Meeting Minutes - February 28, 2008

1. 1. The minutes of the February 14, 2008 meeting were reviewed and approved.

2. Associate Dean Wurster asked the Council members to help educate faculty and students about the recently adopted UI Library open access policy on campus and reassure faculty that the Graduate College is working on a solution to the problems caused by this new policy. As was discussed at the Directors of Graduate Studies meeting on February 26, the UI Library, in conjunction with other CIC libraries, has instituted an open access policy for all of their holdings including master’s and doctoral electronic theses/dissertations. The Library ultimately plans to scan all hard-copy theses and dissertations making them available on-line also. The Graduate College learned of this new policy last September when a student complained that the entire text of her dissertation was available on-line just six weeks after making final deposit of her ETD. The Graduate College rapidly received two more complaints. It was further learned that some students had paid Proquest $95.00 for on-line availability of their theses which ended up on-line for free through UI Library. After several conversations with UI Library administration which refused to exempt theses/dissertations from their open-access policy, the Graduate College determined that it needed to develop a way to protect students who plan on publishing their work. Thus, the Graduate College created an embargo policy where students can request that their thesis/dissertation be held in a secure place for 12 to 24 months before being released to the UI Library or to Proquest. Two forms have been developed - the first, an explanation and disclaimer to be signed at the time of first deposit, and the second, the actual embargo request form to be signed at the time of final deposit. If an embargo is requested, the faculty advisor must also provide an accompanying letter of explanation. The absence of the embargo form and support letter will be taken as evidence that the student desires open access of their thesis or dissertation.

3. Each year, PhD graduates from institutions across the country are asked to complete the Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED). The results are published in a Summary Report where national versus institutional data are presented for comparison. The current report covers the period from July 1, 2005-June 30, 2006. Caroline Mast distributed a summary sheet highlighting some of the data presented in the report. Of the 328 Iowa PhD graduates during this time period, 47.3% were women and 9.1% were US citizens from racial/ethnic minorities. This compares to 45% women and 20% racial/ethnic minorities nationally. SED calculates median time to degree (TTD) two ways – from the BA/BS degree (nationally 9.5 yrs, Iowa 9.4 yrs) and from the start of graduate education anywhere (nationally 7.9 yrs, Iowa 7.9 yrs – includes unregistered time). The Graduate College calculates TTD for the PhD as registered time at the University of Iowa only. For this same time period, the registered TTD at Iowa was 5.9 years. A comparison of Iowa graduates in Science/Engineering versus non-Science/Engineering fields shows a TTD from BA/BS of 8.0 years versus 12.5 years, a TTD from the beginning of graduate study anywhere of 6.7 years versus 10.3 years, and a registered TTD at Iowa-only of 5.7 years versus 6.9 years.

4. Associate Dean Wurster gave a brief introduction of the proposal from the Department of Epidemiology for a Certificate in Emerging Infectious Diseases. He noted that the Graduate College looks at certificate proposals differently than new degree program proposals and that the required coursework for certificates at Iowa ranges from a minimum of 12 cr hrs to 21 cr hours. Professor Jim Torner was invited to summarize the proposal and respond to questions. He pointed out that this certificate comes from an increased interest in biopreparedness, the already existing Center for Biopreparedness and Center for Infectious Diseases, and with the outside push from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the Department of Defense (DOD). It is primarily a certificate for practitioners, many of whom are affiliated with the CDC, although Professor Torner envisions medical students, epidemiology students and microbiology students also to be interested in it. Several of the Council members were concerned about the proposed waiver of the TOEFL requirement for admission into this certificate program. However, there is a precedent to such a waiver with exchange programs, and the CDC or DOD will attest to the English proficiency of those students nominated by them. There will be no teaching expectations of the students. If a student later applies to a master’s or PhD program, he/she will need the TOEFL for admission. The Council suggested that the TOEFL be waived for CDC/DOD students, but required for other students. At the very least, the language concerning the TOEFL on page 3 needs to be clarified. The Council also questioned the name of the program; however, Professor Torner addressed that concern by suggesting the name be changed to a Certificate in Emerging Infectious Disease Surveillance. Council members also recommended the inclusion of additional letters of support from other academic institutions. Associate Dean Wurster will relay the recommendations to Professor Torner. Several Council members requested that a future Graduate Council agenda item be a discussion on the creation of a template for certificate programs.

5. Associate Dean Wurster distributed proposed language for the Manual of Rules and Regulations of the Graduate College concerning the outside committee member. The proposed wording takes a compromise position by defining the outside committee member as a faculty member without a salaried appointment in the student’s program, or with less than half of his or her salary being provided by the student’s program. However, he pointed out that the Graduate College preferred dropping the requirement of an outside member altogether, leaving the makeup of the committee to each department. Rather than solicit action on this item at today’s meeting, he asked the Council members to think about the proposed language for discussion and action at a future Graduate Council meeting.

The meeting adjourned at 9:50 a.m.