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ALABAMA COUNCIL OF GRADUATE DEANS

MEETING MINUTES

July 1, 2009

HILL UNIVERSITY CENTER

UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM

Members Present: Natalie Adams, Dianne Barron, George Crandell, Thomas DeVaney, Jeffrey Engler, George Flowers, David Francko, Rebecca Hartley, Ellen Haulman (ACHE), Donna Jacobs, Jean Pugliese, Jack Riley, John Schmitt, Alan Sheppard.

Welcome: Dave Francko welcome all members of ALCGD as well as Ellen Haulman from ACHE.

Approval of minutes from April 21-23, 2009 Annual Retreat Meeting: The minutes were approved with no changes.

Treasurer's Report: Dianne Barron reported on the current budget which reflected a balance for the expenses and deposits for the retreat. The group discussed the benefits of using the trolley for the group dinner and unanimously agreed to use it again next year.

UA and UAB Economic Impact Presentations: Dave Francko and Jeff Engler presented the economic impact videos to the group. Discussion arose about supplementing the video with a tri-fold brochure. Dr. Engler stated that he would email the template file for the tri-fold brochure containing information from the video. Institutions can then change names/colors to reflect their own institutions. A question arose of whether or not to count hits on the website when viewing the brochure online. Everyone agreed this would be a good idea. Dr. Engler offered to help institutions in the implementation process of the project in terms of making videos or adding files to their websites. The group agreed that it is important for institutions to tell their own stores and broadcast the message about graduate education. Dr. Engler asked what the next step is for the ACGD in regard to this project. The group agreed that updating the data each year was the first step. Ellen Haulman suggested sending the video to education committees in the Legislature, those running for Governor, and others of political influence. She said that the key would be having the same message heard continuously around the state. She also said that the video would dispel the notion that graduate education is a drain on the economy with the cost of assistantships. Dr. Engler asked if the group wanted to use the video as a prospective student piece. The group agreed on this followed by George Flowers comments in regard to showing both the social gains (life altering experiences) as well as the financial gains could show how graduate education affects an individual's life. Ms. Haulman said she would talk with Dr. Fitch about ACHE's involvement in the process. The ACGD will investigate ways to share the message through billboards or television commercials. Every institution agreed to create a tri-fold for their institution by the November meeting. There was concern that every institution would not be able to complete the video by October. The group agreed that the most important part at this point was to sell the message on each individual campus. The group also agreed to change the theme to “Graduate Education: It's a Great Investment.” Each institution should have a video or trifold brochure that focuses on the theme.

CSGS Participation: The annual CSGS conference will be February 25-28, 2010 at the Hilton Savannah Desoto. A conference theme is “translating theory to action.” Dianne Barron and Jean Pugliese presented four topics to the group and asked for someone from ACGD to lead the discussions on these topics for the breakout sessions:

• Structures and common models/strengths and weaknesses.
• Faculty advising-a social networking problem.
• How to maximize resources in a small graduate school and build a team attitude.
• How to be a graduate dean.

Innovative Practices: Dr. Francko asked the group to share practices that they are using at their institutions that others could duplicate. Dr. Flowers mentioned that Auburn is relaxing the thesis and dissertation requirements with simplified formats and no longer requiring hard copy submission of these documents. John Schmitt added that UA is allowing electronic submission of theses and dissertations. The UA library no longer accepts hard copies of these documents. Dr. Schmitt also added that UA has an A-Z site index for their catalog and website. Dr. Barron said that each form is posted electronically to Troy's website and is either printable or downloadable. She also said that Troy is using an E-journal for research elements. Jack Riley mentioned that Montevallo is recognizing highest honors (4.0 GPA) during commencement exercises and with honor cords. Dr. Francko said that UA is also using an e-newsletter to send to graduate students three (3) times per year. The publication is free and also creates donations. Natalie Adams added that UA had a good response to a recent recruitment seminar taught by Tom Jackson (“How to Recruit Graduate Students”) which allowed collaboration between the Graduate School and program departments. Dr. Engler mentioned that CGS grants allowed for ethics training and engaged graduate students at UAB to understand ethics in training for data collection.

The meeting was adjourned at 12:00 pm

Next Council Meeting: November 4 th 10:00, UAB