University Council on Graduate Study Minutes Wednesday, September 12, 2023
The minutes from the May 2023 meeting were approved (22 in favor; 6 abstention).
Presentation
Amanda Godley, Vice Provost for Graduate Studies, Office of the Provost welcomed everyone to the hybrid meeting and facilitated a school-level faculty and student representative meet and greet.
Dr. Godley oriented all UCGS members to the UCGS Policy AC 70. She highlighted that UCGS members are an advisory committee to the Provost to ensure that our graduate and professional programs are high quality and adhere to academic regulations at Pitt. UCGS members should consider how academic programs will attract students and provide value.
Dr. Godley reviewed the goals for the upcoming year. Every UCGS member will serve on a subcommittee that is updating and revising existing academic regulations and policies that are out of date, unclear or misaligned with current practice. The subcommittees are expected to conclude by December 2023 after submitting recommendations to the Provost Office.
Dr. Godley provided an overview of national and University of Pittsburgh graduate data and trends that included enrollment for professional and master’s degree programs, online learning, international students, diversity, testing and rankings.
Review of Academic Policy and Regulation
Proposal to remove two outdated 1993 policies on GSR/GSA/TA/TF that is included in the 2022 academic regulations for GSRs and for GSA/TA/TFs:
- Scholarship Criteria
- Awarding Procedures
A motion was made and seconded to recommend to the Provost that the two policies be removed. Members present voted in favor of recommending approval to the Provost (37 in favor).
Academic Planning Proposals
Proposal to establish a Certificate in Hearing and Vision Sciences in the School of Medicine
The certificate is designed to train the next generation of hearing and vision researchers both in basic and translational research. This goal will be accomplished by offering additional coursework and opportunities for collaborative research and mentorship with basic and translational researchers. The certificate will be available to students who are pursuing a doctoral degree in any relevant graduate program at the University of Pittsburgh. This program will attract and train top graduate students and leverage the strengths of our world-class hearing and vision sciences programs. As such, this program will train new graduate students, serve the needs of faculty, and further promote the highly collaborative academic research environment that is a hallmark of the School of Medicine and university.
A motion was made and seconded to recommend to the Provost that the proposal be approved. Members present voted in favor of recommending approval to the Provost (26 in favor and 6 abstentions).
Proposal to modify the Master of Science in Genetic Counseling in the School of Public Health
The School of Public Health is proposing several curricular changes to the program to ensure that students and faculty are receiving credit for required courses and to add a requirement for a new course that will help facilitate the development of the student’s thesis project. The program description and major components will not change. The proposed curricular changes will lead to an overall credit increase from 38 credits to 45 credits.
A motion was made and seconded to recommend to the Provost that the proposal be approved. Members present voted in favor of recommending approval to the Provost (27 in favor, 1 against and 4 abstentions).
Attendance
- Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences - Robert Clift - Grad Faculty
- Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences - Robert Marshall - Grad Student
- Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences - Pernille Roege - Grad Faculty
- Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences - Jonathan Woon - Grad Faculty
- Graduate School of Public and International Affairs - Michaela Cushing Daniels - Grad Student
- Graduate School of Public and International Affairs - Erica Owen - Grad Faculty
- Katz Graduate School of Business - Abdoulai Jobe - Grad Student
- Katz Graduate School of Business - Dennis Galletta - Grad Faculty
- Katz Graduate School of Business - Rebecca Badawy - Grad Faculty
- Office of the Provost - Amanda Godley - Chair
- Office of the Provost - Shannon Mischler - Staff
- Office of the Registrar, Observer - Jonathan Helm - Staff
- School of Computing and Information - James Joshi - Grad Faculty
- School of Computing and Information - Sai Vivek Chava - Grad Student
- School of Dental Medicine - Nadine Robert - Grad Student
- School of Dental Medicine - Christine Wankiiri-Hale - Grad Faculty
- School of Education - Michael Gunzenhauser - Grad Faculty
- School of Education - Linda DeAngelo - Grad Faculty
- School of Education - Gerard Dorve-Lewis - Grad Student
- School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences - Mark DeRuiter - Grad Faculty
- School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences - Michael Dickey - Grad Faculty
- School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences - Ketki Raina - Grad Faculty
- School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences - Kayla Scoggin - Grad Student
- School of Law - Chelsea Beaulieu - Grad Student
- School of Law - Ben Bratman - Grad Faculty
- School of Medicine - Brooke Dresden - Grad Student
- School of Medicine - Saleem Khan - Grad Faculty
- School of Medicine - Robin Lee - Grad Faculty
- School of Medicine - Wendy Mars - Grad Faculty
- School of Nursing - Susan Grayson - Grad Student
- School of Pharmacy - Jacob Cuyler - Grad Student
- School of Pharmacy - Kerry Empey - Grad Faculty
- School of Public Health - Jessica Burke - Grad Faculty
- School of Public Health - Vijayasri Hari - Grad Student
- School of Public Health - Ada Youk - Grad Faculty
- School of Social Work - Hyun Jin Lee - Grad Student
- School of Social Work - Helen Petracchi - Grad Faculty
- SEPC - Michelle Schein - Grad Faculty
- Swanson School of Engineering - Bryan Brown - Grad Faculty
- Swanson School of Engineering - Soumalya Ghosh - Grad Student
- Swanson School of Engineering - Jung-Kun Lee - Grad Faculty
- Swanson School of Engineering - Bob Parker - Grad Faculty
- Presenters:
- School of Medicine - Thanos Tzounopoulos
- School of Public Health - Jodie Vento, Eleanor Feingold