Minutes of the University Senate meeting for December 4, 2023, were approved.

Senators approved one consent calendar item: Graduate Council Minutes 12.05.2023

Special Reports were presented by:

      a. Brooke Flinders, Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs

      b. Mark Krafft, Partner for Bain and Company

Updates regarding low-enrolled majors and the Pan-Humanities Workshop were provided by Provost Mullenix.

With the approval of the December 4, 2023 minutes, senators approved two Senate Resolutions:

BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED that University Senate approves the proposed Graduate Assistantship Policy Proposal as it appears below:

Policy Title: Types of Awards | Graduate Assistantships Appointments

Proposer Name, Title and Email: Amity Noltemeyer, Associate Dean of the Graduate School, anoltemeyer@miamioh.edu 

Rationale: The policy library currently contains outdated and incorrect information related to graduate assistantship (GA) offers. Despite what is written in policy, official GA offers do not include tuition and fee remission for the summer sessions proceeding and following the year of appointment. Under the old summer scholarship (which only applies to students entering their program before fall 2020), students did receive a tuition waiver but it was not included within the GA offer letter and was handled separately from the GA offer process. Furthermore, the statement in current policy that GAs are granted remission of 93% of the graduate comprehensive fee is not consistent with the language used in offer letters or posted on various university webpages. The new proposed language is consistent with existing practice, and allows some flexibility for offers to be adapted based on unique situations (e.g., a half GA could offer a 50% waiver because it says “up to”).

Covered Parties: Graduate students.

Defined Terms: N/A

Proposed New or Revised Policy (Clean Version): 

“The stipend associated with this award is for a maximum of halftime duties (20 hours) in two regular semesters.  Graduate assistants with half-time duties for two semesters are eligible for a waiver of up to 100% of the instructional tuition, 33% of general fees, and up to 100% of the non-resident surcharge, if applicable. Graduate Assistants are responsible for all other fees including, but not limited to, health insurance, special purpose, and course fees. The specific details of the GA offer will be included in a formal offer letter each GA receives from Academic Personnel”

Proposed Revised Policy (Marked Up Version):

“The stipend associated with this award is for a maximum of halftime duties (20 hours) in two regular semesters.  Graduate assistants with half-time duties for two semesters are eligible for a waiver of up to 100% of the instructional tuition, 33% of general fees, and up to 100% of the non-resident surcharge, if applicable. Graduate Assistants are responsible for all other fees, including, but not limited to, health insurance, special purpose, and course fees. granted remission of 93% of the graduate comprehensive fee for the period of appointment and for the summer session immediately preceding or following the year of appointment. The specific details of the GA offer will be included in a formal offer letter each GA receives from Academic Personnel”

Effective Date: August 26, 2024

Responsible Parties: The Graduate School 

Implementation Procedures and Timeline: The Graduate School will disseminate this information to the relevant programs, departments, and offices. However, it is not expected that this revision would result in any practice changes.

Additional Resources and Procedures:

N/A

BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED that University Senate endorses the proposed program, EDP- Counselor Education - Master of Education

AND FURTHERMORE, that the endorsement by University Senate of the proposed degree will be forwarded to the Miami University Board of Trustees for consideration.