Meeting Minutes - September 27, 2007
1. 1. The minutes of the September 13, 2007 meeting
were reviewed and approved.
2. Announcements:
• Dean Keller welcomed Professor Greg Stewart who replaces Ravikumar
Balasubrahmanian as representative from the College of Business.
• Thanks to the efforts of Associate Dean Gardinier, the Graduate
College has been awarded a Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate
Achievement Program grant. This 5-year award will dramatically help our
diversity efforts. The McNair Scholars program will provide funding and
research and professional developmental experiences for 27
underrepresented minority, first-generation, or financially
disadvantaged undergraduate students in the STEM fields. Nine of these
scholars will be appointed from among University of Iowa students who
then will participate in a year-long programming process. The other 18
will be non-UI students who will undertake an 8-week summer research
experience similar to SROP. The ultimate goal of the program is that
these students will complete their undergraduate degree and go on into
graduate programs culminating in the Ph.D.
• The Obermann Graduate Institute on Engagement and the Academy, which
is co-sponsored by the Obermann Center and the Graduate College, is
soliciting applications for 15 graduate fellowships for their one week
institute which takes place January 15-21, 2008. Applications are due
October 12, 2007. A flier was distributed. Further details can be found
at
http://www.uiowa.edu/~obermann/gradinstitute/index.html.
• The Graduate College plans to invite President Sally Mason to a future
Graduate Council meeting or other Graduate College event. Directors of
our departments and interdisciplinary graduate programs would also be
invited. He suggested that Council members think about questions that
they would like her to address and forward those questions to Dean
Keller.
3. Associate Dean Wurster gave a brief introduction of the proposal from
the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology to establish a combined
AuD/PhD degree program. He noted that historically the professional
degree in audiology was the master’s degree where there was an easy
transition to the Ph.D. A couple of years ago, following accreditation
agency recommendations, the professional degree was changed to the
Doctorate of Audiology (AuD). Currently, the AuD requires 95 credit
hours and the PhD another 72 and there is no automatic sharing of
credits or transition to the Ph.D. The AuD/PhD proposal, which is
modeled after the MD/PhD program, would allow for the dual counting of
30 credit hours with the shared courses selected in advance. Professor
Paul Abbas, Chair, Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, was
invited to summarize the proposal and respond to questions. He noted
that the dual degree proposal is in response to concerns about the
recruitment of students into the Ph.D. program and eventually into
academia. Graduate Council members questioned how the Ph.D. students
would be funded and whether this dual degree as proposed realistically
provided enough time for the completion of the dissertation. Professor
Abbas responded that of the approximately 8 AuD students per year,
perhaps only one would be interested in the AuD/PhD program. The
department will encourage the very good students who are interested in
research and academics to consider this dual degree. Ph.D students
typically receive four years of support from a combination of sources,
including being funded on the program’s training grant. Students in the
AuD program typically are not supported. Students can opt to earn the
AuD before the PhD which would allow them to pursue clinical practice to
help fund their Ph.D. if they so chose. However, that would potentially
lengthen their time to degree. It was noted that most programs advertise
a time to degree that is doable but not always attainable by all
students, and stating that a student could complete the dual degree in 6
years was probably no different that what other programs claim. Dean
Wurster noted that the inclusion of a supporting letter from the Dean of
the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences had been overlooked. After
further brief discussion, it was moved and seconded that the dual
AuD/PhD degree proposal be approved pending the receipt of a letter from
Dean Maxson. The vote in support of the motion was unanimous.
4. In follow up to the September 13, 2007 meeting, discussion was
continued on the proposed change to the Graduate College’s
readmission policy which would require that students reapply if
their enrollment is interrupted for any reason causing them to not be
enrolled for three consecutive academic sessions. Dean Wurster
distributed revised wording which further states that while the Graduate
College will not require new letters of recommendation, a new Personal
Statement section, a written explanation of the reasons for the absence,
or a plan for degree completion, that departments may choose to require
any or all of them. It was moved and seconded that the proposed wording
as distributed be approved. The vote to approve was unanimous. The
change in policy will need Graduate Faculty approval before it can take
effect. Once that approval has been attained, the policy will apply to
currently registered students from that date forward. Students will be
tracked by the Admissions Office.
5. The Analysis of Enrollment in the Graduate College for fall
2007 was reviewed. This fall, 4972 graduate students are enrolled
(excluding postdocs, MBAs and non-degree extension students). Of those
4972 students, 95.7% (4760) have been admitted to a department; 47.4%
are part time (enrolled in <8 cr hrs); 24.0% are new students; and 55.9%
have the doctorate as their degree objective. Of the 4760 students
enrolled in departmental programs, 56.7% are women, 62.9% are
non-resident. Dean Keller noted that the percentage of underrepresented
minority students enrolled in 2007 compared to those enrolled ten years
earlier (1998) shows only a slight increase considering the amount of
resources put into the recruitment of these populations. The minority
student enrollment was 8.9% in 1990 compared to 9.0% in 2007. Likewise,
foreign student enrollment showed little change with 22.8% in 1998 and
22.7% in 2007.
The meeting adjourned at 9:50 a.m.