Attending: Elizabeth Baranger (Chair), Jacob Birnberg (KGSB), Carson
Chow (FAS/Math), Nancy Condee (FAS/Interdisciplinary), Judith Erlen (Nursing),
William Harbert (FAS), Steven Husted (FAS), Rainer Johnsen (FAS/Physics),
Mark King (Education), Wynne Korr (Social Work), Michael Lewis (SIS), Margaret
Mahoney (Law), David Miller (GSPIA), Steve Phillips (Medicine), Lou Pingel
(EDUC), Mark Roberts (Medicine), Deane Root (FAS/Music), Randy Smith (Pharm),
Roslyn Stone (GSPH), Curtis Wadsworth (GPSA); Roni Hoffmeyer (Registrar’s
Office), Carrie Sparks (Provost’s Office)
I. Approval of Minutes
After a correction was noted, the minutes of the February 19,
2002 meeting were approved as written.
II. Proposal to Establish New Majors in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Associate Dean Steven Husted, Professor Carson Chow from Mathematics,
and the Chair of Geology and Planetary Sciences, William Harbert, presented
a proposal for two new Master of Science programs in FAS that took shape
in response to the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s encouragement of FAS to
develop professional masters programs in the natural sciences. The
goal of the Master of Science programs is to provide training that enables
the recipient to apply the technical skills learned in the program to business
or government settings. The programs will attract students with interests
in and aptitude for scientific analysis who do not want to pursue the Ph.D.
The Department of Geology and Planetary Sciences proposed to offer a major
is Geographical Information Systems. Mathematics proposed to offer the
Professional Program in the Department of Mathematics, which has several
streams.
Dr. Harbert gave his presentation on the proposal for the major in
Geographical Information Systems.
A member of Council asked about the evaluation component of the internships.
Dr. Harbert said that it would be similar to what is already in place for
the Undergraduate Certificate, but a much higher level of performance would
be expected. A Council member stated that the expectations for the Professional
Masters should be stated more clearly. Input from the students and
the supervisors of the internships on the evaluation components would be
helpful. Dr. Harbert stated that students will be asked to keep a
log and if the student appears to be unsupervised, the internship supervisor
will be contacted. A Council member recommended that this be explained
in more detail in the proposal.
David Miller stated that GSPIA should be involved with this program,
especially those working in the public sphere. Dr. Harbert agreed
to get GSPIA involved.
Dr. Chow gave his presentation on the proposal for a professional program
in Mathematics.
A Council member asked if it would be problematic for students in these
programs to have TA positions. Steve Husted responded by explaining
that these students would not receive funding. The programs will
be attractive enough for students to come and pay their way, as MBA students
do. These students will be more successful in competing for jobs
outside of academe.
A Council member noted that the same comments made regarding internships
in Dr. Harbert’s proposal applied to Dr. Chow’s as well.
A Council member stated that the proposals needed support and endorsement
from internal and external collaborations.
The guests were excused.
Steve Husted said that he will make sure that the departments are doing
everything they need to be doing. He will insert the mentioned items
into the proposal. He clarified that these programs will both be
Master’s of Science degrees and that they were not making up a new degree.
The proposed programs would be in existing departments with existing degrees.
A member of Council asked if Council felt compelled to approve these
programs because they won the Sloan grant. He asked if not approving these
programs would make further dealings with Sloan problematic.
Members of Council agreed that the fact that these programs were being
funded through a grant from Sloan had absolutely no bearing on their decision
to approve the proposed programs. They did not think that it would hamper
future dealings with Sloan.
There was a motion to accept the proposal to establish two new majors
in FAS with a few stipulations:
1) The evaluation component of the internships should be strengthened.
2) There should be more language about monitoring.
3) Partnership or support letters from schools at the University and
from persons involved with internships should be
included.
All present voted in favor of the motion.
A Council member inquired how Council would know that all the above
stipulations were included in the proposal. Vice Provost Baranger
will review the revised proposal and report to Council on it.
III. Certificate Programs
Vice Provost Baranger presented a revised draft of the description
of certificates at the University of Pittsburgh. This was prepared
in response to comments made on the earlier draft at the last meeting of
Council. The purpose of this document is to act as a guide as Council
reviews proposals for new certificates.
A Council member stated that the majority of courses taken for the
graduate certificates should normally be graduate level and any undergraduate
courses should be upper level only. It should be emphasized that
it is exceptional to have undergraduate courses apply.
A Council member suggested that the first sentence of each certificate
program paragraph should be similar to the first sentence of the graduate
certificate paragraph.
Council agreed with the proposed changes. The document will be
kept on file for future use as necessary.
IV. Reports of UCGS Committees
The reports from UCGS Committees were tabled until the next meeting.
The meeting was adjourned.