Minutes of Graduate Council

October 23, 2003
3:30 p.m.
Cashion, Room 303

Ken Wilkins, Presiding

Members present at Waco campus: Sarah Alexander (for Susan Bratton); Stacy Atchley; Francis Beckwith (for Derek Davis ); Bill Bellinger; Tom Bratcher; Marion Castleberry; Betty Conaway; Baudelio Garza; Mike Greenwood; Ken Hafertepe; Deborah Johnston; Bob Kane (for Carlos Manzanares and Jim Diaz-Granados); Frank Mathis; David Music; Robert Ray; Tillman Rodabough; Stuart Rosenbaum; David Rudd; David Schlueter; Al Smith; Greg Speegle; Beck Taylor; Richard Watts; Ken Wilkins; Laurie Wilson (for Gary Carini)

Others present at Waco campus: Walter Bradley; Diane Brittain; Jim Farison; Sherry Sims; Chip Tate

Dallas site: Pauline Johnson; Jacque Neatherlin

San Antonio site: Dan Rendeiro, Chris Pate

Video Technician: Conner Krey

Dr. Wilkins acknowledged the Council members at Dallas (Dr. Jacque Neatherlin and Dr. Pauline Johnson), Brooke Army Medical Center (MAJ Dan Rendeiro) and at Fort Sam Houston (LTC Chris Pate).

Dr. Wilkins introduced Dr. James Farison, Chair of the Department of Engineering, and Dr. Walter Bradley, Distinguished Professor of Engineering, who presented the four new degrees which are proposed for the Engineering Department. Those degrees are the following:

1. Master of Science-Electrical and Computer Engineering
2. Master of Science-Mechanical Engineering
3. Master of Science-Biomedical Engineering
4. Master of Engineering degree

Dr. Farison gave an overview of the new degrees and the rationale for having these degrees at Baylor. Dr. Bradley then gave a PowerPoint presentation which gave details of the degrees. In the handout, there was a financial pro forma which gave the financial projections for the proposed degrees. After the presentation, various details of the degrees were discussed. Dr. Wilkins and Ms. Sherry Sims both acknowledged that the complete proposal was discussed in depth and thoroughly by the Curriculum Committee. Dr. Bradley stated that the department felt that they would be able to secure external funding for a large part of the necessary financial resources.

A motion was make by Dr. Richard Watts was made and seconded by Dr. Tillman Rodabough to approve the four new degrees in Engineering.

The Council members discussed various aspects of the proposed degrees. The Council wanted to understand if their approval meant that they understood and supported the financial projections for the new degrees. Some felt that they had not had ample time to review the proposals and they were, also, not qualified to make those in-depth financial decisions. Some Council members suggested that the Council's approval was a statement that they thought the degrees would be a welcome addition to graduate education at Baylor, but that it would be left to the administration whether or not this was possible within the larger vision and long-range planning. While some members favored the approval and implementation of the new degrees, they were nonetheless concerned that any new degrees would "cut the financial pie" into smaller pieces and therefore harm their own programs.

The Council did give approval for the four new degrees in Engineering while acknowledging that they did not consider themselves experts on the financial pro forma. The sense of the motion was that graduate education and scholarship at Baylor would benefit from the establishment of these graduate programs in Engineering.

Mr. Chip Tate, recruiter in the Graduate School, presented an overview of application and enrollment trends for graduate programs this year, 2003-2004. Both applications and new enrolled student figures are up despite deliberate enrollment reductions in the Hankamer School of Business students, the elimination of the EdD program in Educational Administration, and reductions of the number of incoming masters students in several departments with doctoral degrees.

Mr. Sherry Sims explained that the Graduate School will now take the highest GRE scores by combining the scores from multiple tests. Thus, if the verbal segment is higher on one test and the quantitative is higher on another, the highest score from each test will be used. It is hoped that applicants will now be less hesitant to retake the GRE.

Dr. Tillman Rodabough, Sociology, explained that they were going to use Scholars' Day (March 8, 2004) as a recruiting event. Prospective students would be invited to visit Baylor and Waco on the weekend prior to the Monday, March 8 event. The Sociology Department prefers to meet the prospective students, have interviews with them, and have a chance for personal contact for making a decision to accept a student into the program.

Dr. Stuart Rosenbaum, Philosophy, explained that for previous Scholars' Day events, the department has devoted the day for scholarly presentations. It is a departmental "day off" so that the faculty can make presentations and attend presentations along with their students. Last year (2003), all their presentations were in Morrison 100. This year they plan also to use this event as a recruiting tool. There are some funds available for student to come to the campus. Dr. Wilkins stated that the Graduate School plans to protect those funds even with the necessary budget cuts. Directors who would like to use some of these funds should contact Mr. Chip Tate in the Graduate School.

For the 2004-2005 year, Dr. Wilkins said there may be a slight increase in stipend funds, and that we do not anticipate a cut back in these funds. He also mentioned that current year stipend and tuition funds, 2003-2004 funds will not be cut back. If departments have funds that have not been disbursed or promised to graduate students, the department should not disperse those funds just to give an "extra" amount. Under the current financial constraints, that would not be a prudent practice.

The ad hoc Graduate Assistantship Committee has met and is considering how the assistantships, particularly stipends, should be handled in light of the Fair Labor Laws. In the future, the department will need to have job descriptions for the various types of assistantships. Dr. Wilkins reminded the members that no work can be required for a tuition award. If work is required then the award becomes taxable income. The stipend award is given for the work that is done.

Student travel funds for participation at professional meetings are available again and should not be impacted by the budget constraints.

The meeting adjourned at 5:00 p.m.