadblocks with easy fixes. We have made some progress. Next steps will be looking at large
      cultural and structural issues within the university that are hampering our efforts to attract students.

•  COGS Programming
   Programming in September 2024 will include:
   -  New Teaching Assistant Orientation – September 5, 2024, 3-5 pm, Main Campus - HH 1600
   -  Pop Up Welcome Events for graduate students, September 16 on Main Campus and September 20 on the Health Science
       Campus with refreshments and snacks and introduction to COGS.

Report of the Vice President for Research
Dr. Connie Schall, Vice President for Research reported:

•  Research Mentoring Mixers

      September 5, 2024, 3:00 -4:30 pm
      Carlson Library, Main Event Space 1005

      Being a mentor can be a challenge. Join this mixer with a panel of faculty mentors discussing their successes and struggles and
      undergraduate and graduate student mentees relating how mentors have impacted their professional development. 

      Students:
      -  Emma Elizabeth Sabu Kattuman, 4th year doctoral student, Molecular Medicine, Dept of Physiology & Pharmacology
      -  Sophia Durham, Undergraduate Researcher & Goldwater Scholar
      -  Victoria Ho, First Year Undergraduate Research Experience student

      Faculty:
      -  Dr. Rafael Garcia-Mata, Professor and Harold C. & Charlotte L. Shaffer, Chair Biological Sciences
      -  Dr. Todd Crail, Distinguished University Lecturer, Environmental Sciences
      -  Dr. Wei Li, Associate Professor & Associate Chair, Chemistry & Biochemistry
      -  Dr. Michael Young, Associate Professor, Chemistry & Biochemistry

       Evaluations Using AI – October 7, 2024, 10:00 – 11:30 am
       Interprofessional Immersive Simulation Center Theater - 1200
       Dr. Scott Pappada, Associate Professor & Director of Research for Anesthesiology, discusses how he is using AI for Evaluations.

•  Grant Development Office Assistance and Office Hours – September 9 to December 9, 2024
   Need assistance in submitting a proposal? Work with a grant writer during Fall 2024
   Office Hours: Mondays, 2:00 – 4:30pm, Carlson Library or Virtual.
  
  
•  Conflict of Interest (COI) Disclosures
   All investigators must have a current COI disclosure of external financial interests  in accordance with
   UToledo Financial Conflict of Interest policy BEFORE submitting a proposal to a sponsor (i.e. NIH, DOE, NSF) sponsored activity
   -  This is a requirement for most federal sponsors.
   -  COI disclosures must be updated annually and within thirty days of discovering or acquiring a new external financial interest (i.e.
       through purchase, marriage, inheritance or consulting arrangement)
   -  COI disclosures must be submitted through InfoEd
   -  InfoEd assistance, infoed@utoledo.edu
   -  Disclosure requirements questions, coi.disclosure@utoledo.edu
  
  
•  RCR & COI CITI Training
   CITI training modules https://about.citiprogram.org/  are required for all researchers participating in sponsored research and
   must be renewed very four years.
   Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR)
   Conflict of Interest (COI)
   -  Important requirement for many federal agencies and non-profit sponsors
   -  Non-compliant researchers are receiving ORSP notification emails; elevation to PIs, Chairs and Deans as needed

Report of the Graduate Student Association
Saad Andalib, Vice President of the Graduate Student Association (GSA) reported:                                                                

•  2024-2025 GSA Officers

     Officer                       Name                                 Program and College
     President                     Addison Kittel                       OTD Occupational Therapy, Health and Human Services
     Vice President            Saad Andalib                       MS Industrial Engineering, Engineering
     Treasurer                     Donovan Nichols                 PhD Higher Education, Education
     Secretary                     Md. Muhiul Islam Muhit      MS Mechanical Engineering, Engineering
     Comm. Specialist      vacant                                    ----

•  Fall 2024 Welcome Weeks Events
   GSA participated in the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics Lab Coat Ceremony, the College of Engineering Graduate   Student Orientation, and Student Involvement Fair in which it shared a booth with the College of Graduate Studies.
  
  
•  GSA Office – Gillham Hall 1350
   We will be utilizing our new office and will hold in-person office hours.
   New Email GSA@utoledo.edu
  
  
•  General Assembly Meetings
   The plan for 2024-2025 is to hold at least one in-person meeting each semester.
  
  
•  Midwest Graduate Research Symposium – Saturday, April 12, 2025
   Committee to be formed to plan for the symposium.

Information and Discussion Items
Call for Volunteers – Dr. Dan Boden, GC Vice Chair (chair-elect)
Vice Chair, Dr. Dan Boden reviewed the Standing Committees of the Council indicating that he would contact the chairs to ask if they would like to continue serving and to have them reach out to committee members regarding continuance or replacement recommendation. Dr. Boden will continue to update.

Standing Committee Reports
None.

Old Business
None.

New Business
Chair Saltzman stated that at least four policies the Provost’s Office had shared with Faculty Senate and Graduate Council at the end of May, when Council not active. Presently, the timeline is tight with feedback requested by requested by September 9^th. Will send update on whether there will be an extension prior to 30-day open review.

• academic dishonesty
• course scheduling
• grading
• repeating course, calculating GPA

The Membership Committee will report to the Graduate Council at its September 17^th meeting.

Dr. Hammel added although we have not had a specific grading policy at the graduate level, the standards are listed in the catalog and graduate handbook. The new policy would eliminate the option to give a grade of PR (in progress/continuation). These can hold up students from graduation and are not particularly useful.  Incomplete grades can be challenging with difficulty changing a grade once a default grade has been implemented by the Registrar’s Office per policy.

Expectations of what the student should accomplish for thesis/dissertation hours should be written down and shared between the faculty member and student and perhaps department chair, etc. based on their program policies. If the student achieves the goals, a satisfactory grade is given and if goals are not met, then the grade of unsatisfactory is assigned.

Additionally, Council would want to review repeating a course and potential grade replacement at the graduate level if that were to be recommended in the policy. We have never permitted grade replacement at the graduate level. We have Academic Fresh Start. For further discussion at a future Council meeting.

Discussion:
Dr. Tomer Avidor-Reiss suggested this topic for discussion at the Rocket Roundtable led by Dr. Angela Paprocki, Chief of Staff for Academic Operations and Associate Vice Provost for Institutional Effectiveness.

Dr. Jerry Van Hoy clarified that the September 9^th deadline applies to the academic dishonest policy that goes into effect this fall semester 2024. In response to complaints that September 9^th deadline, one day before the Faculty Senate meeting, the Provost’s Office indicated they would continue to take our feedback and prioritize it through the 30-day comment period.

Adjournment
There being no further business, the Council adjourned at 1:25 pm.