November 17, 2025 – Graduate Faculty Committee (GFC) – Minutes

Posted on:

Time: 3:00 p.m.
Location: Hybrid meeting – Mitchell Hall 245 and via videoconference on Teams

Present: Brian Schermer, Amy Kalkbrenner, Jerald Thomas, Itziar Lazkano (chair). Winson Chu, Joshua Mersky (GPRC), Jeb Willenbring, Taylor Mathewson Levandoski, Emily Middleton, Timothy O’Brien (GCC), Hamid Ouali (vice chair), Peninnah Kako, Mohammad Rahman, Jorg Woehl, Oluwaseyi Ambrose, Erin Flynn (ex-officio), Victoria Moerchen (ex-officio), Bryan Porter (ex-officio), Riley Harrison (admin support)

  1. Meeting called to order at 3:01p.m.
  2. Announcements
    1. GS Open House and Fee Waiver Updates: Erin Flynn
      1. Presentation on the differences in attendance numbers from 2020-2025 Virtual and In-Person Open House events
      2. Fee waivers were promoted by both Graduate School and programs this year as a strategy to increase attendance and increase applications.
      3. As of now, plan to have both events again next year. CareerEco will continue being the platform to host the virtual event.
  3. Automatic Consent
    1. Minutes of September 15, 2025, approved as distributed.
  4. New Business
    1. Fac Doc. 3197 GPRC: Program Review Policy
      1. Update given by GPRC Chair about GPRC discussion around having accrediting bodies documents take the place of internal review.
      2. GFC discussion included questions on duplication of work, purpose of each type of review, and option for programs to opt in to having both accreditation and internal review processes.
      3. Possible update to come at the December meeting.
    2. Prior Learning Assessments policy introduction: Associate Dean Moerchen
      1. Heads up that campus policy for credit for prior learning will be coming to GFC for discussion and vote in the upcoming months. Currently the policy only has two lines related to graduate education.
  5. Continuing Business – None.
  6. Reports
    1. Graduate School Roadmap Overview: Dean Porter
      1. Three areas of the Graduate School Roadmap, created this year:
        1. Academic Excellence
        2. Graduate Life
        3. Community Engagement
  7. Other business – None.
  8. Meeting adjourned at 4:34p.m.