Graduate Council Meeting

Coastal Carolina University

May 3, 2006

Members Present: E. Helms (Education), S. Libes, (Natural and Applied Sciences), D. Rauch (Business), B. Sawyer (Registrar), M. Mitchell (Business), J. Winslow (Education), W. Prince (Humanities and Fine Arts), E. Wright (Natural and Applied Sciences), D. Wiseman (Office of the Provost)

Members Absent: E. Crites (Humanities and Fine Arts)

The meeting was called to order at 11:30 am in the Dawsey Conference in the Singleton Administration Building by Dr. Dennis Wiseman. Dr. Wiseman welcomed the members to the meeting and indicated that no items of business had been submitted but that the meeting would be devoted to finalizing the policies and procedures related to graduate assistants at the university.

After calling the meeting to order, Dr. Wiseman asked for a motion to accept the minutes of the March 1, 2006, meeting of the Graduate Council as distributed. The motion was made and seconded. There being no comment or discussion, the minutes were considered approved as distributed.

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Dr. Wiseman opened the meeting to discuss the policies and procedures for graduate students that had been distributed, noting his thanks in particular to Susan Libes and Eric Wright for their assistance in helping to further shape graduate assistant policies and procedures at the University.

During 2005-2006 significant steps have been taken to strengthen the detail given to Coastal’s policies and procedures associated with the awarding of graduate assistantships.

For example,

1. Specific categories of assistantships have been identified, e.g., Teaching (TA), General (GA), and Research (RA).
2. Attention, #5, p. 3, has been given to the number of credits a student must be registered into to be eligible to receive an assistantship. This point has been especially important for students receiving assistantships in the Coastal Marine and Wetland Studies program.
3. Attention, #6, p. 3, has been given to the importance of having flexibility in the time a student spends completing assistantship duties, ensuring that the time is reasonable, and that some form of written plan be developed to clearly identify what is expected of the student.
4. Attention, #9, p. 4, #2, p. 4, and #1, (Supervision), p. 6, has been given to the responsibility of the department or hiring unit to ensure clarity, through a letter of appointment, in the duties and expectations of the student receiving the assistantship.
5. Attention, #4, p. 4, has been given to the importance of assistants being formally evaluated at the end of each semester clarifying the quality of work performance of the student and the student’s status in terms of a continuation of the assistantship.
6. Attention, #1, 2, 3, p. 6, has been given to the question of the graduate assistant having employment at the University in addition to the assistantship and the importance of having as the primary focus for the student be the student’s academic success in his or her program of study.

In addition to these key points, the members of the Council discussed the overall importance of having a strong graduate assistantship program at the University and the role that having assistantships plays in the academic program.

Two additional questions were raised.

First, the advisability of a student receiving reduced graduate tuition, in terms where the student is not providing a direct service to the University. One example of this is in the Coastal Marine and Wetland Studies program where the student has an assistantship in the spring term, is taking summer study, and returning for fall study. The service provided to the University by the student is in the fall and spring terms, not the summer term. Another example is in the M.A.T. program where students receive assistantships in only the fall semester but then complete study in the following spring and summer terms to complete their degree programs. At this point the Director of Graduate Studies will approve a student as a graduate assistant, resulting in billing at the reduced tuition rate, upon the recommendation of the graduate coordinator of the program and receipt of the Request to Hire a Graduate Assistant form.

Second, the advisability of exploring different kinds/types of assistantships beyond those now awarded. Conceptually, the current approach to the assistantship may be considered that Coastal awards half-time assistantships, i.e., approximately 20 hours of service per week is provided to the University. One additional approach could be the awarding of quarter-time assistantships with students providing approximately 10 hours of service per week. This approach would allow for more students to be on some form of assistantship but would also result in a lower level of tuition coming to the University.

Both of these points will need to be explored with the Provost.

There being no further business or discussion, the meeting adjourned at 12:20 pm.

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