July 2010 Archives

July 1, 2010

Dean Henning Schroeder convened representatives from the colleges in meetings June 29-30 to begin the implementation process for graduate education restructuring. They agreed to meet on a continuing basis for the coming year, approximately monthly, to facilitate the process.

A list of the college representatives, named by their deans, is provided here to promote communication among the group and University community.

See also the archive of meeting materials.

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College of Biological Sciences: Clarence Lehman and Tom Hays, associate deans for research and graduate education

College of Continuing Education: Bob Stine, associate dean

School of Dentistry: Steve Shuman, associate professor and director of graduate studies

College of Design: Lee Anderson, associate dean for academic affairs

College of Education & Human Development: Kenneth Bartlett, associate dean for graduate programs

College of Food, Agricultural & Natural Resources Science: Abel Ponce de Leon, senior associate dean

Law School: TBD

College of Liberal Arts: Jo-Ida Hansen, associate dean for research and graduate programs

Carlson School of Management: Sri Zaheer, associate dean, with Shawn Curley, professor and director of graduate studies

Medical School: Yoji Shimizu, professor

School of Nursing: Linda Lindeke, director of graduate studies

College of Pharmacy: Richard Brundage, interim associate dean for graduate studies

Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs: Greg Lindsey, associate dean

School of Public Health: Mary Ellen Nerney, senior director of educational operations

College of Science and Engineering: Wayne Gladfelter, associate dean

College of Veterinary Medicine: Mark Rutherford, associate professor

Duluth: Tim Holst, associate vice chancellor

Rochester: Claudia Neuhauser, vice chancellor

July 1, 2010

Road Map for Graduate Admissions, a guide to graduate admissions process restructuring webpage, was posted on July 1, 2010.

July 1, 2010

As part of graduate education restructuring, the six graduate faculty appointment categories recognized by the Graduate School were discontinued effective July 1, 2010. See Recommendation 5 in summary update on implementation of work-group recommendations sent by vice provost and dean Henning Schroeder on May 28.

The elimination of graduate faculty appointment categories results in a change to the Graduate School's role in the review and approval of milestone forms and faculty requests. Effective July 1, the Graduate Student Services and Progress (GSSP) office no longer includes verification of graduate faculty appointment levels (e.g., Senior Member, or Member/Advising) as part of the Graduate School review and approval process. The GSSP office now accepts the proposed adviser, chairperson, and/or committee members based on approval at the collegiate level.

While the Graduate School's role in these processes will change, no concomitant changes to the processes themselves are being made at this time. All currently enrolled and newly admitted graduate students will continue to follow existing processes and procedures until the new student-records infrastructure is created (see Recommendation #3 in the May summary update cited above).

For more detailed information, see "Implications for the Elimination of Graduate Faculty Categories on Degree Progress Processes," which describes changes to Graduate School and graduate program responsibilities related to the review and approval of milestone forms. This handout was distributed to college representatives in meetings June 29-30 and emailed to directors of graduate studies and DGS assistants on June 30.

If you have questions or concerns, please contact dean Henning Schroeder at gsdean@umn.edu or Karen Starry at starry@umn.edu.

July 1, 2010

Responsibility for reviewing and approving 8xxx-level courses, as well as certain 5xxx-level courses in several interdisciplinary graduate programs, has been relocated to the colleges effective July 1. See Recommendation 10 in the summary update on implementation of work-group recommendations sent by vice provost and dean Henning Schroeder on May 28.

Exempt from this immediate change are the pre-thesis credit (8666), thesis credit (8777 and 8888), and "full-time equivalent" (8333 and 8444) courses, which will remain unchanged until a revised policy is approved by the Senate Committee on Educational Policy.

Staff from the Graduate School, Academic Support Resources (ASR), and the Office of Information Technology will work to modify the Electronic Course Authorization System (ECAS) over the next 12 to 18 months, in concert with pending adjustments to PeopleSoft and the Program and Curriculum Approval System (PCAS). Until changes are made to ECAS, the Graduate School will approve all courses without review, taking the college-level approval as final.

A project team has begun early planning and analysis to modify PCAS to include all graduate, professional, and regent-approved certificate programs. Additional updates will be provided as work progresses.

Questions about 8xxx-level courses pending in ECAS can be directed to Vicki Field in the Graduate School. Questions about ECAS and PCAS modifications for graduate education can be directed to Frank Blalark in ASR.