Wednesday, November 6, 2024 

9:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
LJH 325

 

Council in Attendance: 
Marc Giullian (Business) 
Rollin Beamish (Arts) 
Kari Perry (Student Representative) 
Craig Ogilvie (Dean of The Graduate School) 
Katey Franklin (Health & Human Development) 
Amy Reines (Sciences) 
Sweeney Windchief (Education) 
Ryan Thum (Agriculture) 
Anna French (Student Representative) 
Rob Maher (Faculty Senate) 
Wade Hill (Nursing) 
Catherine Dunlop (Letters) 
Stephan Warnat (Engineering) 
Ezgi Balkanay (Architecture) 
 
Also in Attendance: 
Emily Peters (Graduate School) 
Lauren Cerretti (Graduate School) 
 
Absent:
Akash Gulati (Student Representative)
Brennan Reeves (Office of International Programs) 
Sarah Mannheimer (Library)  

Meeting started at 9:30 a.m. 

October 9, 2024 minutes 

  • Motion to approve by Thum, Beamish 2nd, 5 in favor, 0 opposed, 3 abstained  
     

Announcements 

  • Update from the Dean 
    • Explicitly adding that retired faculty can serve on graduate committee was not recommended by HR; current policy will remain as-is  
    • Graduate student listening session Wednesday, November 13from 3-5pm in in SUB 235 
    • Grad Fair is on Tuesday, November 12
  • Faculty Senate update 
    • HR attending Faculty Senate this afternoon, discussion on benefits 
    • 2nd reading on creation of INSRE (Institute for National Security Research and Education) 
    • President search forums 
      • Survey available online to submit comments 

Old Business  

  • Doctoral and Advisor Committee Deadline 
    • Feedback from colleges 
      • Feedback from AG that they support the policy revision; departments have been pushing students to submit advisor as early as possible 
      • Engineering feedback supportive, but some concern that students may need more time to find chair 
      • Architecture supportive, already does this  
    • Thum motions for vote, Giullian 2nds 
      • Vote: 9 in favor, 0 opposed, 0 abstained  
      • Doctoral Committee and Advisor deadline policy passes 
    • Using “suspended” or “dismissed” in failed comprehensive/defense policy 
      • Pending feedback, JAGS has not reviewed yet  

New Business 

  • Time-to-Degree for Research Doctorates 
    • Overview: benefits to student to finish degree and starting career in a timely manner  
      • Previous proposal on age of courses did not pass, moving away from policy to changing institutional practices  
        • Empowering graduate students to be proactive in degree planning 
        • Workshops 
        • Learning best practices from other departments 
        • Make it clearer that master’s research can be used toward doctoral degree 
    • Discussion 
      • Document includes data by field at MSU, but it is difficult to obtain national data  
      • Strategic plan goal 1.1 is to broaden access for underrepresented populations (e.g. economically disadvantaged) 
        • Timeline fits well for students right out of undergraduate, but students that have families, work full-time might need more time to complete  
        • Suggested workshops should also function well for students with other commitments.  
      • If departments are penalized for not meeting metrics then departments may not admit students that they know will take longer 
        • Proposal is to track metrics, but not penalize depts for metrics 
      • Dissertation completion award has helped 
      • Pulling students into the next thing is helpful to motivate (e.g., get a job offer and need to complete). 
        • Focusing on what your grad degree will do for you, professional development, career options 
      • Increasing graduate student pay could help. If they don’t have to get a 2nd job, they can focus on finishing degree. 
      • Writing groups are helpful; cohort that meets regularly and support each other 
        • Education offers an optional dissertation writing group course 
        • Engineering has a required preparation course 
      • More flexibility with dissertation types. Manuscript option. 
      • In Education, have tried to build around the student’s research as much as possible. Get early progress in research. Then some students end up changing their research plan and it slows them down. Maybe allowing more agency in the student having more time to decide research topic.  
        • In humanities research is more of a passion topic. Topic isn’t coming from an advisor’s grant.  
          • Provide workshop to think about research topics 
      • Look at research experience as developing skills that are useful beyond the specific topic, less pressure to pick the perfect topic 
      • 5xx level internship class 
        • Helpful for some fields, but challenging when students are on a grant 
          • For sciences, industry conferences, workshops 
        • Help students find a mentor in the career path 
        • Grad School hosted events in the past with faculty/industry panel (how to find jobs in the industry etc.) 
        • Programs work with industry advisory councils, alumni  
      • Appreciate moving into cultural practices instead of policy. Allows flexibility, but practices can benefit. Graduate students want quality, meaningful, and timely degree.  
    • Next steps 
      • Incentivize programs to think about this 
      • Increase awareness for programs/departments 
        • Encourage departments to discuss this during e.g. annual retreat 
        • Topic to come up in annual review 
      • Share best practices from other departments  

 

  • School counseling online option to be discussed at next meeting  

 

Updates from subcommittees  

  • Curriculum Subcommittee: making progress 
  • Governance Subcommittee: concern that JAGS is not meeting regularly 

Public comment 

 

Adjourned at 10:54 am 

Next scheduled meeting – November 20, 2024