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Graduate Council

Purpose: The Graduate Council, which reports to the Provost & Vice President for Academic Affairs, defines, in consultation with the Dean of the Graduate School, the policies that govern graduate education at the University in compliance with the regulations of the University, the Board of Supervisors for the University of Louisiana System, the Board of Regents, and the State of Louisiana. Specifically, the Council defines minimum criteria relating to admission, retention, and completion of students in degree and non-degree graduate programs; its jurisdiction also extends to policies governing graduate faculty membership and application of college criteria for that membership, revision and/or review of existing graduate programs, graduate degree requirements, graduate courses, and graduate assistantships and fellowships. The Council also advises the Dean of the Graduate School on matters pertaining to graduate education.
 
Membership: The Council consists of 27 members. Fourteen faculty members are elected by the graduate faculty according to college to a term of three years. There are seven dean-appointed faculty members, one for each of the academic colleges, who also serve a term of three years. Three members of the graduate faculty are appointed by the Dean of the Graduate School, in consultation with the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, to provide balance and equity; these members are appointed to a term of one or two years. Two graduate student representatives also serve on the Council. Finally, the Dean of the Graduate School is an ex officio member. Deans of the academic colleges, including associate and assistant deans, and  are not eligible for membership on the Graduate Council. At its final meeting of each academic year, the Council elects a Chairperson from among its continuing members to serve a term of one year beginning on the first day of the month following the election.
 
Meetings: The Council normally meets on the second Tuesday of each month during the academic year. Other meetings of the Council may be called by its Chairperson, the Dean of the Graduate School, or the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs.
 
Standing Committees: The standing committees of the Graduate Council include:
  • Appeals Committee - Yung-Hsing Wu, Chair
  • Curriculum Committee - Nathan Roberts, Chair
  • Fellowships Committee - Ryan Nelson, Chair
  • Graduate Faculty Membership Committee - Patricia Lanier, Chair
  • Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access Committee - Kelly Robinson
The Chairperson of the Graduate Council is charged with appointing the membership, including the chairperson, of the standing committees for a term that corresponds with the academic year. Members may be reappointed. Each standing committee includes members from each academic college. Faculty membership of the standing committees is restricted to continuing, fulltime faculty who are members of the Graduate Faculty.
 
The Council may establish and appoint other standing or ad hoc committees as it deems appropriate.

 

Current Members for 2023-2024:

Elected Members


Name
Department
College
Catherine Roche-Wallace MUS Arts
Wesley Bradford MUS Arts
Ignatius Cahyanto MKTG Business Administration
Colleen Wolverton MGMT Business Administration
Frank Del Favero EDFL Education
Amanda Shuford Mayeaux EDFL Education
Peng Yin MCHE Engineering
Farzad Ferdowsi EECE Engineering
Elena Babatsouli CODI Liberal Arts
Nathan Rabalais MODL Liberal Arts
Deedra Harrington NURS Nursing & Health Sciences
Frances Stueben NURS Nursing & Health Sciences
Kelly Robinson BIOL Sciences
Kalimuthu Krishnamoorthy MATH Sciences

Academic Dean Appointed Members


Name
Department
College
Ashlie Boelkins ARCH Arts
Javier Portillo-Elias ECON Business Administration
Marietta Adams EDCI Education
Mark Zappi CHEE Engineering
Amy Brown PSYC Liberal Arts
Christy Lenahan NURS Nursing & Health Sciences
Beenish Chaudhry CMIX Sciences

Dean of the Graduate School Appointed Members


Name		 Department College
Raju Gottumukkala MCHE Engineering
Robin Koycheff MATH Sciences
Leah Orr ENGL Liberal Arts

Graduate Student Members

Name Graduate Program
Clement Okolo, GSO President Master's Student, Informatics
LaToya Roberts PhD Student, Applied Language and Speech Sciences

Ex-Officio Member

Name Office College
Mary Farmer-Kaiser Dean of the Graduate School Graduate School