Minutes of Graduate Council

October 24, 2002
3:30 p.m.
Morrison Hall 330

Larry Lyon, Presiding

Members present at Waco campus: Stacy Atchley; Susan Bratton; Larry Browning (for Betty Conaway); Richard Duhrkopf; Harry Elzinga; Lianne Fridriksson; David Garrett; Baudelio Garza; Steve Green; Isaac Gusukuma (for Dennis Myers); Deborah Johnston; Bob Kane; Carlos Manzanares; Frank Mathis; Charles McDaniel (for Derek Davis); Bob Patterson; Robert Ray; Stuart Rosenbaum; David Rudd; Dwight Russell; David Schlueter; Al Smith; James SoRelle; Richard Watts; Laurie Wilson (for Gary Carini)

Others present at Waco: Diane Brittain; Larry Lyon; Sherry Sims; Ken Wilkins

Dallas Site: Jody Guenther (for Pauline Johnson)

Dr. Lyon opened the meeting with prayer.

Dr. Lyon mentioned an article in The Lariat about the high standing of the Baylor EMBA in Dallas.

Three programs have been given approval by the administration to proceed with their plans to develop full proposals for their Ph.D. programs. The three programs are Social Work, Church Music, and Health, Human Performance, and Recreation.

Loretta Rudd, a doctoral student in Educational Psychology has received a major dissertation grant. Dean Lyon encouraged graduate directors to seek grant support for their doctoral students.

Dr. Lyon reviewed some of the significant data contained in the IMTS Report, Vol. 02-03, No. 11. He noted that the improvement in test scores, the high proportion of students from Texas, and the variation in average credit hour load.

Forms for graduate assistantship and tuition credit budget requests have been sent electronically to most academic departments and all auxiliary areas. The Hankamer School of Business and the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders will receive their request forms when the new flat rate tuition has been announced. The requests for the 2003-2004 year were distributed electronically and will be submitted electronically to the Graduate School on an Excel spreadsheet. Any justification will be submitted by sending a Word document as an attachment. These requests are due back to the Graduate School on November 4, 2002.

New Council members were recognized. They are Lianne Fridriksson (Journalism), Stacy Atchley (Geology), James SoRelle (History), and Deborah Johnston (School of Education.)

Chip Tate gave an overview of recruiting tools that are available to the departments. He discussed the updating of web pages, the GRE search, and program brochures. Mr. Tate will be the contact person in the Graduate School for all of these projects. He urged the members to contact him for specific help with any recruiting project.

Dr. Lyon mentioned that the listing of the Graduate Faculty is now on the Graduate School web page at http://www3.baylor.edu/Graduate_School/administrative/graduate_faculty.htm

This listing will be updated on a continuing basis.

Also listed on the Graduate School web page, according to Dr. Lyon, is the Statement of Responsibilities and Resources for Graduate Program Directors. The web address is http://www3.baylor.edu/Graduate_School/administrative/graduate_program_director.htm

This document, which was approved and adopted by the University, has several key statements regarding provision for a stipend for graduate program directors, administrative support staff, and reduced teaching loads. The chair of the department and the graduate program director now need to coordinate their efforts more than in the past.

Dr. Ken Wilkins reminded the Council members that October 31 is the deadline to submit catalog copy for the 2003-2004 Graduate Catalog. He asked that the departments send their electronic copy and a marked photocopy to Sandra Harman in the Graduate School.

Dr. Wilkins also explained the importance of an effective web page for an academic department for recruiting graduate students. This can be a very effective recruiting tool along with the Catalog to give thorough and specific information.

In the Graduate Catalog, the specifics of the eligibility requirements for each program should be clearly defined. Dr. Wilkins mentioned these key areas: special strengths and expertise in the department, required items for entrance, standardized exams, contact information, deadline dates for application and for financial consideration, recommendation letters requirement, vita required, monitored writing samples, course and degree requirements, internships, oral exams, financial assistance.

Dr. Wilkins also made the Council members aware of some new guidelines regarding the wording or statements of admission requirements. Dr. Wilkins referred to the handout, "GRE for Educators" that can be found on the web at http://www.gre.org/textonly/scoreuse.html.

A department should not use just one criterion to deny admission. For example, "a cutoff score based only on GRE scores should never be used as the sole criterion for denial of admission" (GRE for Educators). Dr. Wilkins also pointed out item #5 in the handout, which states that a department should "consider verbal, quantitative, and analytical scores as three separate and independent measures." He also pointed out that the departments should "avoid decisions based on small score differences," (GRE for Educators).

In the future, departments should develop statements regarding the GRE or GPA that reflects a range of numbers. This should not be interpreted as a relaxing of standards, but a different way of stating the standard.

Dr. Lyon invited the Council members to the Association of Texas Graduate School (ATGS) presentation on Thursday, November 14, from 3-4 p.m. in the Barfield Drawing Room. Dr. Marsha Landolt, a graduate of Baylor and currently the Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School at the University of Washington, will make a special presentation. The title of her presentation will be "The Future of Doctoral Education." Because of her involvement in the Pew Charitable Trust project, "Re-envisioning the Ph.D.," her speech should be of special interest to the Council members.