Timothy O’Brien, 2025 – 2026 GCC Chair
Members Present: Qingsu Cheng, Itziar Lazkano, Maria Novotny, Timothy O’Brien (Chair), Wilhem Peekhaus, Katie Vater
Absent: Dave Clark (Office of Academic Affairs); Sara Vanderhaagen
Guests: Riley Harrison (Graduate School – Policy and Appeals Coordinator); Victoria Moerchen (Graduate School – Ex-Officio); Tiffany Nation (Graduate School – Graduate Programs Coordinator); Bryan Porter (Graduate School)
- Call to Order
Meeting called to order at 12:30 p.m. - Announcements
There were no announcements. - Welcome from the Graduate School
Bryan Porter introduced himself as the new Graduate School Dean. - Review of the Graduate Curriculum Committee Charter (A3.05.1)
GCC Chair O’Brien reviewed the GCC charter with the committee. He explained that there is a fair amount of homework that accompanies serving on the committee more work than some of the committees on campus and emphasized the importance of the committee’s work. - 2025 – 2026 Roster
There were committee member self-introductions. - 2025 – 2026 Meeting Dates and Proposal Due Dates
O’Brien reviewed the 2025 – 2026 scheduled meeting dates with the committee and requested that if anyone had any scheduling conflicts to let him and Tiffany Nation, Graduate Programs Coordinator know. - Academic Approval Matrix No: SAAP 1 -1
O’Brien led the committee in the review of the Academic Approval Matrix. He informed the committee that this is a very helpful document for a sort of charting of the organizational flow at UWM. It describes important definitions and the workflow for various changes that academic programs and the various committees need to go through. The approval matrix clarifies precisely what the GCC purview is. A useful resource to show how all of bureaucratic procedures work. - Uniform Syllabus Policy (Requirements for All Syllabi) Faculty Doc. No. 1895R6
O’Brien led the committee in the review of the Uniform Syllabus Policy which includes guidelines for what is required, recommended, and what must be listed in each sample syllabus that the committee will be reviewing on a monthly basis. - Bloom’s Taxonomy Action Verbs
O’Brien led the committee in the review of the document and strongly encourage the use of Bloom’s taxonomy action verbs in writing objectives and when reviewing objectives in syllabi. - UWM Graduate School Policies are located on the Secretary of the University website:
https://uwm.edu/secu/uwm-graduate-school-policies/
O’Brien informed the committee that all Graduate School Policies which includes all of the policies that are used in the procedural work of the GCC are listed on the SECU GCC website. - Policies and Procedures for the Development, Structure, Administration, and Review of Graduate Certificate Programs Faculty Doc. No. 3206R3
O’Brien led the committee in the review of the certificate policy. - Requirements for Graduate Credit in Graduate Level Courses and Combined Undergraduate / Graduate Level Courses Faculty Doc. No. 3196R1
Moerchen informed the committee that the policy was updated to clarify the differential between undergraduate and graduate requirements for course work in syllabi. The revisions to the policy will clarify the requirement for 33% difference in work for graduate students for U/G courses. She provided a summary of the history of the difficulties of the policy not being approved by Codification and that the policy was revised again to address the concerns of Codification. The policy will go before Codification this afternoon for approval. - Clarification for Required Readings, Canvas, and Publication Dates of Readings Nation informed the committee that this agenda item was a follow up and confirmation of the reading requirements in Faculty Doc. No. 3196R1 which is currently under revision from the discussion of the May 7, 2025 meeting.
- Policies and Procedures for Microcredentials at UWM Faculty Doc. No. 3393R1 O’Brien led the committee in the review of the policy and procedures for microcredentials.
- Guidelines for Review of Graduate-Level Microcredentials (Proposal Checklist)
Nation informed the committee that the checklist is a guide to reviewing microcredential proposals that come to the committee for review and approval. - Multidisciplinary Committee-Directed PhD Program
O’Brien informed the committee that one of the responsibilities that the committee is charged with is to approve applications for the Multidisciplinary Committee-Directed PhD program which do not come before the committee often. He informed the committee of the guidelines of this procedure. Associate Dean Morechen informed the committee that this policy is out of date and is currently under revision. - Other Business
Nation informed the committee that the first meeting to conduct business is September 10, 2025. - Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 1:05 p.m.