University Council on Graduate Study Minutes
Tuesday, November 11, 2024
The October meeting minutes were approved with 20 in favor, 3 abstentions. 9 members arrived after the minutes were approved.
Academic Policy Review
Three revisions to existing Academic Policies were presented by VP Godley for discussion.
G Grades
The G Grades policy would be amended to change the G grade into an I grade and add a lapse grade option as a default should the I grade deadline expire. Allowances for special circumstances will remain in the new policy.
Council discussion raised questions about how schools currently use I grades, as well as a request to develop a plan for how G/I grades currently in process should be managed. Additional feedback was offered, and a final version of the guideline will be discussed at a future meeting.
Academic Probation/Suspension/Dismissal
The new Academic Probation/Suspension/Dismissal policy would expand upon the existing policy which applies to undergraduate students to include graduate students. The terminology throughout the policy has been edited to be less punitive, and an additional step, “academic leave”, was added between probation and dismissal. This policy would be on the current edge of best practices with AAU peer institutions.
Council discussion centered around measuring student progress at the doctoral level; points were also raised about the length of some master’s programs as pertains to this policy and the allowance for schools to enforce stricter policies.
Suggestion to amend the new policy to require two formal steps: “academic warning” and “dismissal”, with allowance for, at the discretion of the Dean and faculty, other possible steps such as academic leave, suspension, and academic review, was favored by a straw poll of Council. A revised version of the policy will be reviewed at a future meeting.
Course Repeat Policy
The new Course Repeat Policy is an effort to separate policy from procedure and clarify how many times a student can repeat a course for an improved grade.
Council discussed the proposed changes, including clarification of the language to differentiate between undergrad and graduate course structures and how overall course credits are counted with multiple repeat attempts. Further discussion included how schools and advisors can best counsel students through retaking a course and how to support students’ understanding of the financial aid process as they enroll in retake courses.
No vote was taken at this meeting.
Presentation of Admissions and Enrollment Data for Fall 2024
VP Godley presented data about graduate enrollment and admissions as of Fall 2024. The data did not include numbers from the School of Medicine. The Pitt2Pitt scholarship was raised by Council and how the University evaluates the impact of this scholarship on yields; the OTP data team is confirmed to be working on that topic. An invitation was extended to schools who would like to join the conversation about how to isolate the effect of Pitt2Pitt in the data; please reach out to Stephanie Hoogendoorn.
Announcements
There were no announcements.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:45 pm.
Attendance
- School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences - Grad Student - Abdulmohsen Alroumi
- Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences - Grad Faculty - Peng Liu
- Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences - Grad Faculty - Jonathan Woon
- School of Public and International Affairs - Grad Faculty - Luke Condra
- School of Public and International Affairs - Grad Student - Michaela Cushing Daniels
- School of Public and International Affairs - Grad Student - Zena Kesselman
- Katz Graduate School of Business - Grad Student - Denise Bergdolt
- Office of the Provost - Chair - Amanda Godley
- Office of the Provost - Staff - Courtney Syskowski
- Office of the Registrar, Observer - Staff - Jonathan Helm
- School of Computing and Information - Grad Student - Sai Vivek Chava
- School of Dental Medicine - Grad Faculty - Dobrawa Napierala
- School of Education - Grad Faculty - Michael Gunzenhauser
- School of Education - Grad Faculty - Linda DeAngelo
- School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences - Grad Faculty - Mark DeRuiter
- School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences - Grad Faculty - Michael Dickey
- School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences - Grad Faculty - Ketki Raina
- School of Medicine - Grad Student - Brooke Dresden
- School of Medicine - Faculty - Tija Jacob
- School of Medicine - Grad Faculty - Arjumand Ghazi
- School of Medicine - Grad Faculty - Saleem Khan
- School of Nursing - Grad Student - Myeong-ga Cho
- School of Nursing - Grad Faculty - Elizabeth Schlenk
- School of Pharmacy - Grad Student - Christina Kazarov
- School of Pharmacy - Faculty - Kerry Empey
- School of Public Health - Grad Faculty - Ying Ding
- School of Social Work - Grad Faculty - Sara Goodkind
- SEPC - Grad Faculty - Michelle Schein
- Swanson School of Engineering - Grad Student - Yousra Bensouda
- Swanson School of Engineering - Grad Faculty - Bryan Brown
- Swanson School of Engineering - Grad Faculty - Tracy Anderson
Additional attendee: Stephanie Hoogendoorn, OTP