NEW BUSINESS Graduate Certificate in Biomedical Sciences – First Reading A motion to approve the Graduate Certificate in Biomedical Sciences program was made by Linda Pavonetti, seconded by Meir Shillor, and approved. Claire Rammel noted that the application requirements stated in the proposal were not consistent with the minimum general application requirements for admission to graduate study. A motion to waive the second reading was made by Meir Shillor, seconded by Bhushan Bhatt, and approved. The vote was called. The motion to waive the second reading was approved. Donna Free moved to amend the pending motion by inserting the following text: The graduate certificate must include general graduate application requirements. Seconded by Meir Shillor. The motion was amended and now reads Motion to approve the Graduate Certificate in Biomedical Sciences program. The graduate certificate must include general graduate application requirements. The vote was called. The motion to amend the motion was approved. Donna Free moved to amend the pending motion by inserting the following text: The statement “Students with deficiencies in these areas may be conditionally admitted with the stipulation that the deficiencies will be corrected” must be removed from the admission requirements section of the proposal. Seconded by Meir Shillor. The motion was amended and now reads. Motion to approve the Graduate Certificate in Biomedical Sciences program. The graduate certificate must include general graduate application requirements. The statement “Students with deficiencies in these areas may be conditionally admitted with the stipulation that the deficiencies will be corrected” must be removed from the admission requirements section. The vote was called. The motion to amend the pending motion was approved. The vote was called. Motion to approve the Graduate Certificate in Biomedical Sciences program. The graduate certificate must include general graduate application requirements. The statement “Students with deficiencies in these areas may be conditionally admitted with the stipulation that the deficiencies will be corrected” must be removed from the admission requirements section was approved. Effective Fall 2011. Modification to Master of Arts in Biology – First Reading A motion to approve modification of the Master of Arts in Biology program was made by Bhushan Bhatt, seconded by Meir Shillor, and approved. The proposed modification decreases the total credits from 36 to 32. A total of 32 credits is consistent with comparable biology master’s programs at other institutions. After observing that BIO 690, Graduate Research, can be used as either a project course or a thesis course, the Council agreed unanimously that BIO 690 should be 1) discontinued, 2) a new graduate course created BIO 590Graduate Research Project or something similar to indicate that it is a non-thesis course, and 3) graded numerically. Also, the Council recommended 1) the statement “Students with deficiencies in these areas may be conditionally admitted with the stipulation that the deficiencies will be corrected” be removed from the admission requirements section, and 2) general application requirements be included. Modification to Master of Science in Biology – First Reading No motion was made. The proposed modification decreases the total credits from 36 to 32. A total of 32 credits is consistent with comparable biology master’s programs at other institutions. The Council recommended 1) the statement “Students with deficiencies in these areas may be conditionally admitted with the stipulation that the deficiencies will be corrected” be removed from the admission requirements section, and 2) general application requirements be included. Exemption to TOEFL Requirements The School of Business Administration is seeking an exemption to the TOEFL requirement for a cohort of students from the International College of Business and Technology of Tianjin University of Technology (heretofore referred to as TUT). The approved articulation agreement states that the students receive an Oakland University Master of Accounting (MAcc) degree upon successful completion of agreed upon coursework in accounting at Tianjin as well as successful completion of OU’s MAcc degree requirements. Donna Free, School of Business Administration, reported that the majority of the undergraduate degrees at TUT were not taught in English. However, their undergraduate, 4-year degrees in business administration were awarded jointly by TUT and Thompson Rivers University (Canada) an accredited, fully English speaking institution. Bhushan Bhatt pointed out that the articulation agreement doesn’t state that the TUT students must have a bachelor’s degree from Thompson Rivers University. It appears any student from TUT would be admissible to the program. Claire Rammel confirmed the approved articulation agreement was between OU and Tianjin University of Technology with no mention of Thompson Rivers University. She recommended modifying or amending the agreement to clarify that the agreement does not apply to all TUT students only to a select population of students who received a joint bachelor’s degree from Thompson Rivers University. Assuming Graduate Council approves an exemption to the TOEFL requirement, Claire Rammel asked whether the School of Business could use other data to help evaluate the students’ English competency. Should the articulation agreement include a clause to help prevent OU from admitting students who later are not be able to perform academically due to language limitations. Gautam Singh stated that the articulation agreement requires TOEFL “scores acceptable to OU or by another method acceptable to OU.” He suggested modifying the agreement to state that the students must demonstrate an adequate command of the English language either by TOEFL scores or evidence that they graduated from Thompson Rivers University. Julie Delaney suggested the statement could stipulate TOEFL, GMAT, or a bachelor’s degree from Thompson Rivers University. Donna Free pointed out that the articulation agreement requires that TUT students “satisfy all of OU’s requirements for progression, retention and graduation for the MAcc as stated in the applicable OU catalogue(s) when the student is admitted to OU.” She also reminded members that the students must take the GMAT which includes a verbal section. The Council suggested that SBA draft an amendment to the articulation agreement to bring to the next Graduate Council meeting. | 
