COLLEGE OF GRADUATE STUDIES

To:       TAMUK Faculty and Staff

From:    Dr. Hector Estrada, Graduate Council Secretary (x2269, Hector.Estrada@tamuk.edu)

Topic:   Minutes from the regular Graduate Council Meeting of September 17, 2002

Faculty Present: Dr. Charles Alworth, Dr. Yousri Elkassabgi, Dr. Hector Estrada, Dr. Maribel Gonzalez-Garcia, Dr. David Hewett, Dr. Craig Hollingshead, Dr. Steven Lukefahr, Dr. Robert Marshall, Dr. Alberto Olivares, Dr. Ali Pilehvari, Dr. Fred Ponder, Dr. David Sabrio, Dr. Nestor Sherman, Dr. Randy Stanko, Dr. Chu-Sheng Tai.

Faculty Absent: Dr. Dean Ferguson.

Graduate Student Representatives Present: None

I.          The meeting was held in the Blue Room of Sam Fore Hall and was called to order at 2:45 p.m. Dean Olivares welcomed council members and discussed the Graduate Council protocol. He also discussed attendance policy - members who miss two meetings will be referred to their respective Dean. Dean Olivares then turned the meeting over to the presiding chair of the Graduate Council, Dr. Robert Marshall.

II.         Standing committee reports

A.  Executive Committee

      Dr. Marshall noted that the Executive Committee will begin reviewing policies and developing standards for admission for doctoral programs this year. He also discussed that chairpersons of the Graduate Council Standing Committees are to submit their reports in writing.

B.   Membership Committee

                  Dr. Gonzalez-Garcia reported that a call for graduate faculty nominations will be made the first week of January 2003.

C.   Curriculum Committee

Dr. Elkassabgi had no report from the Curriculum committee, but he noted that the deadline to submit proposals is October 8. Dr. Olivares noted that Deans and Department Chairs should already have received copies of the guidelines for submitting curriculum proposals. It was also noted that applications for curriculum proposals and guidelines are posted on the College of Graduate Studies web page.

D.  Program Review Committee

Dr. Lukefahr reported that the GPRC will be reviewing the following degree programs during the 2002-2003 academic year:

Early Childhood                         M.Ed.
Industrial Engineering                M.S.
Mathematics                             M.S.
Spanish                                     M.A.

Three of these programs will receive a regular review, whereas the Mathematics program continues to be on probation.  A report from the GPRC will be submitted to the Graduate Dean by late January in 2003.

III.               Dean's Report

Dean Olivares reported on the following items:

a)      The Graduate Dean will appoint a Graduate Student Organization comprised of students from each of the colleges and an international student. The students will attend the Graduate Council meetings, and will be able to meet with the Graduate Dean to discuss graduate issues.

b)      It is the department chairs� responsibility to ultimately see that master thesis supervision is fairly and equally distributed within the department.
     Dr. Olivares requested a vote to reaffirm the Graduate Council�s support of this. During the discussion, a resolution was proposed to reaffirm the Graduate Council�s support for the SACS requirement of a minimum of four graduate faculty members per program. After the discussion, a motion was made and was seconded, both resolutions passed unanimously.

c)      The Dean�s Appointees (Drs. Hewitt, Maribel Gonzalez-Garcia, Alworth, Sherman, and Elkassabgi) have two responsibilities: (1) to appoint a graduate student representative from their respective colleges to the Graduate Council (The students� names, emails, and local addresses are to be submitted to the Graduate Office as soon as possible); and (2) to meet with their college deans to inform them of the proceedings of the Graduate Council meetings.

d)      The Graduate Dean will announce opportunities for graduate recruitment from time to time. Faculty who are interested in recruiting for the university are asked to let the Graduate Dean know. A graduate/undergraduate information fair is being planned for late October or early November at South Texas Community College in McAllen, Texas.

e)      All graduate teaching assistants are required to attend workshops that are to be announced by Dr. Jackie Thomas, Director of the Center for Teaching Effectiveness.

f)       Dr. Tadeo Reyna, Director for the Center for Distance Learning and Continuing Education, is the contact person for the ESL (English as a Second Language) Institute at TAMUK.

IV.              Student Representatives

None   

V.                 Old Business

The Graduate Council discussed Texas A&M System Regulation 15.99.03 � �Ethics in Research and Scholarship.�

Dean Olivares distributed a table of the Prospective December Candidates for Master and Doctoral Degrees: 166 Masters and 14 Doctoral candidates.

VI.              New Business

Dr. Sabrio proposed a resolution to make the Graduate Dean position 3/4 time in light of the increased workload due to the addition of new Doctoral programs and increased graduate enrollment. It was noted that our sister institution in Corpus Christi has made their Graduate Dean full time. After some discussion, a motion was made by Dr. Sabrio and was second by Dr. Ponder, the resolution passed unanimously.

VII.            A motion was made to adjourn the meeting at 4:30 p.m.  The motion was seconded and passed. The next meeting of the Graduate Council is scheduled for October 15, 2002.

Respectfully submitted

Dr. Hector Estrada, Secretary