Minutes for Graduate Council Meeting of November 15, 2005

 

Faculty Present: Drs. Ballard, Bradley, Cholkar (substituting for Faruqi), Downs, Fields, Gresham (for Wagman), Hewett, Hooper (for Stallone), Martinez, Nelson, Olivares, Torres

 

Faculty Absent: Drs. Estrada, Massa, Oh, Shorter

 

Graduate Representatives Present: Mr./Ms. Anderson, Jaimes, Gutierrez, Nava, Hernandez, Mohanlal

 

I.         The dean was not present for the opening remarks; in his absence, Dr. Bradley called for approval of minutes of October 18, 2005.  The motion was accepted and the minutes were accepted.

 

II.            Standing Committee Reports:

A.            Executive Committee: No report.

B.         Curriculum Committee: Two courses were proposed, both from the Business School (ACCT 5323 and Accounting Ethics); the additions were to align our business courses more completely with the CPA exam. A motion was made to approve the addition of the two courses, and the motion carried.

C.         Membership Committee: The dean reminded committee members to invite new faculty to apply for membership to the Council in January.

 

D.                Program Review Committee: No report.

 

 

III.      Dean’s Report:

 

Texas A&M University-Kingsville hosted the 3rd Annual TAMUS Pathways Student Research Symposium on November 4 and 5.  A total of 285 research posters were presented. 

 

Four (4) TAMUK students received awards:

 

  1. Jason Estrella (Graduate); 1st Place; Range & Wildlife Science; Dr. Ballard faculty mentor.
  2. Juan Jose Moreno (Undergraduate); 2nd Place; Mathematics; Dr. Cecil faculty mentor.
  3. Alejandra Ortega (Undergraduate); 3rd Place; Political Science; Dr. Phaup faculty mentor.
  4. Veronica Jimenez (Undergraduate); 3rd Place; Chemistry; Dr. Apu Bhattacharya faculty mentor.

 

 

 

 

Following is the complete list of winners for the 3rd Annual TAMUS Pathways Student Research Symposium:

 

Undergraduates:

 

1.  First Place (Tie) -- Poster #270:  Karen Brown; West Texas A&M University (Category:  Social

     Sciences & Humanities)

2.  First Place (Tie) -- Poster #224:  Priscilla Pepper; Texas A&M University (Category:  Life

     Sciences)

3.  Second Place -- Poster #150:  Juan Jose Moreno; Texas A&M University-Kingsville

    (Category:  Engineering)

4.  Third Place -- Poster #220:  Calvin Henard; Tarleton State University (Category:  Life Sciences)

5.  Third Place -- Poster #228:  Meghan Thompson; Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

    (Category:  Life Sciences)

6.  Third Place -- Poster #279:  Alejandra Ortega; Texas A&M University-Kingsville

    (Category:  Social Sciences & Humanities)

7.  Third Place -- Poster #211:  Ruben Barn; Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

    (Category:  Life Sciences)

8.  Third Place -- Poster #273:  Fedora Galasso; Texas A&M University-Commerce

(Category:  Social Sciences & Humanities)

9. Third Place -- Poster #245:  Veronica Jimenez, Texas A&M University-Kingsville

    (Category:  Physical Sciences)

 

 Graduates:

 1.  First Place (Tie) -- Poster #263 -- Miriam Olivares; Texas A&M University (Category:  Social

    Sciences & Humanities)

2.  First Place (Tie) -- Poster #190 -- Jeffrey Brister; Tarleton State University (Category:  Life

     Sciences)

3.  First Place (Tie) -- Poster #163 -- Jason Estrella; Texas A&M University-Kingsville

    (Category:  Environmental Sciences)

4.  Second Place -- Poster #258 -- Jennifer Hoss; Texas A&M University (Category:  Social

     Sciences)

5.  Third Place -- Poster #268 -- Patrick Webb; Prairie View A&M University (Category:  Social

     Sciences & Humanities)

6.  Third Place -- Poster #166 -- Janelle Case; Texas A&M University-Galveston

     (Category:  Environmental Sciences)

 

Student Government Association (SGA) Graduate Forum

November 14, 2005

 

The following concerns were voiced by graduate students:

 

(1)    How are graduate student study rooms assigned in the College of Engineering, and why are the computers in those rooms so slow?

(2)    Why is there only one printer per lab (library, engineering, business, education, etc.) at TAMUK for students to use?

 

Dr. Olivares told the students that he would look into these concerns and that the SGA graduate student representative to the Graduate Council would bring up these concerns at the next Council meeting..

 

 

 

IV.             Student Representatives: Most of the afternoon’s business had to do with Graduate student access to computer facilities. Public computer labs on campus typically have only one printer to service all students within the lab. In one lab, permission to print each document must be asked and given by the lab proctor. In other labs, toner shortages are very common, resulting in students being unable to turn in required work in a timely manner. Graduate students in computer labs, whose commitment to their studies may be very high, are placed in a position to compete for printer time with undergraduates, some of whose commitment to download entertaining pages from the Internet may be very high.

The Members of the Council wish those interested to know that they support the graduate students and feel that more printers for those students is highly desirable. A suggestion was made that perhaps an all-graduate computer lab might be a workable solution to this problem. For the time being, the Members of the Council urge that computer facilities, paid for by student fees, be made more congenial to graduate students, that more printers be provided for each facility, and that funding for adequate toner cartridges be made available.

V.         Old Business: None was discussed.

VI.       New Business: Our next meeting will be in January.

VII.             Adjournment: A motion was made and seconded for adjournment, slightly before the appointed time.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Cathy Downs, Ph.D.

Recording Secretary, Graduate Council