3/10/2017 GAC minutes
Minutes of the Council meeting of March 10, 2017, 9:30 AM, UAB320
Approved by the Council on April 3, 2017
In attendance: J. Fossett, J. Giboney, K. Chan, S. Faught, P. Atrey, K. Williams, A. Lizotte, C. Malloch, M. Larsen,
J. Bartow (staff), C. Davis (staff)
Guests: Ellen Niemiec (Registrar’s Office), R. Karl Rethemeyer (Interim Dean, Rockefeller College of
Public Affairs and Policy), Rey Koslowski (Associate Professor), Anne Hildreth (Associate Professor)
1.
Draft minutes from the February 17, 2017 meeting were approved by the Council, without
amendment, by a vote of 8-0-0.
2.
Dean’s Report – Dean Williams reported on the graduate student survey distributed by Institutional
Research (IR), which measures academic and non-academic satisfaction and experiences. The
deadline to submit the survey is today and it is expected that IR will tabulate the results throughout
the Spring term. Dean Williams will share the results with GAC once they become available (most
likely in early Fall). Dean Williams also reported on the progress of the strategic planning process and
that more open forums will be scheduled in the future. The presidential search is still underway and
the target is to have a name to forward to the Chancellor by the end of spring. Graduate Education is
working with Communications and Marketing regarding a centralized marketing plan for graduate
programs. For now a small group of programs are being targeted with the hopes of broadening this
marketing effort to all graduate programs eventually.
3.
Chair’s Report – Professor Fossett indicated there had been no response from the offices where an
international enrollment impact report had been requested from. He spoke of the revised Executive
Order and how it will continue to affect our international population and, in turn, the University. There
was a discussion concerning GAC’s next step and it was decided the matter would be raised by the
Chair with the Senate Executive Committee.
4.
New Business –
a.
Prof. Koslowski presented two proposals to establish combined bachelor’s/master’s degrees
within the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy. The proposals are the following:
i.
Political Science Bachelor of Arts/Master’s in International Affairs
ii.
Public Policy Bachelor of Arts/Master’s in International Affairs
Prof. Koslowski, Dean Rethemeyer, and Prof. Hildreth described the programs and the benefits
to creating these programs. These programs are similar to their existing combined programs
with the same undergraduate majors and the Master’s in Public Administration. The Council
approved the proposal by vote of 8-0-0.
b.
The GAC reviewed a student petition from a MS Information Science student. The student
was misadvised by the Information Science Department as if he was admitted to a combined
bachelor’s/master’s degree. Unfortunately a combined program does not yet exist for the
undergraduate major (Informatics Bachelor of Science). In Spring 2015, the Interdisciplinary
Information Science Bachelor of Arts program was discontinued when a new major was
approved (Informatics Bachelor of Science). The Interdisciplinary Information Science
Bachelor of Arts program did have a combined bachelor’s/master’s program with the
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Information Science Master of Science program, but this program ended when the major was
discontinued with the creation of the new Informatics B.S. major. At this time the department
did not submit a curriculum proposal to create a combined Bachelor’s/Master’s program for
Informatics B.S./Information Science M.S. The student was advised as if he was admitted to
the non-existent Informatics B.S./Information Science M.S. program. He was advised that he
could take 12 graduate credits and double count it between his bachelor’s and master’s
programs. Upon review, it appears that 6 of the 12 graduate credits he took were not used to
fulfill any undergraduate requirements and could therefore count towards the Master’s
program without the need for an exception. The remaining 6 graduate credits were used
towards the student’s undergraduate program and could therefore not be used towards the
Master’s degree based on policy. He is requesting an exception to double count 6 graduate
credits towards both his bachelor’s and master’s degree.
The Council approved the student’s petition by vote of 8-0-0.
c.
The GAC reviewed a student petition for reinstatement from a former DrPH student. The
school/program cited her poor academic performance in their decision to dismiss, despite
multiple performance warnings. The former student’s appeal was based on a variety of
mitigating factors (lack of specialty advisor in timely fashion; poor treatment by a faculty
member; inability to waive out of advised coursework).
The Council rejected the student’s petition and upheld the school/program’s decision to
dismiss by a vote of 8-0-0.
Meeting was adjourned at 10:47 AM.
End of 3/10/2017 GAC Minutes
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