MINUTES OF THE GRADUATE COUNCIL MEETING
Fidel Center – Collaboration Room – Graduate Office
The Graduate Council Meeting was called to order at 3:47 P.M. on Tuesday, October 14, 2014 in Fidel Center – Collaboration Room – Graduate Office. Members present: Lorie Liebrock, Chairman, Snezna Rogelj, Clint Richardson, Sue Dunston , Subhasish Mazumdar, Penny Boston, Nikolai Kalugin, Ivan Avramidi, Corey LeClerc, Michelle Creech-Eakman, Mark Samuels, Jamie Kimberly, Frank Reinow, Navid Mojtabai. Others who attended were: Tom Engler, William Stone and Sara Grijalva
1).Call for Approval of Minutes:
The chairman called for approval of minutes of September 9, 2014 meeting. Michelle Creech-Eakman made the motion to approve the minutes, Penny Boston seconded the motion. All approved and the motion passed.
a.GRE Search – (Megan McElroy) – Megan gave out handouts on what the criteria was on how to do a GRE Search. This information is for all department chairs who might be interested in possibly recruiting this way. Megan stated that she can help anyone who wants to do this search. Liebrock suggested e-mail campaigns to target students. The Center for Graduate Studies has already paid the annual fee for the GRE Search but those departments who are interested would pay an additional $.43 per name. Liebrock stated that in the future with the lack of monies available for recruitment that video conferencing and GRE searches would be one way to recruit students. Megan also stated that the GRE scores are paired with GPA scores for each student. Michelle Creech-Eakman asked if there was a report that could be pulled of previous student's GRE scores. She requested the last 20 years results. Sara Grijalva said that she could pull the reports. These will be pulled by department. Department chairs who stated that they wanted to do the GRE Search were Computer Science, Physics said they would possibly be interested and also Earth and Environmental Studies stated they might be interested but both of those departments wanted to discuss this with their faculty.
b.I-20's – 9 months to 12 months of support - (Liebrock) – Liebrock explained to the council that some students coming into the country to attend NM Tech have problems because the I-20's are based on a 12 month educational expense basis, whereas most of the students are only being paid for 9 months. Liebrock suggested that when a student is going to be paid through the summer, chairs need to make a note on the student's file when for admission to state the student will be paid for the year and make those revisions. This will simplify visa processing for some of our International students.
a.Physics Department proposing to bring forward a 5-Year BS/MS Program – (Michelle Creech-Eakman) -
Passed Phys. Dept 9/23/14
The student must complete all the requirements for an M.S. in Physics, as outlined in the course catalog.
The candidate for the program should apply for admission no later than end of his/her 5th semester of
study. The student must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0, and also specifically an average
minimum GPA of 3.0 in all physics and mathematics courses to be eligible to apply to the program.
After successful admission to the 5 year program, the student will apply for graduate standing no later
than the 7th semester of study, and thus be dually enrolled their senior year. During the 7th semester,
the candidate should select an advisory committee and research topic for the M.S. (Students will
complete and be awarded the B.S. at the end of the 4th year, and the M.S. at the end of the 5th year.)
Students may apply Phys 509 to both the B.S. and M.S. degree requirements (see sample curriculum
below), however all other courses must be counted toward either the B.S. (and thus completed by the
8th semester) or the M.S. The candidate M.S. student may take the department's preliminary
examination as soon as the 8th semester of study, and must pass the examination at the M.S. level by
the beginning of the 10th semester. For the M.S. degree, the 6 credit-hours of required electives must be
non-Physics courses at the 300-level or above and not explicitly counted toward the B.S. A student may
pursue either a M.S. with Thesis (6 credits) or a M.S. with Independent Study (3 credits), normally taken
during the 9th and/or 10th semesters of study. A student is strongly encouraged to pursue research or
take courses to apply toward the M.S. during the summer between the 8th and 9th semesters. After
completing the B.S., the student may apply for a graduate teaching or research assistantship (TA or RA).
SAMPLE CURRICULUM (4th and 5th years):
3 Phys 411 Thermo 2 Phys 451 Sr Lab
3 Phys 443 Atomic & Nuclear 3 Phys 508, 510 or 518**
3 Phys 509 Methods of Theo Phys
1 Phys 579 Seminar**
1 Phys 579 Seminar** 3 Math course 300 level or above
3 Math course 300 level or above 6 Electives for B.S.
3 Social Science/Humanities (3 Graduate electives for M.S.)**,
——————————–B.S. Complete————————————————————————
2 Phys 501 Grad Comm 2 Phys 502 Grad Comm
3 Phys 505 or 521 Cont. Mech or Adv. Dyn. 3 Phys 508, 510 or 518
1 Phys 579 Seminar 1 Phys 579 Seminar
3 Phys 581, 591 or course work 3 Phys 590 or 591 Ind. St or Thesis
3 out-of-dept Elective 3 out-of-dept or Phys elective
——————————M.S. Complete————————————————————————-
– Dually counted toward B.S. and M.S.
– Only encouraged if summer residence is not feasible.
After a lengthy discussion and some explanation as to how the five year BS/MS program works the Five Year BS/MS Program was approved. Liebrock stated that a five year student cannot have an RA or TA until they finish their Undergraduate degree but can have an hourly Work Authorization. She also stated that these students can double count one (3 credit graduate course). One question was raised as to what would happen if the student couldn't finish in five years? Liebrock stated they would take an extra semester.
Michelle Creech-Eakman made the motion to accept this program into the Physics Department. Navid Mojtabai seconded the motion. All approved and the motion passed.
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5.)Student Questions and Concerns: (GSA Representative) – No Representative attended the meeting.
6).Adjournment – The Dean made a motion to adjourn the meeting. The meeting was adjourned at 4:10 P.M.