Minutes of the Graduate Committee

CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, FRESNO

5240 N. JACKSON AVENUE, M/S UC43
Fresno, California 93740–8023

Office of the Academic Senate
Ext. 8–2743

January 29, 2008
Members Present: M. Perez (Chair), S. Brown–Welty, D. Dickerson, T. Dull, G. Kriehn, N. Mahalik, T. Skeen, Z. Wang.
Members Absent: R. Yazdipour, C Barnes (Student).
Visitors: L. Hammer, C. Williams.

The meeting was called to order by Chair Perez at 2:05 p.m. in the University Center, Room #203.

  1. Minutes: MSC to approve the Minutes of 1/22/08.
  2. Agenda: MSC to approve the Agenda as distributed.
  3. Communications and Announcements.
    a. Chair Perez announced that the Academic Senate Executive Committee requested additional information before approving the request to add the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) exam to the list of approved language proficiency tools available to International Graduate Admissions. The Executive Committee wanted additional information about the CSU system–wide policies and the impact on our campus. Chair Perez will work with International Admissions to obtain the required information.
    b. Dean Dickerson commented on the policy and workshops prepared for a record number of international students on campus.
  4. International Graduate Admissions – Time Certain 2:15.
    For additional information, representatives of the International Admissions Office, Dr. Lucia Hammer and Caroline Williams, were invited to the meeting for general information and specific questions and answers.
    C. Williams and L. Hammer:
    We have three (3) admissions persons to look at the application documents (application, transcripts, Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOFEL)/Graduate Record Examination (GRE), financial statements, GPA and conversion, etc.) The minimum acceptable GPA for CSUF is 2.5. The eligible students’ documents will be sent to the specific graduate programs on campus for acceptance. Then, the accepted will be issued I–20 forms for visas. Their information will be kept and updated in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS).
    Specific questions and answers:
    (A) How long is I–20 effective? (It is effective as long as the student is enrolled).
    (B) How to convert foreign transcripts into GPA? (Using widely accepted criteria with no weights on specific schools).
    (C) How to deal with jumping–ship students? (They can jump in the first semester).
    (D) From which countries came the largest number of students? (India, Japan, Malaysia etc., very few from China – They prefer dual degree Agricultural programs with CSUF).
    (E) What are the tuition costs? (The same as out–of–state student costs).
    About the Bologna Program for CSUF:
    Acceptance of Bologna will allow CSUF to accept graduate students from the 3–year “technical” universities (without General Education requirements), mainly from 47 European countries. This is a nation wide issue. Other universities in the United States have been making case–by–case decisions. This issue will be further discussed in the next meeting.

MSC to adjourn at 2:55 p.m.

The next scheduled meeting of the Graduate Committee is Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2008 at 2:00 p.m. in the University Center, Room #203.

Agenda.

  1. Approval of Minutes 1/29 /08.
  2. Approval of the Agenda.
  3. Communications and Announcements.
  4. Discussion of Graduate Admissions Policies and Procedures.

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