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The regular meeting of the Graduate
Council was held at 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday, February 26, 2008 in 110 AIME
Building.
MEMBERS PRESENT: Dr. Silas C.
Blackstock, Dr. Catherine E. Davies,
Dr. Robert H. Findlay, Dr. M. Jenice “Dee” Goldston,
Dr. Yuebin Guo, Dr. Ida M. Johnson,
Dr. Charles J. Kacmar, Dr. Allan V. Kaufman,
Dr. Michael D. Murphy, Dr. Janis M. O’Donnell,
Dr. Nancy J. Rubin, Dr. Edward J. Schnee,
Dr. Roy Ann Sherrod, Dr. Charles R. Sox,
Dr. Robert P. Taylor, Dr. Stephen C. Tomlinson,
Dr. Keith A. Woodbury, Dr. Vivian H. Wright,
Dr. Shuhua Zhou
MEMBERS ABSENT:
Dr. F. Todd DeZoort, Dr. Nirmala Erevelles,
Dr. Martyn R. Dixon, Dr. Matthew Green,
Dr. Mark R. Klinger, Dr. Elaine A. Martin,
Dr. Carol B. Mills, Dr. David R. Roskos-Ewoldsen,
Dr. Samit Roy, Dr. Kenneth E. Wright,
VISITOR: Sarah Watkins, 2008-2009 GSA President
EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS PRESENT: Dean David Francko
STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES PRESENT: Sarah Barton, Sondra Collins
GRADUATE SCHOOL REPRESENTATIVES PRESENT: Dr. John Schmitt,
Associate Dean
Dr. Natalie Adams, Assistant Dean
Beth Yarbrough, Registrar
John Chambers, Director of Administration
I. Dean’s Welcome to the Graduate
Council
Dean Francko welcomed everyone and made introductions. Dean Francko
asked if there were corrections to the February 26, 2008 minutes. No
corrections were mentioned, and the minutes were accepted. Opening
statements were made regarding the many issues that were on the table
for the Graduate Council this afternoon.
II. Reports from Graduate
Council Committees
Committee on Financial Aid – Dr. Vivian Wright reported that 74
offers had been made to students for the Graduate Council Fellowships.
Thirty-four had been accepted, 10 declined, and 30 students had not
responded. Due date for responding was May 1st.
The committee is looking at awarding approximately 67-68 fellowships for
the 2008-2009 academic year.
Committee on Program and Degree Requirements - Dr. Stephen
Tomlinson reported that the committee was meeting about an Alternative
Doctoral Residency. The different ways to meet the spirit of residency
were discussed versus the current method. A proposal is being developed,
and the committee expected to have a recommendation for the Council to
consider in Fall 2008.
Ad Hoc Committee on Electronic Theses and Dissertations - Dr.
Janis O’Donnell and Dr. Vivian Wright presented a report on Electronic
Thesis and Dissertation submission. The committee looked at different
ways for thesis or dissertation submission, other websites, the
implementation process, and the feasibility of such a process at UA.
Dr. Jeff Engler and Dr. Jan Baird visited from the UAB graduate school
to discuss their ETD processes and procedures. UAB implemented a
mandatory ETD submission as of Fall 2007, and the implementation went
smoother than expected. At UAB, the students and graduate school have
had fewer problems than expected.
This idea has been discussed with many groups across campus, including
students and library personnel. The SGA passed a resolution in support
of this proposal. Many advantages were discussed including the fact that
research can be more broadly distributed. The recommendation from the
committee was full support of implementing this process.
The two advantages of using ETD are as follows: The submission will be
more efficient for all parties involved, and the information can be more
easily disseminated. The committee recommends that the UA Graduate
School adopt the ETD submission and
that it be implemented by the Fall 2008 semester. Fall 2008, Spring
2008, and Summer 2008 will be optional for the student, and then the
committee will reassess the procedure and possibly have mandatory ETD by
Fall 2009.
Submission of dissertations would be through ProQuest, since the UA
Graduate School is already using this company and no additional cost
would be involved. The questions came up about whether or not UA will
retain ownership if something happened to ProQuest, and the answer was
yes.
The level of access to the information would be determined by the
student. With EDT, the option of accepting other formats within the
thesis or dissertation would be possible (e.g., video, music).
The following guidelines were given for the submission process:
- Preparation for a thesis or
dissertation would be standard to the discipline, according to
current guidelines and acceptable platforms (e.g. Microsoft Word,
music score, videos). The student defends and receives committee
acceptance.
- The thesis or dissertation chair
and committee members will bear somewhat more responsibility to
ensure the final product is adequately edited, since the thesis or
dissertation is uploaded directly to the ProQuest site (though not
published until final approval is given by the Graduate School).
- The signature page is protected
and is NOT uploaded as part of dissertation/thesis file and would be
archived and maintained in the Graduate School.
- The student converts the
dissertation or thesis to a PDF file and uploads the file with any
supplementary materials in media formats.
- The Graduate School does a “spot
audit” to ensure adherence to formatting requirements and overall
readability.
- The Graduate School “submits” the
file officially to ProQuest after approval along with a copy to the
UA Libraries.
- ProQuest catalogs, indexes, and
publishes per permissions granted. Options for release include
delayed publication due to embargo for a defined time period, full
access, or restricted access.
The archiving and storage of the signature page would remain with the
Graduate School, and all electronic storage would be maintained through
the UA library. The committee could not find significant disadvantages
to this process. Most students are ahead of us in electronic use.
Dean Francko stated there would be a
change in the quality under this system. The committee and/or department
would be the primary responsible party for format and quality of
dissertation/thesis. This process would require an increased use of
proofers.
John Chambers spoke about the increase
in cost for proof readers, especially with foreign students, but he was
working with the Writing Center for help. The main problems fall with
spelling and grammar. He is in favor of this project but does not want
to change the deadlines currently in place as of yet. However, if
everything goes well, then we will look at that issue at a later date.
The PDF format will give much more flexibility by allowing all formats
to be accepted. PDF format also does not allow anything to be directly
changed. The chapter format may be changed if agreed on by the Graduate
School. File size would not be an issue.
Additional concerns need to be sent to Dr. Janis O’Donnell this week,
and a full committee report would be forthcoming the following week. The
Graduate School must move quickly on this in Summer 2008, in order for
students to use this process this fall.
A conditional recommendation to accept this proposal was put to the
Council. Support was unanimous.
III. Reports from the Dean’s Office
Dr. Natalie Adams announced the Last Lecture Series would be May 1st at
6:00 p.m. in 30 Alston Hall. Dr. James Salem would be the speaker.
Dr. John Schmitt reminded everyone of the upcoming GTA workshop on
August 14th & 15th. This is mandatory for all new GTAs. The Graduate
School website has details about the Workshop.
Dean Francko stated that as the responses for the Graduate Council
Fellowship are submitted, any declines would be offered to other
students. This year there would be more fellowships available.
Next year there are many projects on the table—ETD, alternative doctoral
residency and so forth. Dean Francko thanked the Graduate Council for
working so hard and effectively with the Graduate School to make many
meaningful improvements in operations and student support in 2007-08.
IV. Reports from Standing University Committees
No standing committee reports.
V. Old Business
There was no old business.
VI. New Business
There was no new business.
Dean Francko adjourned the meeting at 5:00 p.m.
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