Attending: Elizabeth Baranger (Chair), Jacob Birnberg (Business), Robert Devaty (FAS/Physics & Astronomy), Kathleen DeWalt (FAS), Tina Hines (Nursing), Stephen Hirtle (SIS), Rainer Johnsen (FAS/Physics and Astronomy), Peter Karsten (FAS/History), Margaret Mahoney (Law), Lou Pingel (Education), Evelyn Rawski (Interdisciplinary/FAS), Ian Reynolds (Medicine), Merilee Salmon (HPS/SEAP), John Stephens (GPSA/FAS), William for Roslyn Stone/GSPH); Kit Ayars (Office of the Provost), Jim Knapp (English/IRC), Kathy Linduff (History of Art and Architecture), Barbara Repasi (Office of the Registrar), David Wilkins (History of Art and Architecture)

I. Minutes Approval

Minutes of the October meeting were approved unanimously.

II. Evaluation of the Graduate Programs in the Department of History of Art and Architecture

SEAP liaison Merrilee Salmon presented the report on the programs in the Department of the History of Art and Architecture. She commended the internal and external review committees for their reports and the department for its response. Department chair David Wilkins, Professor Kathy Linduff, and IRC Chair Jim Knapp responded to UCGS questions regarding the report. Discussion included note that time-to-degree for doctoral students at Pitt is similar to that at other schools; the requirement of two foreign languages has now been dropped for the master's degree.. New recruitment materials have been developed. The department has not yet decided whether joint-degree programs will focus on terminal masters degrees or PhDs. Suggestions for finding fellowship funds included converting TAs to fellowships and using part-time faculty, as well as work through the capital campaigns. Knapp called attention to the positive atmosphere of mutual support in the department, as well as its cutting-edge work in getting slides input as computer files.

After the guests were excused, council voted unanimously to approve SEAP's recommendations (1) to continue to take seriously the reports of the internal and external review committees, (2) to find fellowship support for doctoral students in order to reduce the students' teaching responsibilities, (3) that the University plan to address the department's critical space needs, and (4) that the department be reviewed again at the next regularly scheduled interval.

III. Elements of Good Academic Advising

Council reviewed the final draft of the Elements of Good Academic Advising document. This document was reviewed by UCGS in May and then submitted to deans, chairs, and the Graduate and Professional Student Association for comment. The final draft presented today takes those comments into consideration.

Council approved adding the Regulations Governing Graduate Study statement requiring annual committee meetings for doctoral candidates. A suggestion to insert something about equitable distribution of advising responsibilities was not approved.

Council voted unanimously to distribute the document, with the above-noted addition, as a UCGS document as soon as it is printed.

IV. Graduate Study Web Pages

Baranger reviewed the current graduate studies pages maintained by the Office of the Provost, their target audiences, and data on their use (as measured by access). Council members recommended inserting a link to graduate departments or programs from the Admissions and Financial Aid page. Suggestions for the Graduate Studies page included setting up the links as a navigational sidebar and freeing up the page space for more information, breaking the links in "Documents" and "Sites of Interest" into titled categories, and adding a search engine or site map.

Discussion on Council's review of their schools' graduate pages followed. The School of Medicine is redesigning its site. The Physics page is strong on information, but perhaps too heavy on graphics. Several Council members noted the importance of keeping graphics to a minimum to maximize download speed; pages should be kept simple and should avoid animation. Concerns included the need to keep information current: too many outdated links and too much outdated information is online. Units putting up Web pages should be sure to get permission from members of the University community before putting their names or pictures online.

V. Graduate Student Concerns

John Stephens reported that a graduate student has expressed concern about potential conflicts between University bulletins and department brochures and about the lack of staff support for graduate students who are teaching classes as TAs or TFs. Council declined comment on these concerns at this time since the details are not yet known.

Stephens also reported concern among graduate students that the UNA-TAC program might be losing support. UNA, or the Ubiquitous Network Access project, is "an ongoing venture by Computing and Information Services, dedicated to updating and standardizing the University's faculty and graduate teaching assistants computing environment" (http://www.pitt.edu/~cisuna/index.html).

VI. Report and Recommendations of the AAU Committee on Graduate Education

Baranger called attention to the AAU letter and press release regarding that group's report on graduate education. The focus of the report is on doctoral education and has an Arts and Sciences "flavor"; it includes comments regarding financial support of students. Peter Karsten, Rainer Johnsen, and Gordon Spice were appointed to an ad hoc committee to review the document. The committee will consider how the University has already implemented suggestions made in the report and recommend action to Council on any areas outlined in the report that are not adequately addressed by the University at this time.