COURSEWORK SCHEDULES: Gross and Chatman responded to Robbins's request for a three-year overview of what doctoral coursework should represent, i.e., which courses should appear at least once every three years. A draft was distributed to members. Team members were asked to consider what sorts of content would round off the current program. Viable suggestions would be matched with faculty. One consideration is the number of students who would enroll, with a minimum of eight per course for an outside instructor, or five for an instructor on the summer payroll. Summer sessions should be used for courses not currently available, using summer faculty or visiting faculty. Brooks has expressed interest, as has Robbins (Administration and/or Education) and K. Burnett (Information Retrieval, perhaps). Latham was suggested as a possible summer instructor. It was mentioned that doctoral directive status was not required of doctoral-level instructors. These course changes would, of course, be subject to University scheduling of summer sessions in lieu of budget cuts. RESEARCH COLLABORATION REQUIREMENT: Under current guidelines, doctoral students are required to take six credits (two courses) of Research Practicum. Due to a shortage of research opportunities, this requirement will be reduced to three credits (one course). Gross noted that in the interest of consistent terminology, "practicum" had previously been replaced with the term "collaboration" to describe this requirement. Woo noted that the School web pages should be checked and the terminology corrected to reduce confusion. Chatman said Mark Davis would be instructed to keep an eye out for such inconsistencies. It was suggested that an administrator be given the responsibility for tracking what kind of topic areas are being covered by research collaborations, and what has been done. Portfolio review committees are privy to this information. It would also be helpful to know the subject matter of DIS projects. Chatman will bring up this topic at a future faculty meeting since this type of information should be part of the School's academic record. Robbins stated that the School's files should have this information compiled in writing. Perhaps a copy of a DIS form used by Gluck would offer a starting point. DIS projects conducted by Master's students should also be included. SUMMER RESEARCH COLLABORATIONS: Dean Robbins said, "We do need to talk with the faculty about who is willing to do research collaborations during the summer if they are not on salary. It just needs to be clear to the students." Students currently have difficulty locating faculty with projects for research collaborations. GUIDELINE DISCREPANCIES: Team members were asked to finish their examination of the Doctoral Guidelines and to give their annotated copies (showing errors, discrepancies, and suggestions for improvement) to Stephanie Maata. She, Mark and Brian can compile the corrections and suggestions. (Mark will also be reminded to update the faculty web pages.) Chatman will redraft ideas affecting program requirements. The goal is to have a draft prepared for presentation at the March faculty meeting. CHECKLIST: Robbins provided Team members with a draft of a checklist showing a student's objectives which would prove useful both to the student and his/her APC/RSC committees. APC AND RSC COMMITTEE MEMBERS: Robbins, with Mark's help, plans to query all Ph.D. students (under Chatman's name) to learn the identities of committee members and their status. This information should be shared with the students and faculty to promote understanding of work loads and responsibilities. Woo could also solicit this information through the School's listservs.
Goals for next meeting: Have a drafted compilation of Guideline changes. Have suggestions for additional courses, especially for summer sessions.
Agenda Posted by Mark Davis (mad7771@garnet.acns.fsu.edu) on 12/20/2001 at 11:24:32