Graduate Academic Council
2000 – 2001
Minutes of the Council meeting of May 4, 2001
In attendance: R. Irving, M. Brown, J. Mumpower, G. Harper, D. Bernnard, J. Bartow (staff)
Unable to attend: L. Mullin, L. Trubitt, A. Fortune, N. Johnson, M. Gallant, D. Abdel-Hady, J. Monfasani
1.
Minutes of the meeting of 3/23/01 were reviewed & unanimously approved without amendment.
2.
Report of the Dean of Graduate Studies – Jeryl Mumpower
a.
The State Education Dept. has approved the new Forensic Molecular Biology track of the
M.S. Biology Program
b.
Graduate study applications for Fall 2001 are up slightly. Yield rates will be critical.
c.
Supplemental ($480K) mission review funds for GA/TA/Fellowship stipends have been
received. Administrative issues related to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
for the use of these funds are being attended to.
d.
A SUNY task force is being assembled to look at “targeted” student award funds. Betty
Shadrick will serve on this body as our representative.
3.
Report of the Committee on Educational Policy & Procedures
The report of the Committee, in which a recommendation to amend graduate leave policy was
proposed, was unanimously accepted and approved by the Council.
4.
Report of the GAC Committee on Curriculum & Instruction – R. Irving
The Chair presented the written Committee Report (appended to the end of these minutes). The
Council voted unanimously to accept the report and approve the recommendations therein.
Emerging from the discussion of the Committee’s report was a suggestion that next year’s GAC
consider changes to policy and/or practice regarding approval for graduate instruction by
individuals who do not possess an earned doctorate or the rank of Associate Professor. There was
some sentiment that such approval authority should be delegated to the deans with periodic
reporting requirements to the Council.
5.
Graduate Instruction in Epidemiology
Due to the time of year, the Council considered a direct request from the Dept. of Epidemiology
that William Leavy (EPI503), Michael Zdeb (EPI514 & EPI697) & Punkin Stephens (EPI610) be
authorized to provide graduate instruction in the Fall 2001 term. After discussing qualifications
and the rationale offered by the department chair, the Council acted to unanimously approve the
request for authorization.
The Council was alerted to the need for similar consideration of approval for Lenore Gensburg to
provide graduate instruction in Biometry & Statistics. The department should be notified of the
need to submit such a request.
6.
Report of the GAC Committee on Admissions & Academic Standing – M. Brown
The Chair presented the written Committee Report (appended to the end of these minutes). The
Council voted unanimously to accept the report and approve the recommendations therein.
7.
Petition of Emmanuel Savopoulos – Ph.D. English Student
Mr. Savopoulos and his advisor, Prof. Don Byrd, appeared before the Council to request an
exception to current University requirements for the development and submittal of the doctoral
dissertation. Specifically, he was seeking permission to submit his work in digital format.
Professor Byrd suggested that we should be taking advantage of current technologies and, in this
case, that such would allow for an alternate type of work. Mr. Savopoulos proposes a dissertation
that will deal with the interface between text, image and sound.
Mr. Savopoulos commented:
Dissertation to be on CD ROM for storage capacity
There is no guarantee of access beyond 10 years, but most works are accessed beyond such a
time period anyway
The work should be archive as a “moment in time” with regard to technology
Server based storage might increase accessibility
The “work” is the interaction between various media. What could be written could only be a
commentary
The work will be in a closed environment, with no open web links
Only a web browser will be needed to access the work
A written introduction & operating guide will accompany the CD
There are very real and difficult issues in transitioning to this digital “world.”
Council discussion:
Approval may not set a clear precedent, but will certainly open the door to similar requests in
the future
The risk of not being able to archive the work may be worth taking
The Council voted unanimously to approve Mr. Savopoulos’ request for exception, with two
conditions:
a.
that he return to update and provide a demo to the GAC in Fall 2001 and thereafter upon
request, and
b.
that he consult with the University Archivist regarding the scope and nature of the
project, and discuss best archival options. It was noted there are no guarantees that his
work can be archived.
END OF 5/4/01 GAC MINUTES
To:
Graduate Academic Council
From:
Richard Irving, Chair
GAC Committee on Curriculum & Instruction
Date:
May 3, 2001
Subj.:
Report and Recommendations
The GAC Curriculum Committee met on April 27, 2001. In attendance were Karin Reinhold,
Richard Irving (Chair), Cliff Ellis and Jon Bartow (Staff to the Committee). Mary Gallant provided
advanced written comments on the matters at hand. The Committee reviewed six proposals. All are
recommended to the GAC for approval.
1.
The Chemistry Department proposes to split the current topics course CHM535A into either
CHM535A or CHM535B. Accordingly, it is requested that the CHM535A curricular requirement
be amended to read CHM535A or CHM535B.
2.
The Communication Department proposes a change to their M.A. program curriculum.
Specifically, the specialization area currently titled “Interpersonal/Intercultural Communication” is
to become “Interpersonal Interaction/Cultural Practices. A variety of related course changes,
additions and deletions follow upon the logic presented for the title change.
3.
The English Department proposes to change its graduate admission requirements by no longer
requiring the advance GRE subject test Literature in English. The faculty have found this test to
no longer be essential to the evaluation of admission candidates.
4.
The Reading Department proposes that special authorization to provide instruction be granted to
three individuals to teach for the Department. For two of the individuals the request is for specific
courses during the 2001-02 academic year. The third request is for an individual to teach a
parallel course with one taught by an eligible member of the faculty this Summer 2001. Working
from the guidance provided by prior GAC consideration of this matter the Committee is
comfortable recommending approval for these requests.
5.
The Department of Environmental Health & Toxicology proposes a one-course shift in required
coursework for its Environmental & Occupational Health track of the program. EHT670
“Contemporary Issues in Environmental Health” is to be dropped as a required course and
replaced by an updated EHT690 “Laboratory Rotations in EH&T.” EHT670 shall remain
available as an elective.
6.
The Department of Educational & Counseling Psychology proposes a change to the curriculum of
the Certificate of Advanced Standing (CAS) program in Educational Research. In order to
provide broader opportunities to students, the previous requirement for satisfactory completion of
a comprehensive exam is to be replaced with a culminating experience via internship in
educational psychology, field experience in educational research, or a practicum in evaluation
research.
To:
Graduate Academic Council
From:
Maria Brown, Chair
GAC Committee on Admissions & Academic Standing
Date:
May 3, 2001
Subj.:
Report and Recommendations
The GAC Academic Standing Committee met on May 1, 2001. In attendance were Gregory
Harper, Maria Brown (Chair), Deborah Bernnard, Anne Boehm, Lynn Gelzheiser and Jon Bartow (Staff to
the Committee). Three items of business were discussed and are recommended to the Council for action:
1.
Petition of Yon Struble, M.S. Reading Program
Mr. Struble was academically dismissed from the program in 1997 after receiving failing grades.
He has explained the non-academic circumstances that led to the failures in a manner acceptable to
the faculty in the Department. They would allow for his reinstatement to the program.
The Committee determines and unanimously recommends to the GAC that a “last chance”
reinstatement should be allowed under the condition that he obtain at least a B grade in every
course taken during the first year following his re-entry into the program.
2.
Petition of David Suh, Economics Student
Mr. Suh applied to the M.A. Economics while an undergraduate senior at the University and was
accepted for M.A. study to begin in Fall 2000. It turned out that he failed to fulfill undergraduate
degree requirements, yet his enrollment in graduate courses was not prevented or voided. He
completed four graduate Economic courses in Fall 2000 with a respectable GPA of 3.33. In the
Spring 2001 term he is taking one undergraduate course (AECO330Z) to fulfill outstanding
undergraduate requirements plus 15 graduate credits. He seeks authorization to continue in the
M.A. program and count graduate courses completed through Spring 2001 toward the M.A.,
despite not having been awarded the B.A. at the time.
The Committee unanimously recommends that contingent upon his successful completion of the
bachelors degree requirements in Spring 2001, the Fall 2000 graduate admission be allowed to
stand, therefore authorizing the graduate credits earned as applicable to the M.A. program.
Further, credits for ECO545, completed in Spring 2000 prior to his M.A. admission – shall not
count toward the fulfillment of M.A. degree requirements. Should Mr. Suh fail to complete
bachelor’s requirements in Spring 2001, the graduate admission shall be voided.
3.
In general terms, the Committee discussed the pending petition for exception to dissertation
guidelines that will come before the GAC for direct consideration on 5/4/01. Committee members
noted issues of archival concern, as previously expressed in an email from the University
Archivist (see copy pasted in below). The Committee expressed a conservative posture toward the
digital dissertation issue until such time as archival concerns are resolved.
It is my understanding that the Graduate Office approves the format of
dissertations after the appropriate department or school has approved the
intellectual content of the dissertation. Is that true of masters theses
also?
The reason I ask is that the University Archives is charged with holding
a record copy of ever dissertation and thesis produced by our students.
We have this charge because there has to be one secure and always
available copy of a dissertation or thesis for future researchers to
consult. The University Library has a microfilm copy of every University
at Albany dissertation in its microfilm collection and it has a print
copy of every thesis in the open books stacks. These are convenience
copies which are not secure. People can walk off with the microfilm and
they can mutilate or make off with the printed copy in the open stacks.
If that happens, a new copy of a dissertation can be ordered from
University Microfilms International, or if they don't have the original,
and some of our dissertations were not submitted to UMI, we can
photocopy and bind a copy of a dissertation or thesis from the original
we hold in the University Archives. The point is that we have a readable
and accessible backup copy in the University Archives.
I have just learned that last year a masters thesis was accepted by the
History Department that was submitted only on CD ROM. So far the CD ROM
has not shown up in the University Archives. But the imminent arrival of
one thesis means more are coming. I am wondering if any standards have
been set for the submission of dissertations and theses in electronic
formats. Must they be submitted in ASCII format? Will the University
established default software that must be used for the submission of
theses and dissertations? Will anyone be able to read the CD ROM five
years from now if the word processing or whatever software package the
document is submitted in is not available? I can, for instance, envision
a dissertation being submitted in Quark, a popular publishing software.
We do not have Quark on our computers. A multi-media thesis or
dissertation is just as likely to be in a software package that we do not
own. That means that even though we may have a CD ROM with a
dissertation or thesis on it we will be unable to provide access to the
work! Will people who submit dissertations and theses in electronic
formats be required to deposit a copy of the software that the work was
created in along with the
work? Will our personal computers or main frames be able to load the
software five years from now? To cite just two examples of recent
obsolescence, we have very few computers that will handle DOS documents,
and we have only one computer left in the archives with a 5 1/4 inch
drive. I am already receiving records from campus offices on 5 1/4 inch
diskettes that I can not read because I do not have the software the
documents were created on. Will we be able to read a CD ROM in five
years? Will CD ROMs be the same size five years from now or half their
size and the drives be different? Will there even be CD ROMs five years
from now? Who will be responsible for migrating electronic theses to new
readable formats? Can a multimedia thesis or dissertation even be
migrated? Are there standards to ensure that a from that is submitted as
a final copy is not rewriteable?
We need to have a fixed copy of the thesis or dissertation in a readable
format in the University Archives as a security copy. The University
needs to establish some standards for the submission of theses and
dissertations in electronic formats.
I realize this sounds like a large laundry list but it is important we
don't get behind the curve on dealing with this issue. I would be happy
to meet with the appropriate person or persons to discuss this matter.
Geoff Williams
University Archivist
University Archives, LE-356
M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives
University at Albany, SUNY
1400 Washington Avenue
Albany, NY 12222
