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SiMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
?
.Ti -3
MEMORANDUM
T
o ............. ....P.
?
S.eti.te .................... .
Subject
............. (ac1Mat.e. S.tu1iea . Ccm.itte.
Date .....
F.ebr.ua y
.
9.,.
19V
...........................
REPORT TO SENATE OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THE SENATE GRADUATE STUDIES COMMITTEE FROM
JANUARY 1986 TO DECEMBER 1986.
Number of Meetings - Five (5)
The Senate Graduate Studies Committee acted with delegated power from Senate to:-
1.
Recommendations for Admission under Special Arrangements. Ten recommendations
were considered. Six were approved, three were referred back and one was re-
jected.
2.
Approved the following change in the General Regulations - Graduate Studies,
Section 1.5.1:
Delete: The CGPA is the cumulative average of the grade points earned in all
the graduate courses accepted towards a Master's or Doctoral degree
• ?
at this University.
Add: ?
The CGPA is the cumulative average of the grade points earned in the
SFU graduate courses taken towards a Master's or Doctoral degree.
3.
Recommendation that the applicants to Graduate Studies be charged an application
fee. This was not approved.
4.
The Dean of Graduate Studies was delegated the power to approve Recommendations
for the Award of the Degree if all University requirements are met.
5.
The Committee approved that a sub-committee of the Senate Graduate Studies Committee
be set up to investigate instituting a policy concerning conflict of interest,
especially in sexual relationships, between Supervisor, or other Committee members
and the student. This Committee has been abandoned due to lack of interest, and in
view of the expected report of the Committee on Sexual Harassment.
6.
Recommendation that the Executive Committee of the Senate Graduate Studies Committee
be dissolved. This was approved.
7.
Graduate Curriculum Changes for the Departments of Economics, English, History,
Psychology, Chemistry, Mathematics & Statistics, Physics, Computing Science,
Engineering Science and Kinesiology.
8.
Requested a report on Special Arrangements students. This is to be ready In early
1987.
SB.P. C
Dean of Graduate Studies.
mm/
 
DEAN OF GRADUATE STUDIES
?
Report
to Senate ?
February 1987
The Dean of Graduate Studies is responsible for the general
supervision of graduate work at the University and is Chairman of
the Senate Graduate Studies Committee. This report outlines the
position of graduate studies at Simon Fraser University,
describes some changes made in the 1986/87 year and makes
recommendations for future directions.
I.
Enrollments and Degrees
Table I shows the recent history of graduate enrollments
and degrees granted. It is taken from the 1986 S.F.U. Fact Book
which contains more detailed breakdowns by department and
Faculty.
The FTE enrollment figures must be treated with caution.
The process for determining, them is subject to considerable
variation among departments and is often based on incomplete
.
?
information on a student's activities. In consultation with the
Director of Analytical Studies, Walter Wattamaniuk, I am working
on a more consistent and logical scheme for determining FTE
enrollments.
II.
Degree Completion
Table II is an historical survey of the times required by
S.F.U. students to earn their graduate degrees. The "historical"
data are taken from a survey done in 85-2 by Dr. M. L. Bowman,
then the former Associate Dean of Graduate Studies. The more
recent data in Table III are from the new Graduate Studies
Database.
I am concerned by what appear in many cases to be excessive
times for degree completion. When resources are limited, it is
especially important that they be used effectively. I am
actively encouraging departments to ensure both that their degree
requirements are realistic and that their students make
satisfactory progress, as required by Senate regulations, toward
meeting those requirements.
I am also pressing for timely appointments of supervisory
committees. In establishing the Graduate Studies Database, I
•
?
encountered many students who had been here for several years,
yet apparently had no supervisory committees. This situation has
largely been remedied.
. .2
 
III. Grades
Table IV gives information on the S.F.U. graduate grades of
all students enrolled in the Fall 86 semester; it includes
courses taken in that semester up to the end of 86-2 and excludes
students who had not yet taken an S.F.U. graduate course. Data
were taken from the Registrar's data files and incorporated into
and processed within the Graduate Studies Database.
For each department, a number of measures of the grade
distribution are presented. The weighted CGPA ("Wted") weights
each student's CGPA by the number of semester hours completed.
The average CGPA ("Aver.") does no weighting, but counts all
students equivalently The median ("Med.") CGPA and the N% CGPA
give the CGPA at the median of the distribution and at the Nth
percentile. For example, in the third entry - Business, the top
10% of the students have CGPA of 3.80 or higher, the top 20% have
CGPA of 3.62 or higher and so on.
The tremendous range in the nature of the grade
distributions among departments may stem from two causes: (1)
differences in grading practices and (2) differences in the
abilities of students. I believe that, most likely, it is a
mixture of these with the former a larger contributor than the
latter. This range is one of the reasons that I have moved away
from interdepartmental comparisons of CGPA in the ranking of
applicants for S.F.U. graduate scholarships.
IV.
Grading System
One other possible reason for the variations noted in Table
III is the coarseness of the grading system. With only A,
B, P,
and F to choose from, and B = 3.0 minimum CGPA continuation, it
is likely that some instructors were reluctant to assign
B's.
This situation is modified by the introduction of A-,
B+
and B-
grades, effective 86-3. It will be interesting to observe
whether significant changes in the "Grades Awarded Average" occur
in 86-3; these grades are not yet available in summary form.
V.
Special Arrangements
Table V is a summary of the status of students enrolled
under Special Arrangements.. The Senate Graduate Studies
Committee serves as their Graduate Program Committee. As its
chairman, I have given special attention to these students. With
the goal of ensuring their satisfactory progress, I have brought
all their supervisory committees into compliance with Senate's
regulations and, as of 86-3, require up-to-date progress reports
as a condition of registration. To date, the response of
students and supervisors has been excellent.
?
0
-2-
0
. . .
3
 
-.3-
ci]
I am pleased to report that the defences of theses
completed under Special Arrangements, which I chair, have all
been quite successful. Table VI provides some data on degree
completion. Historically, Special Arrangements have been a high
risk area; students either succeed or fail spectacularly.
Numbers of students enrolled have remained roughly constant
around 30. Degree completion has been highly variable: 6 in
1986, 2 in 1985, 6 in 1984, 1 in 1983, 2 in 1982, and 4 in 1981.
Other students have dropped out. By the steps outlines above and
by rigorous enforcement of the criteria for entrance into Special
Arrangements, I hope to improve the success rate.
At the request of the S.G.S.C., I have undertaken a review
of the Special Arrangements program. The results of that review
and any resultant changes to the program will be reported to
Senate.
VI. ?
Future
I remain optimistic about the future of graduate studies at
S.F.U. The quality of most of the thesis defences which I have
attended has been high. With rare exception, applicants
S
.recommended by departments. for entry into Ph.D. programs have
been very strong.. Through more aggressive recruiting of
excellent applicants with the aid of entrance scholarships, more
rigorous enforcement of the present requirements for satisfactory
progress, and more careful monitoring of student supervision, it
should be possible to improve the quality of graduate programs
and decrease times for degree completion, thus making more
effective use of our limited resources.
0
 
TABLE I
1981
?
1982
?
1983
?
1984
?
1985
?
1986
Total Graduate Enrollment
Head Count
1138
1243
1355
1414 1419
1377
FTE
886
937
1054
1137 1153 1125
Master's Degrees Awarded
154 121
191.
208
218
279
Ph.D. Degrees Awarded
21
25
22
30
37
39
TOTAL
175
146
213
238 255 318
.
0
 
!1
I
is *
TABLE II
Average Semesters Required for Degree Completion
Dept.
Ave. Time
for
Ave. Time for
Master's De
gree
Doctoral Degree
Historical
86-1
Historical* ?
86-1
1974-80
. ?
1974-80
ARCH
12.09
11.00
25.00
BISC
11.77
10.63
14.80
BUS
8.96
9.76
CHEM
10.06
9.50
18.50
C}INS
12.74
17.00
CNPT
9.00
7.50
CRIM
10.60
9.00
DLLL
9.33
16.80
ECON
9.33
8.09
.17.00
EDUC
9.75
10.96
ENGL
11.67
8.00
.
GEOG
10.86
11.00
26.00
HIST
11.08
17.00
.
14.00
KINES
9.26
11.00
MASTA
9.96 10.00
. ?
20.00
MRN
10.75
PHYS
9.06
17.00
11.00
POL
10.06
PSYC
10.62
7.50
20.00
SAR
12.33
8.00
* Average = 13.4 for 117 SFU Doctoral graduates.
0
 
Degree:
Master's
Completion in:
86-3
85-3-86-3
ARCH
MA
13.00
13.75
BISC
MPM
11.33
10.18
MSc
11.00
11.36
BUS
MBA
13.00
10.69
CHEM
MSc
-
8.75
CMNS
MA
13.00
10.73
COMPT
MSc
-
8.93
CRIM
MA
-
11.00
DLLL
MA
-
8.00
ECON
MA
3.50
7.00
EDUC
MA
12.18
12.34
if
MED
13.00
12.09
it
MSc
-
15.00
ENGL
MA
18.33
14.24
GEOG
MA
-
12.50
of
MSc
10.00
9.33
HIST
MA
14.00
14.60
KINES
MSc
16.00
10.86
MASTA
MSc
7.00
7.91
MRM
MRN
13.00
10.57
PHYS
MSc
10.00
10.50
POL
MA
-
13.00
PSYC
MA
7.00
7.54
SA
MA
-
15.00
SAR
MA
7.00
8.33
of
I
MSc
-
19.00
WS
MA
6.00
6.00
Average/Number
11.97/61
10.94/361
86-3 ?
85-3-86-3
27.00
21.50
16.00
15.64
-
16.00
-
•11.00.
-
11.00
-.
11.00
20.00
18.11
8.00
8.50
-
20.50
-
27.50
-
14.00
13.00
13.50
-
13.60
20.00
19.30
17.33
18.80
17.13/15
?
17.05/64
.
S
?
TABLE III
DEGREE COMPLETION TIMES (SEMESTERSI
.
senate
 
TABLE IV
?
A
SUMMARY DATA ON SFU GRADUATE GRADE POINT AVERAGES' OF MASTER'S & PHD STUDENTS
WHO HAVE TAKEN
.
SFJ GRADUATE COURSES AS OF SEMESTER 86-2
* of
CGPA
CGPA
CGPA
CGPA
CGPA
CGPA
Dept
Stu.
25%
20%
10% Aver.
Med.
Vted.
ARCH
30
4.00
4.00.
4.00
3.74
3.75
3.73
BISC
126
3.92
4.00 4.00 3.59
3.71.
3.63
BUS
120
.3.56
3.62
3.80
3.35
3.30
3.36
CHEM
48
3.75 3.85
4.00
3.53
3.50
3.56
CMNS
39
4.00 4.00
4.00 3.56
3.70
.
3.60
CHPT
68 4.00
4.00
4.00
3.56
3.67
3.55
CRIM
44
3.78 3.81
4.00 3.48
3.67
3.51
DLLL
16
4.00
4.00
4.00 3.82
3.91
3.82
ECON
82
3.62 3.74
3.86
3.37 3.42
.3.42
EDUC
318
4.00
4.00
4.00' 3.64
3.75
3.67
ENGL
61
4.00 4.00
4.00
3.59
3.80
.
3.66
GEOG
36
4.00 '
.
4.00 4.00
3.63
3.71
3.66
HIST
30
3.80. 4.00
4.00
3.42
3.50.
3.50
KINES
33.
3.83 3.86
4.00
3.68
3.73
3.70
MASTA
52.
4.00 4.00
4.00
3.62
3.80
3.64
HRM
50
3.76
3.80
3.86 3.45
.3.59
3.52
PHIL
5
3.50
3.50 3.60
2.82
2.00
3.00
PHYS
39
3.88
4.00 4.00
3.59
3.57
3.59
POL
12
3.83 4.00
4.00
3.65
3.60
3.69
PSYC
74
3.86
.
3.88 4.00.
3.64
3.69
3.63
SA
28
4.00 4.00
4.00 3.80
4.00.
3.81
SAR
27
4.00
4.00 4.00
3.72
3.79
3.72
VS
•5
4.00
4.00
4.00
3.67
.3.33 3.50
 
I
V.^
?
TABLE V
In SAR Department, all current students as of January 26, 1987
Student ?
Program Sr. Supr
?
Other Supervisors
C.BAILEY
831900550 MA
GATES
BUYER
R.EI6ENFELDT
851008573 MA
BARTLETT
TRUAX
S.MCLARDY
773046859
MA GATES
WAGNER
N. TREVIN
842900656 HA
GARCIA
KIRSCHNER
D. WOLF
833904980
MA DIAMOND
STELLA
S. WRIGHT
793014812 MSC
CRAWFORD
HARESTAD
E.BRISTOWE
803902832
PHD SUTNAN
IIALLINSON
J.DEBD
653011323
PHD VERDLJN-JUNES
8AVI6AN
V.DOYLE
863904710 PHD
N.ELLIOTT
823073481 PHD AMES
KOOPHAN
P.GADGIL
833904774
PHD MORRISON
FUNT,BL
E.GALLAGHER
853904043 PHD
GUTHAN
GEE
D.GODFREY-SMITH
823903802 PHD
HUNTLEY
RIECKHOFF
P.JAIN
773900881
PHD
BER66REN
GAY
NCCABE
0 ' .
823904511
PHD
COLEMAN
BUSHE
.NCGUIRE
671005596 PHD BRANTIN6HAH,PL
BRANTIN6HAM,PJ
R.SEPT
733003552 PHD
NALLINSON
WIDEEN
H. SMITH
803903038 PHD MARCIA
PROCK
T.SUSSEL
783030760 PHD HANLEY-CASIMIR
SMITH
J.WINTERDYK
783032337 PHD
ROESCH
CORRADO
• C.WRIGHT
752008928 PHD COPES
SEEN
• ?
D.MOTTET
851020826 SPECL
D.YOGT
863009419
SPECI
Number of records
in BAR:
?
23
COHN
UNDERHILL
GARCIA
GATES
ALDERSON
BEYERSIEIN
HILL
YERDUN-JONES
PALYS
6UTH
BARNARD
COLBOW
JACKSON, NA
HICKIN
CLEVELAND
MANLEY-CASIMIR
FAT TAH
WEXLER
BUSHE
CONROY
SHEPPS
SMITH
JACKSON, MA
MAX! ?
- HEAPS
 
t
TABLE VI
?
.
Times for
Degree Completion for
Graduands Completing Degree Requirements
in 853 and
Thereafter.
Dept Pgm Name ?
. Semester
Semester
Semesters
Completed
Started
in
Program
SAR
MA
P. DOLDEN
853
823
10
SAR MA
A. DAVIS
. ?
861
. ?
833
8
SAR MA ?
•.
M. LEE
.
?
863
843
7
SAR
3 Graduands;
?
8.33
=
Average Semesters in the
MA Program
SAR
MSC
A. MALLINSON
853
783
22
SAR
MSC
A. MCBRIDE
853
.803
16
SAR
2
Graduands;
?
19.00 =
Average Semesters, in the
MSC Program
SAR
PHD
A. LUKE
863
812
. 17
SAR
PHD
M. REYES
"
?
862
782
25
SAR
SAR
PHD
PHD
E. PETERSEN
A. RAHMAN
863
863 ?
.
823
793
13
22
SAR
PHD
P. HOWARD
862
801
20
SAR
PHD
N. MCNULTY
862
811
17
SAR
6
Graduands;
?
19.00.
=
Average Semesters in the
PHD
Program
Totals.:
?
5 Master's Graduands and 6
Ph.D.
Graduands
12.60 = Average Semesters in the Master's Program 'Overall
19.00 = Average Semesters in the PhD Program Overall

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