Meeting Minutes - January 18, 2007

 1. The minutes of the November 30, 2006 meeting were reviewed and approved.

2. The following announcements were made:
• The Graduate College will need to hold an election for one of the at-large members of Graduate Council to replace Professor Lawrence whose term ends in May. Council members were asked to submit names of faculty who would represent the broad-based interdisciplinary contingent on campus.
• Deans Keller and Barkan are participating in the COGS negotiations for the July 1, 2007-June 30, 2009 graduate assistant collective bargaining agreement. Each group has exchanged proposals. Settlement is expected by the end of February. Increasing the tuition scholarship is one of the issues being addressed.
• Derek Stiles, committee co-chair of the 9th annual James F. Jakobsen Graduate Conference, updated the Council on the planning for this event. The day-long conference will be held March 31 in the Blank Honors Center followed by an evening awards reception in the Old Capitol Museum. This event is part of the weeklong recognition of graduate students which also includes the Graduate Recognition Reception for outstanding dissertations/theses on March 30, 2007. Mr. Stiles asked the Council members to encourage students in their programs to submit an abstract and to attend the conference. Abstracts are due Friday, February 2nd. More information can be found at: http://www.uiowa.edu/~gss/conference/index.html
• Associate Dean Barkan announced her retirement from the University of Iowa at the end of the summer so she can join her husband in Washington DC. She will be delivering the commencement address at Graduate Commencement on May 12. The Council applauded her work in the Graduate College.
• In cooperation with the Graduate Student Senate, the University of Iowa Museum of Art has invited graduate students to a special preview party at the Museum of Art in advance of the opening of the Picturing Eden photography exhibit. The party will be held on Friday, February 2, from 8-11pm and will feature refreshments, a cash bar, and live music from the New Beat Society.

3. Dean Keller updated the Graduate Council on the status of the NRC Assessment of Doctorate Programs. All 50 of our participating graduate programs have received the Program Questionnaire which is due February 1. The Faculty Questionnaire is being distributed this week. In order for faculty to be eligible to be a rater of programs at other institutions, they must submit their completed Faculty Questionnaire by February 15. Otherwise, the Faculty Questionnaire is due April 1. A memo inviting students in five programs to participate in the Student Questionnaire will go out next week. More information can be found on the Graduate College website at: http://www.grad.uiowa.edu/FacultyStaff/NRCStudy/Index.asp

4. Associate Dean Barkan updated the Council members on recent changes to the Presidential Graduate Fellowship. For 2007-08, the stipend will increase from $21,000 to $23,000. The Graduate College also hopes to increase the number of awards to 25 new fellows this year. Applications will continue to be reviewed on a rolling basis. The selection criteria have been better defined with an added criterion of matching the award to the UI strategic goals.

A new one-year Distinguished Graduate College Fellowship for incoming students was brought forward for discussion. Should resources be available in FY08, the Graduate College proposes to award approximately 50 of these, with no more than two per department. Both international and domestic students would be eligible. The proposed stipend was $8,500/AY plus tuition, fees and health insurance allowance. Although the Council members agreed the award would be very helpful with the departure of Block funds, there was some concern about how it would help recruitment of new students and whether there could be some flexibility in the amount of the award. Some departments may prefer a $3,500 supplemental fellowship for more students than $8,500 going to a maximum of two students per department. Dean Barkan will prepare a revised proposal, taking in account the comments and concerns of the Council.
Associate Dean Gardinier distributed a draft description (with more defined wording) of the Dean’s Graduate Fellowships. The goal for 2007-08 is to award approximately 30 Dean’s Fellowships, 20 of which would go to doctoral students and 10 to master’s students. The fiscal year stipend is being increased for 2007-08 to $21,000 for doctoral students and $19,000 for master’s students. Once again, one of the selection criteria is to match the award with University of Iowa strategic goals.

5. Dean Keller distributed a draft memo concerning the revisions to the Campus-wide Graduate College Strategic Initiative Fund (SIF). Currently, the Graduate College receives requests for SIF funding throughout the year. Dean Keller proposed limiting the review of requests for funding to three times per year (February 15th, June 15th and October 15th.) Priorities have also been better defined and applications should focus on innovative and creative efforts to address the goals for graduate education articulated in the University of Iowa Strategic Plan. A Request for Support form was also distributed and the Graduate College will accept electronic submission of the request. A committee composed of the three Associate Deans and three members of Graduate Council will be formed to review all requests. Pending FY08 budget allocations, the Graduate College anticipates the continuation of allocating approximately $2.0M in Strategic Initiative funding. The Graduate Council felt that positive changes had been made in the SIF proposal. Even though this move away from the Block to the SIF centralizes the dispensation of funds in the Graduate College, it still allows departments to be creative with their requests.

Dean Keller notified the Council that a proposal from the College of Nursing for a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree would be on the agenda of the February 1st meeting.

The meeting adjourned at 9:45 a.m.