Graduate Council Agenda

Thursday, October 19th, 2017

2:00 p.m.

Upchurch Conference Room, Bell Engineering

  1. Minutes for the August 17th, 2017, Graduate Council meeting will stand approved if no corrections are received. (Please review the Graduate Council Minutes).
  2. Announcements
  3. Announcements from the University Course and Programs Committee: Two Centers in the Walton College of Business are being closed. These are the Applied Sustainability Center and the RFID Research Center.
  4. Old Business: Transfer credit policy: Our current transfer credit policy requires that 24 graded graduate course hours be earned at the U of A; this effectively means that students in thesis-based programs that require 24 hours of graded credit and six hours of thesis cannot take advantage of transfer credit. Should this requirement be changed? Attachment A.
  5. New Business, Program Change Proposals, College of Education and Health Professions
    1. Department of Curriculum and Instruction, proposal to change the admission requirements for the Master of Education degree in Special Education (SPEDME) by allowing an alternative to the GRE
    2. Department of Rehabilitation, Human Resources and Communication Disorders
      1. ) Proposal to inactivate the post-master’s certificate in Educational Program Evaluation (EDEVMC)
      2. ) Proposal to modify the post-master’s certificate in Educational Psychology (EDPSGC) by changing it to a graduate certificate, reducing the total number of hours required from 18 to 15 and changing the requirement for the two doctoral-level statistics courses
      The proposals may be viewed at registrar.uark.edu/program-unit-changes by clicking on program management. The proposals are also in Attachment B.
  6. Discussion: The current graduate faculty classifications are attached (Attachment C). Would the Council consider separating the authority to chair a master’s committee from serving on a master’s committee and adding a separate category for graduate students?
    1. Leave group III as is, allowing a faculty member to chair and/or serve on a master’s-level committee (excluding MFA committees) and teach graduate-level (and dual-credit) courses
    2. Change group IV to allow a faculty member to serve on but not chair a master’s level committee and teach graduate-level (and dual-credit) courses
    3. Add group V to allow a faculty member to teach graduate-level (and dual-credit) courses
    4. Add group VI to include only graduate assistants
  7. Discussion: New Board of Trustees policy 405.4 will say that graduate assistants may be terminated for convenience with 30 days’ notice. Would we like Fayetteville policies to specify that termination for convenience requires either 60 days’ notice or termination at the end of the semester, and/or should we mandate that tuition must be paid for the whole semester? Current policies require that students who are terminated must pay back a pro-rated portion of the tuition.
  8. Course change reports from the University Course and Programs Committee (UCPC) (Attachment D).
  9. Graduate faculty recommendations for faculty: A preliminary list is attached (Attachment E). A complete list will be distributed at the meeting.
  10. Other Business