Minutes of the Graduate Committee

CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, FRESNO
5240 N. Jackson Avenue, M/S UC 43
Fresno, California 93740-8023
Office of the Academic Senate Ext. 8-2743

March 24, 2009

Members Present: T. Skeen (Chair), S. Brown-Welty, K. Carey, P. English,
N. Mahalik, S. Skelton, Z. Wang, R. Yazdipour.

Members Absent: G. Kriehn (excused).
Visitors: J. Gilbert & J. McMillen-Kinesiology, Sports Administration

The meeting was called to order by Chair Skeen at 2:00 p.m. in the University Center
#203.

  1. Minutes. MSC to approve the Minutes of March 17, 2009.
  2. Agenda: MSC to approve the Agenda as distributed.
  3. Communications and Announcements.
    None.
  4. Language Requirement for the English, MFA in Creative Writing.
    MSC to suspend the language requirement for the MFA in Creative
    Writing for a period of three years and forward to the Graduate
    Curriculum Subcommittee for additional review.
  5. Sports Administration Option (2:20 time certain).
    Visiting faculty from Kinesiology arrived at 2:20 pm to discuss their proposed
    Sports Administration Option. Discussions then moved to the said topic.
    1. In response to questions regarding coordination with School of Business’
      undergraduate Sports Marketing Option and any possible cooperation,
      J. McMillen and J. Gilbert stated that they had held talks on the
      proposal with a number of business faculty and admin, including
      Marketing’s Chair R. Motameni and Associate Dean L. Zelezny.
    2. Discussions then continued on Students Learning Outcomes as outlined
      in Appendix A of the submitted proposal. The committee suggested the
      need for a Time Line for implementation in regard to the outcomes and
      measurements discussed in the said appendix.
    3. Questions were also asked regarding “approved outside area courses” as
      stated on page 4 of the proposal. The visiting faculty stated such classes
      may include MBA or similar courses.
    4. The committee also suggested the need for creating more internship
      opportunities locally for students.
    5. Along the discussions, the visiting faculty stated the main reason for
      switching from concentration to option had to do with the fact that the
      option would be noted on the students’ transcripts but the concentration
      would not.
      Visiting faculty left at 2:50 p.m.
  6. (APM 322) Policy on Assessment of Teaching Effectiveness.
    1. On the positive side, the committee felt the proposed policy was a
      comprehensive document covering the main areas of the issue. However,
      there was unanimous agreement among the committee members that
      parts of the submitted document were excessive, unmanageable, and
      unworkable in graduate classes. For example, the requirement of three
      (3) peer evaluations requiring a minimum of eight (8) hours of
      observation in each class for a total of 24 hours of class visit for each
      evaluated course— simply by its excessiveness, the proposal infringes
      upon faculty rights and autonomy, and does not even take into account
      the work required for the faculty members tasked with performing the
      evaluations.
    2. The committee also felt if the purpose of the policy was to phase out
      classroom peer evaluations all together in favor of the Peer Evaluation of
      Course-Related Materials—which is itself problematic in terms of
      evaluating classroom effectiveness—then there must be better ways to
      do it.
    3. Furthermore, the committee felt that any future evaluation instrument
      needs to be not only comprehensive but also formative, manageable and
      practical.
      MSC to reject the proposed (APM 322) Policy on Assessment of
      Teaching Effectiveness as submitted for the reasons stated
      above.

MSC to adjourn at 3:10 p.m.

The next scheduled meeting of the Graduate Committee is Tuesday, April 14, 2009 at
2:00 p.m. in the University Center, Room #203.

Agenda.

  1. Approval of the Minutes of 3/24/09.
  2. Approval of the Agenda.
  3. Communications and Announcements.
  4. Discussion of Sports Admin Option.
  5. Discussion of History Certificate (2:20 p.m. confirmed).

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