Graduate Council Minutes
April 4, 2023
Present: Wissam Aboualaiwi, Marcelo Alvarado-Vargas, Arun Anantharam, Brian Ashburner,
Tomer Avidor-Reiss, Larissa Barclay, Sharon Barnes,
Frank Calzonetti, Ritu Chakravarti for Saurabh Chattopadhyay),
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, Barbara Saltzman, Youssef Sari, Connie
Schall, Joseph Schmidt, Rebecca Schneider, Zahoor Shah,
Snejana Slantcheva-Durst, Jami Taylor, Weiqing Sun, Jerry Van
Hoy, Eileen Walsh, Kandace Williams.
Absent: Madeline Clark, Patrick Naranjo (GSA), Jeanine Refsnider-Streby, Joseph Slater, Rebecca Zietlow.
Excused: Patricia Relue.
Guests: Timothy Mueser, GCCC Chair.
Graduate Students: Hossein Abedi , Ghaith Bahader, Justin Franco, Iluja Gautam,
Noelle Herzog, Akshay Kulkarni, Barkha Ramnani,
Justin Rush, Victor Samoei, Garrett Webster.
Graduate Advisors: Suraya Chakravarty, Viviana Ferreira, Meysam Haghshenas, Malathi
Krishnamurthy, Grant Norte, Zahoor Shah, Randall Worth.
Call to Order, Roll Call, and Approval of Minutes
The meeting was called to order and roll called. The Minutes of the Graduate Council
meeting of January 24, 2023 were approved.
The agenda was re-ordered to accommodate guests, graduate students and their advisors, attending for the graduate student recognition presentation.
Information and Discussion Items
Spring 2023 Recognition of Graduate Student Awards
A newly created initiative 2022-2023 to recognize the outstanding achievements of
graduate students and their graduate advisors. Chair AbouAlaiwi was pleased to welcome
graduate students and their advisors of the fourteen recipients able to attend today’s
Graduate Council meeting. Recipients were introduced along with their graduate advisors
and were photographed with President Postel, Graduate Council Chair, Dr. Wissam AbouAlaiwi
and Interim Vice Provost of Academic Affairs and Acting Dean of the College of Graduate
Studies. Each recipient was presented with a certificate.
Certificate reads:
Graduate Student Recognition Certificate
Be it known to all that we of the Graduate Faculty and the Graduate Council do hereby
honor
Student’s First and Last Name
as a graduate student whose demonstrated excellence in research and scholarship in
their graduate program, thus contributing to the expansion of knowledge and advancing
professional development through scholarly activities.
Council applauded the award recipients and their advisors.
Graduate Students Recognized
Nominee Level College
Graduate Program Advisor___________________
Abedi, Hossein Doctoral ENG Mechanical
Engineering Dr. Ala Qattawi
Bahader, Ghaith Doctoral PHM Medicinal
and Biological Chemistry Dr. Zahoor A. Shah
Charkravarty, Sukanya Doctoral MED Biomedical
Sciences Dr. Saurabh Chattopadhyay
Franco, Justin Doctoral MED
Biomedical Sciences Dr. Kevin Pan
Gautam, Iluja Doctoral MED
Biomedical Sciences Dr. Randall Worth
Herzog, Noelle Doctoral ARL
Experimental Psychology Dr. Jason Rose
Kulkarni, Akshay Doctoral ENG Engineering
Dr. Mohammed Niamat
McCoy, Christopher Doctoral NUR BSN-Doctor
of Nursing Practice Dr. Heidi Shank
Family Nurse Practitioner
Menon, Smrithi Doctoral MED Biomedical
Sciences Dr. Viviana Ferreira
Moore, Sara Doctoral MED
MD/PhD Dr. Viviana
Ferreira
Ramnani, Barkha Doctoral NSM Cell and
Molecular Biology Dr. Malathi Krishnamurthy
Rush, Justin Doctoral HHS
Exercise Science Dr. Grant Norte
Samoei, Victor Doctoral ENG
Engineering Dr. Ahalapitiya
H Jayatissa
Webster, Garrett Master's ENG Mechanical
Engineering Dr. Meysam Haghshenas
Executive Reports
Report of the Executive Committee of the Graduate Council
On behalf of Graduate Council, Chair, Dr. Wissam AbouAlaiwi reported that the following
topics were discussed with President Postel during his attendance at the most recent
Graduate Council Executive Committee (GCEC) meeting on March 28, 2023:
- Graduate Student Health Insurance
President has indicated that the University is working with several companies to provide a more cost effective plan for fall semester 2023. - Ohio Senate Bill 83 Enact Ohio Higher Education Enhancement Act
Ohio Universities (14) are early process of holding discussions. Faculty Senate has invited faculty to a town hall meeting to discuss this topic. GC will continue discussion on this topic and bring updates to future meetings. - Parking
Due to intensive enforcement of parking and issuance of 35,000 tickets issued in one year and other related issues such as an individual having 10 days to respond to a violation, otherwise, more fees are added, GC has created an ad hoc committee with the purpose of reviewing parking data including cycle of tickets and identifying ways for ParkUToledo be more student-friendly and offer suggestions to the university for its next contract negotiation with ParkUToledo. Some suggestions are forgiveness of first ticket or first week of a semester. Parking should not serve as a detriment to recruiting by ticketing visitors, potential students and their parents. Other suggestions: Information sessions could be held as well as hiring our own students to help families and new students figure out where to park. - Budget Cuts
Budget cuts for various colleges were justified as resource prioritization. The timeline for the budget should hopefully be set in April and must be approved before July 1st fiscal year. - UTMC Affiliation with ProMedica
Status and implications with COMLS grad programs are that negotiations are still ongoing with ProMedica with intent to have worked out by end of June/July 2023. - Search Committee for Provost
GCEC received two nominations and has voted for Dr. Patrick Lawrence to represent GC. His name will be forwarded to the President’s Office. - President Postel attending Graduate Council April 18, 2023
Graduate Council has invited President Postel to attend its April 18th meeting in person in Rocket Hall 1530.
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 report:
- Graduate Student Recognition – Spring 2022-2023
Congratulations to the graduate student recipients and their graduate advisors. Thanks to Dr. AbouAlaiwi for creating this initiative. - Ohio Senate Bill 83 Enact Ohio Higher Education Enhancement Act
A Town Hall is scheduled today at 2:00 pm in Field House 2100 and is also accessible via a Weblink. - Graduate Student Association
- Health Insurance
Dean Molitor meets with GSA President, Patrick Naranjo and Vice President, Maha Zeidan on a regular basis. Patrick Naranjo is serving on a committee reviewing plans for student health insurance with progress sounding positive with availability of a plan that provides good coverage/comparable to the current plan that should be a couple hundred dollars less.
- Midwest Graduate Research Symposium
MGRS slated for Saturday, April 15, 2023 with a number of students from UToledo and other institutions signed up for presentations. Appreciation to those who have already volunteered as judges. Additional judges are needed! - Graduate and Teaching Assistant Survey
On behalf of Graduate Council, Dr. Patrick Lawrence, GC Chair for 2023-2024 and Dr. Ahmad Javaid will be lead efforts in surveying colleges regarding reductions in their graduate budgets next year, the impact on their ability to recruit new students and the impact on funding current students. This is a substantial concern for the ability of our students to continue at UToledo as well as to support the missions that they support in terms of teaching and research and professional activities. We will likely see a significant decline in graduate enrollment as a result of this reduced funding. Hopefully, we will get some good information from the colleges following completion of the survey. - Responsible Conduct in Research Training – April 4, 2023
Provided for students outside of the College of Medicine and Life Sciences. About 110 number attended. Thanks to Teri Green, Graduate Student Success Center, Dr. Connie Schall and Dr. Llew Gibbons for the team effort. - PR Grades
Minor issue that leads to a discussion of a bigger issue. We are a few years into the transition away from assigning PR grades toward assigning PRS or PRU grades for students in progress in a particular course, usually a thesis, dissertation or an independent study section. There were situations at the end of a student’s program where a PR was on the transcript and the assigning faculty member had left the university or the faculty member refused to change the grade. By assigning a PRS or PRU initially, we will know to what the grade should be changed when the student approaches graduation in the event the faculty member is no longer here.
Assigning a PR alone no longer an option, it has to be PRS or PRU, and these grades will be changed by the College of Graduate Studies when students apply for graduation.
Furthermore, thesis, dissertation and independent study sections should have a syllabus or contract so that it is understood by students and mentors how grades will be assigned and what issues would lead to the assignment of PRS or PRU. If it comes to a grade grievance, if there is no syllabus or contract, there is no basis for the decision. Everyone should understand how grades are assigned at the end of the semester.
Discussion:
Dr. AbouAlaiwi inquired about ways to protect students in terms of their graduate
committees and having a co-advisor should a faculty member leave UToledo. This can
create stress and anxiety for students.
Dean Molitor responded that it depends on the situation.
There will be situations where the students are new, and they can just start down a new path research while others are far enough along in their research that the committee should try their best to work with the student to make sure they can successfully defend their theses or dissertation. Some students could be stuck in the middle, while not at the point of defending, but who have already put in a substantial amount of research. It is dependent on the departments and colleges to work with the students. It is an important issue that perhaps we can outline a checklist or procedure should a faculty member does leave the institution.
Dr. Noella Haughton inquired how to determine applying a PRS or PRU in the absence of an agreement or syllabus.
Dean Molitor replied that is the issue and that going forward there needs to be an agreement to how grades are assigned. It cannot be arbitrary. Criteria to be determined.
Dr. Haughton agreed that criteria needs to be developed particularly for those in PR purgatory.
Dean Molitor responded that for students in this situation presently discussions would be involved with program directors, chairs, and associate deans. We are trying to eliminate this issue going forward.
Report of the Vice President for Research
Dr. Frank Calzonetti provided the following report:
- Graduate Student Recognition – Spring 2022-2023
Congratulations to the graduate student recipients and their graduate advisors for their impressive work. - Post Doc Salaries
Thanks to Dr. Connie Schall for working with the Research Council and Human Resources (HR) to develop consistency in terms of post doc salaries and a general job description. While overdue we are pleased with the cooperation from HR. Will be following the NIH scale. - Research Compliance staff
Staffing was down staff last year as we lost a lot of people to other universities. We have made good hires and are providing ongoing training, we are in a position where our research compliance office is providing more training sessions on IRB and IACUC and IBC. We are happy to provide training to departments as well. Faculty are encouraged to participate. We would like to see more faculty guidance on IRB protocols for graduate students.
Standing Committee Reports
Report of the Curriculum Committee
On behalf of the Curriculum Committee, Dr. Timothy Mueser, Chair, had provided the
reports from the committee (below). He was not present during the meeting to provide
another overview. Council approved unanimously.
Note: Dean Molitor responded to Dr. Mueser’s comment on the committee report about the total program hours for the Bioinformatics master’s program and graduate certificate program. The hours appear to total correctly.
New Course Proposals
NCP CE Teacher Education Curriculum
Construction in Career and Technical Education CTE 5900
NCP HH Exercise & Rehabilitation Sciences Introduction to Systematic
Reviews & Meta-Analyses EXSC 6400
NCP HH Exercise & Rehabilitation Sciences Introduction to Systematic
Reviews & Meta-Analyses EXSC 8400
Program Change Revisions
PCR CE Teacher Education Curriculum
and Instruction - Early Childhood Ed. Concentration, PhD CE-CIEC-PHD
PCR CE Teacher Education Curriculum
and Instruction - Ed. Technology Concentration, PhD CE-CIET-PHD
PCR CE Teacher Education Curriculum
and Instruction - Special Ed. Concentration, PhD CE-CIET-PHD
PCR CE Teacher Education Curriculum
and Instruction - Curriculum and Instr. Concentration, PhD CE-CURI-PHD
PCR CE Educational Studies Higher
Education, ME
CE-HIED-ME
PCR CE Teacher Education Career
and Technical Ed, ME
CE-CTE-ME
New Program Proposals
NPP CE Teacher Education Transition
to Work, Graduate Certificate
NPP CE Teacher Education Career-based
Intervention, Graduate Certificate
NPP MD Bioinformatics and Proteom-Genomics Masters in Clinical Bioinformatics
NPP MD Bioinformatics and Proteom-Genomics Certificate in Clinical Bioinformatics
NPP PH Pharmacy Practice Cosmetic
Science and Formulation Design, MS
Report of the Bylaws and Constitution Committee
Bylaws amendments, second reading.
Bylaws and Constitution Committee Chair, Dr. Andrea Kalinoski, displayed and reviewed a couple amendments since the last reading.
- Article 4, Section 6 Removal of graduate student on committee.
The Curriculum Committee shall consist of one person from each college with GF and graduate programs, holding Full or Associate Membership and one graduate student appointed by the GSA.
Rationale:
- Curriculum is purview of faculty, not students.
- Faculty Senate does not have a student on Curriculum Committee.
- Students cannot use curriculum information system (CIM)
Below addresses amendments to the Bylaws and Constitution separately. - Article 5, Section 4 New section pertains specifically to amendments to Bylaws
4. At the request of the GCEC, the ad hoc Committee appointed in Article V, Section 3 above shall submit a written report to GC at a regularly
scheduled meeting. Should changes to the GC Bylaws be recommended by the ad hoc committee, the Chair of the ad hoc Committee shall
provide two readings of the newly proposed Bylaws at two regularly scheduled meetings of GC in order to help GC members comprehend
the changes and offer suggestions for revision. Following the second reading, but at that same GC meeting, the GC may vote to ratify its own. - Clarification on Sections 5 and 6
5. At the request of the GCEC, the ad hoc Committee appointed in Article V, Section 3 above shall submit a written report to GC at a regularly
scheduled meeting. Should changes to the GF Constitution Council GC Bylaws be recommended by the ad hoc committee, the
Chair of the ad hoc Committee shall provide two readings of the newly proposed Constitution or Bylaws at two regularly scheduled
meetings of GC in order to help GC members comprehend the changes and offer suggestions for revision. Following the second reading, but
at that same GC meeting, the GC may vote to send the revised GF Constitution to the GF for ratification.
6. Prior to a ratification vote of the GF Constitution, the GC may shall require that the ad hoc Committee Chair hold two informational sessions
at two different times and on two different days of the week so that GF members not serving on GC may have an opportunity to ask
questions and voice concerns.
Discussion:
Dr. Jami Taylor expressed appreciation to the committee.
Dr. Andrea Kalinoski noted that subsequent simple changes before the prescribed entire Bylaws review period, can be approved by Graduate Council.
[Motion to approve. Second. Bylaws amendments were approved unanimously.]
Dean Molitor noted that following approval he will forward to the Provost, Legal Affairs and the Board of Trustees ultimately needs to approve.
Old Business
Graduate and Teaching Assistant Survey
Dr. Patrick Lawrence announced that the survey was distributed today. We have colleges
to indicate the number of GA/TA funded the positions in this fiscal year and how many
they are anticipating. Budgets are still in process so we hope to have some raw data
in the next few weeks.
New Business
Chair AbouAlaiwi reminded Council that the next meeting on April 18, 2023 will be
in person in Rocket Hall 1530 and will feature guest President Postel. He encouraged
Council to attend in person if possible. Rocket Hall 1530 is not perfect for hybrid
meetings.
Adjournment
There being no further business, the Council adjourned at 1:43 p.m.