College of Graduate Studies

Graduate Council Meeting Minutes

November 12, 2024

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

Absent:       Edward Janak. 

Excused:     Andrea Kalinoski. 

Guests:       Alana Malik. 

 

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. Barbara Saltzman reported: 

• President and Provost Searches  
  The Provost search is being delayed until after a successful President search so that the President can be involved in the selection.  Presidential candidate suggestions may be sent to search company. 

• Events on Campus 
  President Schroeder asked that all events be brought back to campus and use our facilities and showcase UToledo.
  

• University Leadership Council (ULC) 
  President Schroeder has invited Faculty Senate President along with the Graduate Council Chair to join the ULC meetings with Deans and the president's cabinet so that faculty have voice at these meetings.  Chair Saltzman and Faculty Senate President Van Hoy attended their first meeting in November. 

• Faculty Workload 
  Provost Molitor shared that workload documents were being updated to a PDF format that would be uploaded in the hope that the process will be smoother this year. 
  

• Course Redesign 
  Dr. Tomer Avidor-Reiss reiterated an opportunity raised by the Provost that faculty seeking an impactful course redesign should reach out to their chairs and deans, as support may be available for these types of activities. 

 Report of the Vice Provost for Graduate Affairs 
Dr. Dan Hammel, Interim Vice Provost for Academic Affairs provided the following updates: 

• Follow up topics from inquiries raised during President Schroeder’s visit with Graduate Council on October 29, 2024: 

• • External Grants and Tuition Support
    There was a question about reconsidering the existing rule requiring grants to request graduate student in-state tuition
    from the funder if the PI is a tenured faculty member and the budget of at least $100,000 per year. While the Vice Provost, Provost and Vice President for RSP have not yet met to discuss this topic, the decision was made in the summer to leave the rule unchanged despite the increase in the R15 grants’ annual budget to $125,000. This is a policy that will be reconsidered based on the budget situation. 

• • Faculty Numbers impact on Accreditation
    In response to a question about the programs that may be facing accreditation issues, the Provost’s Office along with the college deans follow these issues closely, but the College of Graduate Studies.

• • Student Parents Graduation Photos – November 23, 2024, 1:30-3:30 pm
    The Eberly Center for Women has commissioned a professional photographer to take family graduation pictures for any pregnant or parenting student graduating in Fall 2024. Picture files will be sent out no later than Monday, December 16, 2024. Registration is open through, Monday, November 18, 2024, at 12:00 noon. https://www.utoledo.edu/centers/eberly/studentparents/  

Discussion: 
Dr. Rafael Garcia-Mata sought confirmation that the external grant amount of $100k is still in place and if so, there is concern it may result in a loss of students.  

Acting Vice Provost for Graduate Affairs, Dr. Hammel confirmed that is the approved amount presently. With tuition roughly at $12K, increasing tuition support by $25K allows for essentially a $13K unencumbered increase. 

Dr. Tomer Avidor-Reiss agreed with Dr. Garcia-Mata adding that the R21 grant, although typically for the medical school, is a $150K threshold. 

Dr. Jianglong Zhu supported the sentiments expressed by his colleagues adding that the current budget model is not supportive of motivation for faculty.   

Dr. Hammel suggested that the ability to carry over the indirect monies without being swept each year might better support PIs.  Ultimately, the model used in COMLS of allowing colleges to capture 100% of the indirect costs would be a major shift that would HELP in supporting graduate students. The practice of sweeping funds is under some discussion, but indirect cost recovery is a long term project.

Dr. Eileen Walsh noted that in regard to the President’s suggestion to hold more events on campus, it would be helpful to have portable easels for poster presentations on both campuses  

Report of the Vice President for Research 
Dr. Connie Schall, Interim Vice President for Research provided the following updates/reminders: 

• Research Mixer - November 14, 2024 l 2:00 -3:30 pm 
  Phoenicia Restaurant, Main Campus, Student Union third floor 
  Featuring Dr. Melvin Barnes, Jr., Program Officer, Ohio Humanities 

• Research Compliance Training  (IRB, IACUC, and IBC)  
  https://www.utoledo.edu/research/rsp/irb/IRB-training.html 
  Contact Mahesh Pillai, Director for Research Compliance, for in-person session on topics you would like addressed.  

 Report of the Graduate Student Association 

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

• General Assembly Meeting 
  Third meeting of academic year 2024-2025 was held on Wednesday, November 13th at 6:30 p.m. via Webex.  Our next meeting is scheduled for November 25th.  

• MGRS Committee Meeting 
  First meeting was held November 4, 2024, at 4:30 p.m. via Microsoft Teams. We established the committees for the MGRS and will assign sub-committees at the end of this semester.  

• GSA Committees 
  Committees are being established to conduct work of the GSA 
  Travel, Conference Reimbursement, and Budget Review 
  Research and Development  
  Social Events 
  Constitution Review  

 Information and Discussion Items  
Curriculum and Assessment Update 
Dr. Alana Malik, University Assessment Director, provided an update on Curriculum and Assessment including coordination with the CIM system.  See attached PowerPoint presentation for full details. Overview:

Updates to CIM Curriculum Tracking System 
Aligning Course Learning Outcomes to Program Outcomes

1. Select program outcome that aligns with that course.  
2. Helps to see connections to different degree programs and their learning outcome relationships with student skills.  
3. Visual graph of program learning outcomes by courses. 
4. Important to note that mapping does not drill down to assignment level. 
5. Current Housekeeping Tasks when completed will display in CIM and not require data in separate Excel maps and will provide
     consistent numbering of ISLOs.   

Other Updates 

• Staffing 
  Heather Huntley has left UToledo. Both Dr. Malik and Lisa Taylor are working with Assessment, Accreditation and Program Review.
• Higher Learning Commission
  UToledo’ next review is March 2026 with new criteria going into effect September 2025.   

Provost Charge to the University Assessment Committee (UAC) 

• Strengthen the connections between Assessment and Program Review Cycles
• Combine the responsibilities of the University Assessment Committee and the Academic Program Review Committee
• Determine best practices moving forward 

 Planning Team 

• Sherl Milz – University Assessment and Academic Program Review Committees
• Barbara Miner – Academic Program Review Committee
• Daniel Hammel – Provost’s Office
• Alana Malik – Assessment, Accreditation, and Program Review 

Higher Learning Commission Criteria Revisions 
Criterion 3 Teaching and Learning for Student Success 
https://www.hlcommission.org/accreditation/policies/criteria/ 

Next Steps 

• Continue integrating curriculum mapping into CIM
• Examine Academic Program Review Process
• Syllabi Website Project (Undergraduate)
• Course Design Institute (May 5-9, 2025, one-week intensive workshop, morning to mid-afternoon) 

• • 10-year anniversary
  • Designing or rethinking an existing in-person course – come design with us!
  • Applications accepted through April 12, 2025 

 Discussion: 
Dr. Patrick Lawrence inquired whether program assessment frequency would be more efficient rather than on the current annual basis. For example, if data is limited in a particular year, and program review was on a 7 year-cycle, perhaps a 2-year review would be sufficient with an increase in amount of data rather than on an annual basis with missing data.  

Dr. Malik indicated that annual review is the regular cycle for HLC. However, learning outcomes are not required to be reported every year if they are on a cohort cycle. For example, a 3-year-cohort would mean that 1/3 of full suite of outcomes could be reported in one year.  She added that the process leads into program review. She encouraged sharing ideas with her so that the system works for all. To assist with efficiency, they have folded concentrations into a major report and noted that her office would like to distinguish between certificates that are free-standing with its own cohort of students vs. imbedded certificates within a program. Dr. Malik indicated that she would discuss with the Provost and the UAC the feasibility of whether program review follow-ups could be added into the assessment report, thus reducing the amount of reporting. 

Dr. Patrick Lawrence inquired whether the syllabus project provides guidelines as to the level of detail that must be provided as to protect faculty academic freedom and data mining. He added that selected readings should not necessarily be made public.

Dr. Malik responded that syllabi website is a project that the Office of Assessment, Accreditation and Program Review has been working with MARCOM and Information Technology with plans to pilot with the Department of Chemistry.  A website is being built that will host all of our undergraduate syllabi with exceptions for individual studies, where it does not make sense to do so. Not only do several peer institutions have already similar websites, but it is a requirement of Ohio SB 83. We will ask for course schedules but not prompts of assignments.  

 Standing Committee Reports 
Report of the Curriculum Committee 
Dr. Mai Dao, committee member, presented the committee’s report.  

The proposals listed below were reviewed by the members of the GCCC with recommendations to approve. [Council approved unanimously] 

9

NCP

HH

Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences

Administration in Recreation Services

RCRT 5330

Credit Hours: 3  Catalog Description:  This course focuses on the administrative functions of Recreation and Recreation-Related services.

The proposals listed below were approved by the members of the GCCC 

10

CCR

HH

Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences

Research Applications in Recreation & Recreational Therapy

RCRT 5420

Change Title To:  Research Applications in Recreation and Recreational Therapy

 Report of the Membership Committee 

On behalf of the Membership Committee, Dr. Svetlana Beltyukova, Chair, presented a summary report for Graduate Faculty Membership for Fall I 2024 for applications received between August 13 – October 8, 2024. 

 Application Notes: 

• An application where Associate membership was requested but was granted Full membership because the applicant was research active and met criteria. 
• An application requesting Special membership but was granted Associate Membership where the faculty member returned from Honors program to the College of Arts and Letters
• Another case - *app says renewal* but levels were different. 
• External members from academia = Adjunct membership
• External members not from academia = Special membership
• Part-time faculty = Adjunct membership
• An application from the College of Nursing, was marked not tenure-track but applicant requested Full membership and endorsement indicates tenure-track. Application currently pending. Terri Hayes will communicate with application individuals and GFMC Chair to clarify.  

 Old Business 
Follow up from President’s Schroeder’s visit with GC October 29, 2024
Items already addressed in the Vice Provost’s Report.

New Business 
None. 

Adjournment 
There being no further business, the Council adjourned at 1:49 pm.