Meeting Minutes - October 25, 2007
1. The minutes of the September 27, 2007
meeting were reviewed and approved.
2. Announcements:
• Dean Keller noted that Graduate Council members Ridge, Cox and Liu
have been asked to serve on the Provost Search Committee which meets at
the same time as Graduate Council. Thus, they will be absent from future
Council meetings this semester.
• He alerted the Council to the following upcoming meetings: Directors
of Graduate Studies Meeting – November 6, 3:30 p.m. in W401 PBB;
Graduate Faculty Meeting – November 27, 4:00 p.m. in 140 SH; and a
special joint meeting of Graduate Council, Graduate College DEOs and
Interdisciplinary Program Directors with President Mason on January 24,
2008, 8:15 a.m. in W401 PBB.
• The solicitation for SIF applications will be distributed this week.
Due to the delay in getting the announcement out, the deadline has been
extended to November 15.
• GSS member Kim Lamon announced that the GSS had sponsored a Leukemia
Walk and raised $1500. They also are sponsoring a winter wear drive with
collection boxes in each department. Winter wear will be delivered to
the Shelter House the week of December 12th.
3. The Graduate Council was asked to provide feedback to the
Office of the Provost on the Department of Biological Sciences’ request
to change its name to the Department of Biology. The request does not
include a name change of their graduate degree which will remain an MS
or PhD in Biology. Dean Keller summarized the evolution of the
department. In 1966 two separate departments existed – Botany and
Zoology. In 1984, the Zoology Department changed its name to the
Department of Biology. Then in 1992, the Departments of Botany and
Biology merged and assumed the neutral name of the Department of
Biological Sciences. Students could earn either the Biology or Botany
degree. In 1999, the Botany degree was discontinued. Jack Lilien,
department chair, was invited to comment and respond to questions. He
noted that the name change would clearly align the department with its
academic focus (biology) and would help alleviate the confusion the
department has experienced with the Bioscience Program. After brief
discussion, the Council indicated their unanimous support of the name
change. No further action was solicited.
4. Associate Dean Wurster summarized recent developments in
public access of graduate student dissertations. The Graduate College
always has had an embargo policy to protect a student wanting to pursue
a patent or submit the dissertation for publication. The student could
apply for the embargo through the Graduate College and the Graduate
College would hold the thesis/dissertation, not submitting it to UMI (ProQuest)
or University Libraries until released by the student. Last spring, the
Graduate College was holding 5 or 6 dissertations. With the increased
popularity of electronic theses/dissertations, ProQuest now offers
students a choice to either embargo the thesis or provide open access to
it. They charge an open access fee of $95.00. Two weeks ago, a recent
graduate who submitted an ETD learned that his/her thesis already was
available electronically through UI Libraries. This student had not
elected open access and was not desirous of it. The Graduate College
then learned that UI Libraries were making all ETD’s open access at no
charge. In total, the Graduate College already has been contacted three
times by concerned students. The Graduate College, after consulting with
the General Counsel and University Library Administration, feels it will
need to be more aggressive in communicating the options (embargo versus
open access) in order to protect students. Associate Dean Wurster
proposed providing information about public access versus embargoes with
the dissertation check list which is turned in at the time of first
deposit. The check list would include an additional box where the
student could request an embargo (the default would be no embargo). The
check list requires both the student and advisor’s signature. With the
rapidly escalating entrepreneurial aspect of universities, more students
and faculty are encouraged to get patents, so the number of requests for
embargoes may easily increase. Associate Dean Wurster sought the
Council’s advice on an appropriate timeline for an embargo. In the past,
the Graduate College wouldn’t hold a thesis for longer than two years.
However, it often takes longer than two years to get a publication
contract. On the other hand, if a dissertation reports on research that
has been sponsored by NIH, recent U.S. Senate action would limit the
length of the embargo to 12 months. After further discussion, Dean
Wurster proposed to bring back some wording for the Council’s review. It
was recommended that in the future the ETD submission process could be
developed so as not to allow submission without the student first
completing the embargo/public access option box. The safety of the
embargoed theses/dissertations against theft or fire will also need to
be taken into consideration.
5. Associate Dean Wurster next summarized the rationale which prompted
the proposed change in wording to Section XV.B of the Manual
of Rules and Regulations. In respect of faculty time, the Graduate
College prefers not to call a meeting of the graduate faculty for issues
that could be handled electronically. Electronic voting would not be
used for program approvals where faculty dialog was felt to be an
important part of the approval process. Since all issues that require
graduate faculty action are first reviewed and approved by the Graduate
Council, it might be part of that approval process for the Council to
indicate whether an issue could be decided by electronic ballot or
whether it needed faculty discussion and action at a Graduate Faculty
meeting. It was Dean Wurster’s intent that a written rationale would
always be provided when an electronic ballot was used. After further
discussion, the Council recommended to amend the proposed language to
read “However, upon the discretion of the dean of the Graduate College
and in consultation with the Graduate Council, agenda items may be voted
upon electronically by the graduate faculty.” It was moved and seconded
that the proposed language as amended be approved. The vote in favor of
the motion was unanimous.
The meeting adjourned at 9:40 a.m.