Guests: Graduate Students of Prof. Colwell
Prof. Tyrrell called the meeting to order at 8:00 a.m. in the Mississippi Room of
the Student Center. He recognized Prof. Mary Rudasill, the new (and first)
representative from the Law School to Graduate Council.
Dean Wilson announced that there were no proxies other than Prof. Kay Carr for
Prof. Robbie Lieberman who has a scheduling conflict for Fall Semester.
- Consideration of the minutes for the September 4, 2003, Graduate Council
meeting:
Hearing no correction or amendments, the minutes stood approved as distributed.
Prof. Tyrrell noted that the minutes were accompanied by a revised list of members
and addresses, and urged students especially to check their University e-mail
addresses, because commercial e-mail often cannot take long attachments.
- Remarks - Chancellor Wendler
The Chancellor commented that he enjoyed participating in Fall Faculty meeting,
and thought it was good to have it co-hosted by Faculty Senate and Graduate
Council.
All colleges and Vice Chancellor areas are in the process of providing the
Chancellor's Office with their plans for implementing or focusing on sections
of Southern at 150 (S150). They are also responding to recommendations made by
the Budget and Planning Task Force.
The Chancellor's office is in process of reworking University web pages,
which will include the possibility of reworking college web pages. His goal
is to make them friendlier to outside users. Also sometime in November a new
SIU logo will be introduced along with other materials to create a more consistent
sense of what the University is about.
Last year we began making public service announcements at football games, and
will continue to solicit information from academic units about the achievements
of faculty and students for these. Sue Davis handles these announcements.
Teaching and Scholarly Excellence Programs: the Provost is taking feedback
from colleges and individuals. Lots of good ideas are already coming in. The
Chancellor believes that the proposals should be subject to external peer review.
Civil Service pay increases: The Chancellor only had enough funds to provide raises
to people teaching. He has no resources to create civil service or professional
staff raises except by cutting people and programs.
- Provost Dunn
The Budget and Planning Task Force met last week and was divided into five
subcommittees to review recommendations. Subcommittees are to convene and
facilitate discussion with parties most affected by recommendations to ensure
they have input.
The deans have submitted plans based on S150 to establish goals, outcomes, and
associated metrics for this current year. Provost Dunn will try to put together
a report on their plans over the weekend.
The Chancellor and the Provost met with GPSC to discuss proposed tuition increases.
GPSC understands the reasons for the increase, but prefer that it be implemented
in stages. The Provost enjoyed meeting with the students. He observed, however,
that while GPSC is supposed to represent all academic units, many units do not have
representatives on the Council. The Provost has asked deans to try to ensure that
there is broader representation on the GPSC.
The IBHE has approved three new master's programs, the Master of Arts in Teaching
(MAT), the Master of Legal Studies (M.L.S.), and the Master of Laws (M.LL). Also,
we are moving forward on the Masters in Public Health, but have some questions that
still need to be answered. The Ph.D. in Physics proposal is moving more slowly,
but the administration is meeting on October 10 to make sure everything is in order.
Good news items: the Kaplan Guide lists SIUC as one of 20 underrated schools
based on a random sample of high school guidance counselors. Prof. Mary Louise
Cashel received a national award for early career research in personality
assessment. Law School students taking various Midwest Bar exams had excellent
pass rates: 100% in Missouri, Indiana, and almost 100% in Wisconsin.
Prof. Preece inquired what was meant by GPSC participation by "unit," and Provost
Dunn replied that it meant departments. Vice Chancellor Koropchak mentioned that
the College of Agriculture had no representatives on the GPSC.
- Vice Chancellor for Research Koropchak
VCR Koropchak announced that the OVCR office is moving to Anthony Hall next week.
He noted that an SIUC graduate student in history, Francesca Petrosino, received
a prestigious Jack Kent Cooke Fellowship. Her BA is from Harvard.
The Energy bill in the Senate/House Conference Committee contains language for
development of new centers for energy research, and we hope that one of these
centers will be located at SIUC.
Homeland Security Center at University of Illinois: in response to an invitation
from UIUC, we have been working with them to develop a proposal for a center.
SIUC faculty recently participated in a meeting at UIUC with Undersecretary for
Research McQueary of the Department of Homeland Security.
Faculty focus groups to discuss encouraging interdisciplinary research
collaboration, and on incentives for seeking external grants, are being organized.
There will also be a focus group to discuss a follow-up on the WAG report in the
areas of (1) arts, humanities and social sciences, and; (2) education research.
In response to a question by Prof. Felleman about homeland security, VCR Koropchak
briefly outlined the history of federal enabling legislation setting out funding
for research and research centers focusing on homeland security issues such as
training first responders, food and water safety, etc.
- Associate Vice Chancellor for Research Rice
AVCR Rice announced a special seminar on Intellectual Property Protection and
Commercialization on Oct. 20.
She also distributed information explaining the suspension of the Faculty Seed
Grant Program in Fall 2003 (Appendix A), and indicated that the competition would
be renewed in Spring 2003.
AVCR Rice noted that the Faculty Association and the Board of Trustees had
approved a new Intellectual Property policy. She believes that the new policy
is sound and she hopes that it will be expanded to cover everyone on campus.
Prof. Kammler commented that over the past several years the University has
invested about half a million dollars in junior faculty, but now the Provost
and OVCR have pulled back money. How will we achieve S150 goals if we do not
support our young faculty? Provost Dunn noted with regret the reduction of summer
salary for research. He had to make substantial budget cuts and the money has to
come from somewhere. He tried to minimize the impact on the colleges. We
all-including his office-have to respond to external pressures. However, now
that he has been through a cycle of the budget process, he indicated that the
commitment for next summer will be back to the normal level.
VCR Koropchak commented that his office begins organizing the Seed Grant program
in summer. Last spring our financial commitment to seed grants was larger than
normal and we also faced a three-quarters of a million dollar budget reduction
as of July 1. We intend to make the upcoming Spring program larger than normal
to compensate.
Prof. Tyrrell pointed out the need to identify additional resources to support
the high quality young faculty that have recently joined the University.
Chancellor Wendler noted that SIUC will experience further problems in making
decisions about supporting quality faculty and programs in the face of budgetary
problems. We need to increase resources or make hard decisions about cutting
people and programs. He is willing to make the cuts, but these will be unpopular.
We need to focus on quality, and marshal more support on campus for this purpose.
- Associate Dean Wilson
Dean Wilson stated that after years of trying to create a web-based graduate
application, we have created a prototype with the aid of the Computer Science
department. We will do in-house testing this Fall, and involve some departments
this Spring in a small test. He believes this system will increase both the
number of applications to programs and number of students who enroll.
He noted that budget constraints also are affecting the Graduate Catalog, which
will not be printed for the 2004-2006 cycle. Instead, the catalog will only be
available online. Staff time involved is the same, whether online or printed,
and the loss of the staff member who used to do the catalog has slowed down his
office.
Dean Wilson remarked on the late summer controversy over processing of graduate
assistantship contracts. His office is trying to figure out how to process
contracts more efficiently in the face of staff reductions. Part of the problem
was that the Graduate School received 900 contracts in the month of August because
colleges held contracts back for understandable reasons. This affected faculty,
students, and staff and caused problems for the Payroll Office.
The Associate Dean has received several thesis nominations for the Outstanding
MA thesis competition. The winner will be submitted to the Midwest Association
of Graduate Schools awards competition. SIUC has been asked to assist in judging
the MAGS competition and he will be contacting faculty to serve as judges.
Prof. Gupta noted that three students in his department had problems with their
checks.
Prof. Vaux suggested redesigning these procedures because until budget information
for writing contracts is available, departments cannot prepare them.
Dean Wilson noted that VCR Koropchak has asked him to organize a meeting of people
from Payroll, etc., to develop new procedures to try to minimize these problems.
Prof. Tyrrell observed that there is still too much paperwork; more should be
handled electronically.
- Associate Dean Mead
Language for Centers of Excellence is included in the Energy bill; also included
is language for authorizing some aspects of FutureGen. He is optimistic that these
activities will move forward. AD Mead attended an economic summit organized by
governor - the governor is organizing Illinois into 10 areas for economic
development planning. Dr. Kammler's earlier comments underscores the importance
of the S150 goals about increasing federal funding because F&A dollars can be
returned to the system to support new faculty.
- Prof. Espy
The student absence policy passed the Faculty Senate almost unanimously. The
next Senate meeting will consider the name change in agriculture and the resolution
concerning the distinguished professor title. The Faculty Status and Welfare
Committee of the Senate declined to pass the latter - the problem is the word
"qualified." She has forwarded the new IP policy to Senate's appropriate
committee. In November the Senate will discuss the Budget and Planning Task Force
recommendations. In December they will discuss WAG.
- Prof. Tyrrell
Prof. Tyrrell reported on the budget retreat of the Board of Trustees (BOT) in
their September meeting in Edwardsville. Prof. Resek from the University of
Illinois Urbana Champaign presented a sobering assessment of the Illinois state
economy. Recessions have been getting smaller over the past decades, but the
problem with this one is the huge capital loss with the stock market decline,
which has affected revenues everywhere, including State of Illinois. The
Illinois budget adjustments are only temporary measures, and do not provide
any long-term solutions. There will be eventual improvement, but this will not
be sudden but rather slow growth from where we are now. Prospects for revenue
enhancement within the state do not look good.
The BOT meeting approved an increase in funding levels for Morris Library. It
was originally budgeted at $30M, but now another $11M is needed. The BOT also
approved an energy conservation program that has already been tested in two SIUC
buildings. The BOT strongly endorsed the new IP agreement, and he hopes both the
Faculty Senate and Graduate Council will give concurrence to this policy for
extension to all faculty and staff.
Prof. Tyrrell attended a meeting in the President's Office about a technical change
needed in a board statute dealing with diversity because of the Supreme Court
action on two Michigan cases. Provost Dunn asked if this change will be brought
to respective campuses, and Prof. Tyrrell replied that thus far it has been brought
to constituency heads (only).
Prof. Tyrrell noted that Faculty Senate passed a resolution on student absences
as a result of participation in University-supported activities, which brings us
in line with all other universities in the state. Prof. Daneshdoost called Prof.
Espy about some concerns he has with this and asked to discuss it in a meeting;
Prof. Tyrrell will also participate.
Prof. Tyrrell is on the Budget and Planning Task Force and is involved with the
Deans of Science, Engineering, and Medicine to get their responses to the report.
Prof. Tyrrell also noted recent faculty accomplishments (some similar information
can also be found on the OVCR web page): the Kleinau Theater is presenting a play,
"Best Face Forward," written, produced and performed by SIUC graduate students. He
noted the passing of Ed Shay, former chair of Physical Education, well known in
swimming circles - the pool in the Recreation Center is named for him. Prof.
Wang in Medical Biochemistry received $304,000 from NIH for research on NMR Studies
of Human Apolipoprotein; Prof. Hickman of the Dewey Center received $100,000 from
NEH for research on John Dewey's Correspondence; Prof. Lydy of the Illinois
Fisheries Aquaculture Center received $276,000 from USDA for research on Mechanisms
of Pesticide Interactions in Aquatic Organisms; Prof. Chugh of Mining Engineering
received $242,000 from IDCEO/ICCI for research on Reducing Underground Production
Costs thro Enhanced Face Productivity and Profs. Smith, Jensen and Browning
(Psychology) and Prof Clough (Anatomy) received $282,000 from NIH for research
on Recovery of Function and Vagus Nerve Stimulation.
Prof. Brown noted that the meeting in the President's office offered only one
interpretation of diversity and historical minorities in Illinois. The practice
of making policy changes should be more inclusive of others who might have
different opinions. There should be a forum to discuss such changes with those
with different opinions: "have more public discussion rather than deciding there
will be none."
- Prof. Dettmar
Prof. Karen Midden has agreed to remain on the Traffic and Parking Committee.
Prof. Dettmar noted that the Provost had asked for greater diversity on committees
and in nominees, but has agreed to allow our nominees to CASA and Agriculture dean
searches to stand. With respect to nominees to the Associate Provost search
committee, searching for two people with one committee means an enormous commitment
of time, and the names of Profs. Dettmar and Tyrrell were submitted for this search
committee.
- New Programs Committee - Prof. Colwell
The committee will discuss the Ph.D. program in agricultural science in their
meeting October 14.
- Educational Policies Committee - Prof. Pineau
Prof. Pineau presented the committee's resolution on shared responsibilities of
both faculty and students to move theses and dissertations forward efficiently,
which represents the best interests of both faculty and students. She read the
resolution with some minor wording changes introduced: Be it resolved that, in
the spirit of mutual academic respect, the Graduate Council recommends that each
graduate director or department write and provide clear guidelines, as appropriate
for their discipline, providing a sufficient time period for committee members to
read and respond to dissertations, theses, or papers required for degree, and
providing a sufficient time period for students to make revisions and resubmit
their documents. Prof. Tyrrell announced that the resolution has been brought to
the floor for discussion, and the vote will be taken at the next meeting
(November). There was no discussion.
- Program Review Committee - Prof. Vaux
Prof. Vaux noted that there are relatively few programs to review this year. The
committee will be looking at the program review process.
- Research Committee - Prof. Kammler
The committee has met twice, most recently with AVCR Rice about the Seed Grant
issue. The committee discussed issues that affect research planning on campus,
particularly complaints about General Accounting and Purchasing, such as forms
that will not print out and unreadable accounts; they have scheduled a meeting.
There are also problems with Physical Plant, like the high costs for drilling and
painting; they will schedule a meeting with people from that unit.
Prof. Tyrrell returned to the Distinguished Professor issue: he met with the
Senate's Faculty Status and Welfare Committee to discuss this proposal, including
why Graduate Council proposed it and worded the policy in the way it did.
"Qualified" means a tenured full professor as stated in both the Employee Handbook
and in the Graduate Council resolution. The Graduate Council resolution is in
complete concurrence with existing University policies and with the goals of
recognizing excellence. This is a constituency group recommendation to the
administration, and, should the Faculty Senate not support the recommendation,
the administration will then have to decide which position best represents the
direction in which it wants the University to move.
- Old Business
Prof. Tyrrell opened the discussion of the WAG report with this question: does
this report accurately represent the state of the reviewed units at this time?
Prof. Tyrrell indicated that the Executive Committee decided it best to discuss
the report in stages, first to ensure that the report is accurate and to allow
units who believe there are inaccuracies to have an opportunity to address these
issues.
Prof. White asked who decided to do this review, and why was WAG selected.
VCR Koropchak responded that there was a need to figure out how to implement S150.
WAG is a prestigious group of highly experienced individuals, including former NSF
directors, former White House science staff, etc., who advise and consult for many
universities, for example, Purdue and University of Illinois. SIUC needed to get
external guidance on how to achieve S150 goals, especially with respect to external
funding from federal agencies.
Prof. Crelling indicated that there appeared to be problems with Table 2 and Prof.
Tyrrell explained that the column headings had been incorrectly labeled.
Prof. Crelling further indicated that he believed it unfair to compare programs
with institutions that have far more research faculty than we do.
Prof. Tyrrell pointed out that this was one of the conclusions of the WAG group:
we are understaffed in these areas and need to find ways to address this issue.
Prof. Vaux suggested a need to look at the data on a per FTE basis, and we should
follow up on these issues to get effective assessments of productivity. More
information on the research activities of faculty is needed.
Prof. Crelling added that there has been increased teaching loads and committee
work in Geology because faculty have fallen from 15 to 9.
Prof. Tyrrell observed that throughout the report there are comments about
different units. What he hoped to get out of today's discussion was: are
there serious reservations about the report as a whole, or can we take the WAG
report as fundamentally correct?
Prof. Muhlach opined that the report is largely accurate, and that there are
concerns for campus administrative leaders to focus on. WAG met with chairs.
Some of our research foci are partly a result of directions encouraged by IBHE
and we cannot be clones of U of I. He recognized that this report is a first
run-through and consequently there might be some concern with details.
Prof. Tyrrell indicated that the report is a basis for future action, not just in
the short term, but for 2019.
Prof. Hatziadoniu noted his belief that the comments about ECE on p. 19 unfairly
depict his department.
Prof. Tyrrell indicated that if a program is viewed as deficient, then data
needs to back up that view, especially by comparing the program with respect
to similar ones at other institutions.
VCR Koropchak suggested that we step back from specifics for the moment and noted
the different writing styles of reviewers within WAG. The section that refers to
computer engineering comes between discussion of College of Engineering and College
of Science and discusses computer science/engineering/technology in general because
these areas have considerable potential nationwide. How does computer technology
at SIUC compare with our peers? Prof. Tyrrell indicated his belief that the
assessment of the Computer Science department in College of Science is largely
correct.
Prof. Vaux pointed out that there are data that are relevant to these questions
but are not included in the report. We need data on faculty who are grant-active
or research-active (including publications).
VCR Koropchak indicated he would look into providing this data.
Prof. Benshoff expressed concern that WAG did not include Education, Liberal Arts,
etc., but does not indicate until p. 13 that the review is on science and
engineering. He thinks the report's title should be changed.
VCR Koropchak recognized that the research enterprise at SIUC is broader, and
this is why we are talking about having further reviews like WAG, e.g., in the
areas indicated earlier: 1) arts, humanities and social sciences, and; 2)
education research, etc. He is discussing how best to proceed with the deans.
As for data, the WAG report does not list all of the data they received or used,
but OVCR and Institutional Research provided voluminous amounts of information
that WAG requested about faculty, grants, programs, etc., plus material that
they generated from third party sources such as WebCASPAR.
A discussion followed about data collection and Prof. Tyrrell suggested that all
colleges should be collecting this kind of data.
VCR Koropchak noted the reports he received from colleges on scholarly productivity
were provided to WAG.
Prof. Don Rice asked if we could have comparative college data online?
The Chancellor indicated that he would not suggest that one academic unit's
productivity be compared with another on campus. We addressed productivity
broadly in S150. We need to analyze like units, not unlike units across campus.
He saw no profit in comparing ECE to English, Anthropology or Rehabilitation
because each discipline has very different cultures. He believed departments
must compare themselves to like departments at peer universities, not compare
themselves against each other at SIUC.
Prof. Tyrrell agreed that we needed comparable benchmarks.
VCR Koropchak believes that good things are coming out of this report with data
analysis taking place in Engineering, the Sciences and Medicine.
Prof. Muhlach postulated that we need similar kinds of analyses in other
disciplines to get a set of documents that covers the entire campus.
Prof. Tyrrell returned to his earlier remarks that the purpose of this discussion
of the WAG report was to discuss any problems of a factual nature with the report.
Clearly, what we need are hard and factual data by which each department and each
college can compare itself against peers. We will have further discussion about
the WAG report at the next Council meeting.
There being no further business, the Council adjourned at 10:13 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Prudence M. Rice
