College of Graduate Studies

Graduate Council Minutes

September 5, 2023

Present:    Marcelo Alvarado-Vargas, Brian Ashburner, Tomer Avidor-Reiss, Larissa Barclay, Saurabh Chattopadhyay, Qian Chen,
                   Mai Dao, Jennifer DeVries, Jim Ferris, Timothy fisher, Bashar Gammoh, David Giovannucci, Noella Haughton,
                   Andrea Kalinoski, Kristen Keith, John Laux, Patrick Lawrence, Bindu Menon, Scott Molitor, Ling Na, Megan Petra,
                   Barbara Saltzman, Youssef Sari, Connie Schall, Rebecca Schneider, Zahoor Shah, Snejana Slantcheva-Durst,
                   Kuo-hui Su, Jami Taylor, Varun Vaiyda, Jerry Van Hoy, Eileen Walsh, Kandace Williams, Jianlong Zhu.

Absent:     Halim Ayan, Sharon Barnes, Maha Zeidan (GSA), Engineer rep tbd.

Excused:   Patricia Relue. 

Guests:     Melissa Hurst, Marc Seigar.

Call to Order, Roll Call, and Approval of Minutes
The meeting was called to order and roll called. The Minutes of February 21, March 21, April 4, April 18, and May 2, 2023 were approved.

Executive Reports
Report of the Executive Committee of the Graduate Council
On behalf of Graduate Council, Chair, Dr. Patrick Lawrence welcomed new and returning Graduate Council members and thanked them for their commitment to shared governance and leadership roles.  Dr. Lawrence enters this role with background as Chair and Professor of Geography and Planning starting 25^th year at UToledo having been involved with many graduate activities, creating Ph.D. program and advising and research of master’s and PhD students.

He reported the following:

• Graduate Student Commencement – May 5, 2023
  As GC Chair, Dr. Lawrence participated in commencement with the honor of carrying the mace on behalf of faculty.
• BOT June 22, 2023 meeting
  Gave GC report, which simply consisted of newly elected members of GCEC for AY23-24.
• Provost Search Committee
  As GC Chair, Chair Lawrence is serving on the Provost Search Committee along with Jerry Van Hoy, representing Faculty Senate but also is a member of GCEC.
• Meetings with Provost
  GC Chair and Vice Chair met with Interim Provost Risa Dickson in July 2023 to share and ideas and engage in discussion on issues and challenges. We requested regular monthly meetings with the Interim Provost which have been scheduled for fall 2023. This provides an opportunity for your representatives to discuss issues raised by the graduate faculty. Will keep you apprised.
• GCEC has:
• Scheduled GC and GCEC meetings for AY2023-24. Both will be held Webex only. Feedback from GC members overwhelming supported this.
• GCEC has met three times during summer 2023 receiving updates from COGS and identifying issues for GC as well as inviting guest speakers: 
  -   September 5, 2023 - Dr. Melissa Hurst and Dr. Marc Seigar, Provost Search update
  -   October 3, 2023 - Dr. Risa Dickson, Provost and Exec. Vice President for Academic Affairs
  -   November 14, 2023 - Dr. Gregory Postel, President
       Questions and comments will be requested prior. All graduate faculty members are welcome to attend.
• Set the agenda for today’s GC meeting
• Standing Committees and Research Council
  Vice Chair has been securing GC committee chairs and members; appointment of GC seats and Research Council:
  Medicine and Life Sciences - Dr. David Giovannucci
  Natural Sciences and Mathematics - Dr. Tomer Avidor-Reiss
  Arts and Letters - Dr. Kevin Czajkowski (fall 2023 only)
• Discussed Issues facing Graduate Council and Faculty Senate this academic year:   
  -   Impacts of budget cuts to colleges, graduate programs reduction in assistantships, admissions/enrollment
  -   Scheduled review of UT policies related to graduate students and graduate programs
  -   Need for Student Academic Code of Conduct 
  -   Ad hoc committee on UT Parking procedures 
  -   Monitoring potential new state legislation. Currently SB 83 was not passed but may go to house

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 began his report by first echoing the importance of shared governance and correcting an omission from the May 2, 2023 GC meeting in thanking last year’s GCEC that included Dr. David Giovannucci. He shared a PowerPoint presentation COGS Report to GC 9.8.2023  – see attached for details.

Dr. Molitor provided the following report with an accompanying PowerPoint presentation:

• COGS Admissions Staff and Fall 2023 Enrollment
  Thank you to COGS admissions staff for their diligence to get students admitted using the new graduate admissions software. They have been flying the airplane as they are building it with Slate. Thanks goes out to Graduate Council, Graduate Program Directors, and Associate Deans, for putting time in efforts to try initiatives, that in many cases, have turned out well.
• A special shout out to Dr. Bashar Gammoh in the College of Business and Innovation for new MOUs with partner institutions and also the Colleges of Engineering and Natural Sciences and Mathematics for partnering on a plan to scholarship non in-state students. Because these students, including international students, paid only an additional $100 out-of-state fee, they were more likely to be able to enroll. The census date numbers will provide a better sense of enrollment and breakdown indicating effects of this initiative and the number of students enrolled who attended graduate education week in fall 2022. These efforts are increasing graduate student enrollment.

Discussion:
Q:  How can other colleges participate in the surcharge initiative?
A:   Dr. Molitor replied that while COGS utilized limited funds to for this initiative, he will discuss
       with Finance hopefully convincing them to expand more broadly.

Q:   What is the fraction of self-paying students?
A:    Dr. Molitor replied that he will try to obtain that information.

Q:  Is Finance looking at allowing tuition only scholarships rather than our current graduate
       funding packages that also include stipends? Ohio University does this.
A:   Dr. Molitor responded that some colleges do this and that decision is determined at the college level.

• Program Suspension and Discontinuation
  Prioritizing resources by reducing number of programs we offer and to allocate those to programs that have higher enrollment or new programs that may garner higher enrollment. Several programs had suspended and discontinued programs going on before the BOT initiative on this. They actually had no enrollment with no active offering/delivery. One of the issues is that the curriculum information system (CIM) did not notify Graduate Council or Faculty Senate of these instances. When we offer new programs you see through CIM. We fixed that these requests are sent to both.
  - Program Suspension
  Not admitting new students, however, students are enrolled some, therefore a need to teach out. And colleges may want to re-introduce the program in a few years. There is a five year period to reopen. If after five years the program is no re-opened it will be discontinued. Once discontinued, the request to re-open would require a new full approval process including review and approval by the UToledo Board of Trustees and the State through the Chancellor’s Council on Graduate Studies (CCGS). Certificate programs 21+ hours or programs with state licensure, typically education and nursing, also require state approval.
  - Program Discontinuance
  No enrollment and not admitting with no intent to offer again. Programs that were discontinued had no students enrolled for the past several years. Note, there is still one (not two) program in Business Analytics.

Discussion:
Q:  Can management discontinue programs without approval of Graduate Council?
A:   Notification is sent for input but not approval.

Q:  Some programs are utilized as off ramps and should not be automatically discontinued. This is an example of a program
      not taking any resources.
A:   Dr. Molitor agreed and if notified of these programs they should not be discontinued. He was not certain whether
       low/non-enrolled certificate programs would be suspended or discontinued.

Q:  Seems like there is there a policy to deprioritize some areas. We cannot compete with other university's willingness to offer
      funding to graduate students. There were a lot of discontinued programs in the Judith Herb College of Education (JHCOE)
      that were artifacts from days gone by. Gaining momentum seems difficult from a non-stem side.
A:   Dr. Molitor responded that JHCOE had many programs to begin with and has a limited number of faculty.

Report of the Vice President for Research
Dr. Connie Schall, Interim Vice President for Research, was pleased to give the report from Research as the prior VP for Research for Research, Dr. Frank Calzonetti, is now serving as the Vice President for Innovation and Economic Development. My responsibilities include serving as the signatory authority of sponsored programs and contracts and as institutional officer for many compliance areas.  She presented an accompanying PowerPoint presentation – see attached.

FY 2023 awards down slightly from 2022. Total submissions down slightly with college breakdown provided. We will take a look at the trends with respect to faculty numbers and will share in the future.

• Research Mixers
  Eva English has organized research mixers these with the first being held this Friday 4-6 pm in Phoenicia Restaurant in the Student Union. The September 8^th mixer will include Program Officer, Melvin Barnes, Ph.D. with Ohio Humanities Council, will discuss grant opportunities. Two mixers are scheduled fall 2023 and two spring 2024 utoledo.edu/research/rsp/researchmixers.html.
• University Research and Fellowship Opportunity (URFO)
  utoledo.edu/research/rsp/urfo/
  Proposals will be submitted through InfoEd Platform effective October 2, 2023 
  -   Publication Subvention Program Award:  up to $ 1,700
       Full Proposal – accepted anytime 
  -   Small Awards Program Award:  up to $ 1,000
       Full Proposal – accepted anytime 
  -   Research Innovation Program Award:  up to $50,000
       Letter of Intent (LOI) required – October 17, 2023
       Full Proposal by invitation only – January 18, 2024 
  -   Interdisciplinary Research Initiation Award:  up to $50,000
       Letter of Intent (LOI) required – October 17, 2023
       Full Proposal by invitation only – January 18, 2024
• InfoEd Platform
  Will be rolling out and replacing our homegrown research admin system. Will be more accessible for everyone. Schedule will be updated and webinars provided as well as recorded. Platform roll out will begin with URFO programs.
  -   Minor Programs: Small Grants, Publication Subvention                              10/02/2023
  -   Major Programs: Letters of Intent                                                                      10/17/2023
  -   All Major Program Submissions and Archaeological Research Fund        1/18/2024
• New Indirect Rate Cost Agreement
  For new proposals provided – see attached.
• Staffing Updates
  There are two new grants coordinators with the newest starting today, one in August and one in September. The research compliance has a recent hire, also started in August. We are up to full strength. However, time is needed to for new employers to adjust to go through a significant learning curve.
• Artificial Intelligence
  NIH sent out alert on use. They are considering us of AI platforms as a breach of confidentiality in the review process. Reviewers need to be aware that NIH has a strict policy that prohibits its use of AI in proposal review.

Report of the Graduate Student Association
Maha Zeidan, President of the Graduate Student Association (GSA) was unable to attend today’s meeting and did not have updates to present at this time.

Information and Discussion Items
Provost Search Update – Dr. Marc Seigar, Dean College of NSM, Chair, Provost Search Committee and Dr. Melissa Hurst, Special Assistant to the President for Strategic Talent Development
An overview of the search committee roster, timeline, direct reporting units and an outline of stakeholder involvement was presented.  Feedback on qualifications for the position as well as nominations should be sent to provostsearch@utoledo.edu. Opportunities to meet the finalists will be held on both campuses. President wanted an aggressive timeline with active recruitment to begin. It may be possible, but is aggressive.  See attached presentation.

Discussion:
Q:  Will job shadowing going to be a part of the onboarding process?
A:   We will ask the President in our next meeting with him. We have meeting with him monthly.

Q:  Is there an emphasis on the candidate’s experience in managing research higher education enterprises or knowledge of
      UToledo among the qualifications?
A:   Position materials stress progressive academic experience and considering that we are a Research II university, we make it
      clear that we have an academic health and medical center. It would nice if for candidates to have this experience. It is
      preferred but not required.

Q:  Is it important that the new provost have involvement in the creation of next year's budget and also have experience with
      making budget trade-offs?
A:   If we could a new Provost mid-spring semester, it would be in the middle of budget preparations. It is not likely to hire in a
      new Provost before budgets are developed for the next fiscal year. The Provost will have to become familiar with budget cuts
      and trade-offs as there have been budget cuts past few years and may be another cut this year. But you do have to hit the
      bottom sometime.

Call for Volunteers GC Standing Committees – Dr. Barbara Saltzman, GC Vice Chair
Dr. Barbara Saltzman displayer the working draft of the roster of GC Standing Committees pointing out vacant seats. Graduate Program Review will not be populated at this time. Both the Curriculum and Membership Committees are active and will be reporting shortly. 

Curriculum Committee needs reps from the colleges of ARS fall semesterly only, COMLS and Nursing. Dr. Jami Taylor inquired whether the committee met virtually or in person. Terri Hayes confirmed that the committee conducts its business virtually. Membership Committee – not all seats have been confirmed. Dr. John Laux is willing to serve as the temporary HHS rep on Membership Committee if HHS faculty are needed to populate other committees. There is typically membership from all colleges with graduate programs.

Dr. Saltzman and Dr. Lawrence requested Council members share this request to seat committees with the college colleagues and to considering serving.

Standing Committee Reports
Report of the Curriculum Committee
None.

Report of the Membership Committee
None.

Old Business
Ad hoc Committee on UT Parking Procedures

The previous GC expressed interest in examining some issues related to over parking procedures at UToledo and contractual arrangement and ticketing frequency, who and timing.  Auxiliary Services is willing to share this information.

[Motion from GCEC for this Council to establish an ad hoc committee on UToledo Parking Procedures to collecting data and meeting with auxiliary services as needed and ParkUToledo. Motion seconded. Council approved with one abstention.] 

New Business
Dr. Tomer Avidor-Reiss inquired whether there is a policy on graduate student vacation and who governs.

Dr. Kandace Williams noted that the College of Medicine and Life Sciences has a graduate student vacation policy that was worked on over a long period of time. It may be an individual college policy. Hopefully, our college policy would supersede another policy or COGS policy. A lot depends on whether the students are being funded, expectations in the lab or different work. We take sick days into account. Probably depends on program type.

Dr. Molitor responded that he has/COGS has no interest in superseding college level policies if they already exist but rather a matter of filling in the gaps where college policies do not exist. That would potentially be helpful.

GCEC will discuss with Dr. Molitor and Dr. William swill share the COMLS policy.

Adjournment
There being no further business, the Council adjourned at 2:04 pm.