Doctoral Program Team Meeting Report


Back to Team Page

Report for Meeting Scheduled:
Tuesday, April 18, 2000 at 01:15 PM

  1. Called to Order: 1:15

  2. Special Orders:

  3. Reports of Sub-Teams:

  4. Reports of Special Teams and other Team Business:

  5. Unfinished Business:
    Old Business A. Fall Admissions: Gluck reported three students have been admitted for the Fall, 2000 semester, one denied and six applications pending. It is projected that 6-7 will be the final number. Discussion was held regarding a master's student and suggested the student complete the master's classwork before being considered for the admission to the Ph.D. program. The student could apply and possibly be admitted to the Spring, 2001 semester. McClure stated the committee wishes to keep the numbers of admitted students to a smaller group. At present there is no cap on the number that can be admitted. Gluck suggested the new application materials for the fall will help in the admissions process. Gluck reported that the Doctoral Guidelines have been completed and will be posted as soon as possible. He reported the Research Seminar has been changed from six to three hours but strongly urges students to take other classes on research methods. B. Summer Seminar Options: Dean Robbins discussed the options for seminars for the summer, offering suggestions as well as constraints. Due to financial constraints no summer seminars are held at present but possible solutions were given. 1. The Dean and Associate Dean are both faculty members that are on 12 month contracts, therefore could teach summer seminars without additional costs to the school. Two seminars could be held in the fall and spring semesters with one in the summer, providing five seminars per year. 2. The College of Information could join with other schools, such as the School of Communications, and share the load of summer seminars, rotating the responsibilites each summer. The topics should have appeal to students beyond the College of Information. 3. Faculty may opt to teach in the summer, "without pay" trading off time from either the fall or spring semester to work on research or other projects. 4. Seminars could be designed with a number of faculty being one-time speakers covering a specific topic for their one day lecture, thus allowing students to be exposed to varied expertise throughout a seminar. 5. The Dean may petition the Provost for additional funds. McClure asked that the summer seminar situation be placed on the agenda for the first fall meeting of the team to plan for the Summer 2001 program. Gluck asked the Dean for a time frame of when a proposal would be needed. It was decided a proposal should be submitted to the Dean by the end of the fall. It was also noted that students may take a DIS in the summer as many faculty are willing to oversee their studies although not technically employed for the summer.

  6. New Business:
    New Business A: Doctoral Program Team summer responsibilities: Gluke reported that he will not be working with the School this summer and would not be participating in the Doc. Team activities. Gluck opened discussion regarding graduate student compensation. There was a general concensus that compensation is inadequate, the process should be reviewed and funding be increased. McClure indicated graduate assistant compensation is written into grants from the Institution, ensuring a more equitable compensation. Bonnice said, from discussion with other Ph.D. students that a better understanding of the criteria of selecting and assigning assistanships would be helpful. McClure suggested looking at other universities as well as other units at FSU for policies and guidelines on GA and TA policies on compenstation. Gross said UCLA pays its students a little more each year of attendance and working. Chatman said more grants should be written rather than depending on fund raising. Gluck indicated the School may be in violation of university policy by having graduate students teaching master's level courses and contributes to the unfairness of compensation. It was decided to place graduate student compensation on the agenda for the first meeting in the fall. Levels of compensation, depending on year of student and position, were suggested for discussion.

  7. Announcements:

  8. Adjourned:

Agenda Posted by Ruth Sawyer Woo (rms1155@garnet.acns.fsu.edu) on 04/21/2000 at 17:11:03