Minutes
University Council on Graduate Education
March 5, 2007
Kohnstamm Conference Room, Grafton
Present: David Walt (chair), Arthur Donohue-Rolfe, Larry Feig, Shafik Islam, Ayesha Jalal, Bill Moomaw and Vin Manno. Barry Trimmer was also in attendance as an invited guest.
Minutes from the February meeting were approved with minor modifications
Provost fellows
Another group of nominees will be submitted via Blackboard this week. Although a general discussion regarding the review process ensued, no changes in our current review process were recommended.
Discussion on the Structure of Graduate Education at the University
The committee recommended for the document it is preparing the title, “Structuring Graduate Education at Tufts”.
The overall mission is to enhance graduate education and training at Tufts.
The focus of this document has graduate programs becoming distinct from departments.
A general discussion ensued regarding the value of adopting a program based versus department based structure.
How independent should program directors be? Program directors should be empowered with a budget separate from the department’s budget. However, it was recognized that any program would still be very dependent on the department(s) from which the faculty are members of, so the there would have to be a certain degree of dependence on department(s). There should be well defined clarity in the roles of program and department chairs.
A general consensus was that there was amazing potential at Tufts to develop new interesting programs much stronger than what can be done exclusively within a department.
The strength of any program is the strength of the faculty within the program. They will empower the director.
How much control should a director have in the tenure process? Tenure should be a department issue. A graduate program director should provide input on the candidate but let the department make the ultimate decision.
The curriculum within a graduate program should be a program concern and not a department issue.
Programs should have budgets that are sufficient to fully execute their mission of providing high quality graduate training. Issues regarding potential loss of power to a particular department or potential complications within a department should not be considered. There should be a financial investment by the University and a general change in the mind set that the teaching of our undergraduates is the University’s main goal overshadowing all else.
Departments should be judged by their contribution to graduate education in general and not necessarily by the program within their department. What has your faculty done in graduate education?
The general consensus was that there was significant value to restructuring all graduate education at Tufts to the program format.
Writing assignments will be edited for our next meeting.
It may be helpful to find out the structure of other graduate programs in other competing schools? How are they funded?
The next meeting will be April 13, at the Famine Center, 200 Boston Ave. The meeting will start at 8:30.
