April 16 - Minutes


Graduate Studies Senate Committee Minutes

Members present: Ruth Fleury-Steiner (excused), Michael O’Neal, Charles Swanik, Harsh Bais, Owen White, Andrew Teplykov, Daniel Sullivan (excused), Mary Martin, Susan Brynteson, Antony Beris, Jesus Botello, James Richards and Justin Rill (Excused, Graduate Student).

Old Business

  1. Andrew Teplykov reported that the Faculty Senate tabled the proposal for the new program M.A. in Speech Language Pathology  pending the notification that the College of Health Sciences officially receives an allocation of $1MM from the Delaware state legislature over FY13 and FY14 for planning and establishing this program.

New Business

  1.  3+2 Program with Millersville University of Pennsylvania and the University of Delaware in the MS in Materials Science & Engineering Program: Dr. Zide reported that the BA program at Millersville consists of 33 credits in Physics, 15 credits in Math, and eight credits in Chemistry. In addition, the BA students must satisfy all of the usual general education requirements (an additional 39 credits). Adding all this up defines the 95 credits at Millersville specified in the proposed agreement. Students must have a minimum of 120 credits to graduate from Millersville. As a result, this BA program allows a great deal of flexibility. Students have an opportunity to pursue other interests. Often students will earn a minor in another field to make up the additional 25 credits. Students who would participate in the 3+2 program with UD would transfer back to Millersville 26 credits.  Students at Millersville must officially complete the BA before being eligible to file for the MS degree at UD.  The Vote of the Committee was 4 against and 2 abstained.  The proposal was returned to the department for further consideration.
  2. Changes to the requirements in the MMSE and PHD programs in Materials Science and Engineering:  Dr. Zide presented the changes.  The proposal added a non-thesis MS option for part-time students and maintained the required thesis option for full-time students.  Full-time students must petition the student’s research advisor, Department Chairperson and the Chair of the Graduate Committee to switch from the thesis option to the non-thesis option.   Changed the GPA requirement in courses needed for the MS and PHD from 3.25 to 3.00.  Changes to the Ph.D. program clarified the requirements for students entering the Ph.D. with an earned M.S. degree.  The proposal stated that these students may substitute advanced courses for the required elements of the curriculum that can be demonstrated as having already been taken in the MS degree.  The substitutions must be approved by the student’s faculty advisor and the department Chairperson.  The Committee did not take a vote on this proposal due to time constraints.  The proposal was tabled.
  3.  Revisions to the M.S. in Fashion Studies and the 4+1 program:  Reduction in the M.S. degree from 31 to 30 credits (FASH 665 taken once rather than twice.)  Added a non-thesis option to the MS in Fashion Studies for the 4+1 program.  (1) a 3-credit methods course appropriate to the students’ interests is selected in consultation with the advisor (rather than requiring a specific course), (2) students will complete a 3-credit FASH666 Special Problem instead of 6-credits of thesis, (3) the statistics course is not required, and (4) students complete 12 credits of Special Interest Elective courses. It will require a total of 31 credits, the same as the revised MS as described. .Rationale: A non-thesis option for the MS in Fashion and Apparel Studies (4+1) is a course-based degree that will allow students flexibility to focus their advanced degree toward their academic interests and professional goals.   The Committee approved the proposal.
  4. Graduate Certificate Program in Renewable Energy (REEP).  The certificate program requires 12 credits.  The proposal was tabled due to the discussion needed with the IGERT program.
  5. Dual Ph.D. with Electrical Engineering at UD and Universidad Industrial De Santander.  Professor Gonzalo Arce presented the proposal.  The vote on the program was tabled due to the lack of information about the number of transfer credits to be accepted from the students in Columbia to UD.  A revised proposal will be sent back to the Committee.
  6. Resolution to grant permanent status for the Ph.D. in Preservations Studies was unanimously approved by the Committee.

 

Respectfully submitted:
Mary Martin, Assistant Provost for Graduate and Professional Education