FOR INFORMATION ?
Dean of Graduate Studies
Report to Senate
?
June 1986
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 1985/86 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 1985 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. It is taken mostly from a
survey done last summer by Dr. M. L. Bowman, former Associate Dean of
Graduate Studies. The 86-1 data 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.
0
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S
III ?
Grades
Table III gives information on the S.F.U. graduate grades of all
students enrolled in the Fall 85 semester; it includes courses taken in
that semester 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 3.86 or
higher, the top 20% have CGPA of 3.60 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 proposed moving away from interdepartmental comparisons of CGPA in
the ranking of applicants for S.F.U. graduate scholarships.
?
0
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.
V ?
Special Arrangements
Table IV 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, will require
up-to-date progress reports as a condition of registration. To date,
the response of students and supervisors has been excellent.
S
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I am pleased to report that the defences of theses completed
under Special Arrangements, which I chair, have all been quite
successful. 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: 2 in 1985, 6 in 1984, 1 in 1983,
2 in 1982, and 4 in 1981. Roughly equal numbers of 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.
VI
?
Future
I_ remain
_optimistic
_about the future of graduate studies at
_____
S7F7U. The quaflty of mostffhe thesis defences which Thave
attended has been high. With rare exception, applicants 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.
<^" Q CQ"_^
0
TABLE I
?
1981 ?
1982
?
1983
?
1984 ?
1985
Total Graduate
Enrollment
Head Count
?
1138
?
1243 ?
1355
?
1414 ?
1419
FTE
?
886
?
937 ?
1054
?
1137 ?
1153
.
Master's Degrees
Awarded
Ph.D. Degrees
Awarded
TOTAL
154
121
191
208
218
21
25
22
30
37
175
146
213
238
255
L
Ave. Time for
Doctoral Degree
Historical*
86-1
1974-80
25.00
14.80
18.50
17.00
26.00
14.00
20.00
11.00
20.00
.
TABLE II
?
.
Average Semesters Required for Degree Completion
Dept.
Ave. Time for
Master's Degree
Historical
86-1
1974-80
ARCH
12.09
11.00
BISC
11.77
10.63
BUS
8.96
9.76
CHEM
10.06
9.50
CMNS
12.74
17.00
CMPT
9.00
7.50
CRIM
10.60
9.00
DLLL
9.33
16.80
ECON
9.33
8.09
EDUC
9.75
10.96
ENGL
11.67
8.00
GEOG
10.86
11.00
HIST
11.08
17.00
KINES
9.26
11.00
MASTA
9.96
10.00
MRM
10.75
PHYS
9.06
17.00
POL
10.06
4.00
PSYC
10.62
7.50
SAR
12.33
8.00
* Average =
13.4 for 117
SFU Doctoral graduates.
40
0 ?
TABLE III
SUMMARY DATA ON SFU GRADUATE GRADE POINT AVERAGES OF MASTER'S & PHD STUDENTS
WHO HAVE TAKEN SFU GRADUATE COURSES
#
?
of
CGPA CGPA
CGPA
CGPA CGPA CGPA
Grades Awarded
Dept
Stu.
25%
20%
10%
Aver.
Med. Wted.
Aver.
ARCH
32
4.00
4.00
4.00
3.73
3.75
3.72
3.47
BISC
124
4.00
4.00
4.00
3.66
3.71
3.65
3.58
BUS
135
3.50
3.60
3.86
3.37
3.33
3.37
3.32
CHEM
47
3.85
4.00
4.00
3.54
3.50
3.56
3.53
CMNS
36
4.00
4.00
4.00
3.61
3.67
3.66
3.35
CMPT
69
3.83
4.00
4.00
3.53
3.66
3.59
3.41
CRIM
50
4.00
4.00
4.00
3.55
3.62
3.53
3.32
DLLL
18
4.00
4.00
4.00
3.78
3.89
3.78
3.91
ECON
77
3762
3767
3 83
343
3. 43
-3.4-6-----
-
EDUC
287
4.00
4.00
4.00
3.67
3.80
3.69
3.65
ENGL
60
4.00
4.00
4.00
3.82
4.00
3.82
3.72
GEOG
35
4.00
4.00
4.00
3.67
3.71
3.69
3.43
HIST
29
4.00
4.00
4.00
3.53
3.74
3.59
3.26
KINES
34
4.00
4.00
4.00
3.63
3.80
3.65
3.17
MASTA
46
4.00
4.00
4.00
3.53
3.67
3.63
3.76
MRM
52
3.78
3.86
4.00
3.53
3.64
3.50
3.52
PHIL
3
3.50
3.50
3.60
3.26
3.50
3.33
2.85
42
3.88
4.00
4.00
3.40
3.50
3.56
3.32
.
PHYS
POL
11
3.83
4.00
4.00
3.71
3.67
3.71
3.47
PSYC
76
3.87
3.91
4.00
3.67
3.71
3.69
3.57
SA
25
4.00
4.00
4.00
3.78
4.00
3.83
3.62
SAR
26
4.00
4.00
4.00
3.77
3.88
3.77
WS
3
2.50
2.50
4.00
2.83
2.50
2.71
is
Table IV
In SAP Department, all current students as of (mm/dd/yy = 05/15/86):
Student
?
Program Sr. Supr (entry) ?
Other Supervisors
C.BAILEY
MA
GATES
BUYER
COHN
R.EIGENFELDT
MA
BARTLETT
TRUAX
tJNDERHILL
M.LEE
MA
KIRSCHNER
BOYER
GARCIA
S.MCLARDY
MA GATES
WAGNER
GARCIA
M.TREV1N
MA
GARCIA
KIRSCHNER
GATES
D.WOLF
MA
DIAMOND
STELLA
ALDERSON
$
S.WRIGHT ?
MSC
E.ERISTOWE
PHD
J.DEBO
PHD
M.ELLIOTT
PHD
P.GADGIL
PHD
E.GALEJAGHER
PHD
D..GODFREY-SMITH
'PHD
P.HOWARD
PHD
P.JAIN
PHD
J.JESSUP
PHD
A.LUKE
PHD
D.MCCABE
PHD
T.MCGUIRE
PHD
N.MCNULTY
PHD
E.PETERSEN
PHD
A.RAHMAN
PHD
M.REYES
PHD
R.SEPT
PHD
M.SMITH
PHD
J.WINTERDYK
PHD
C.WRIGHT
PHD
85-3
GUTMAN
MALLINSON
HILL
VERDUN-JON
VERDUN-JONES
GAVIGAN
PALYS
GUTH
AMES
KOOPMAN
BARNARD
MORRISON
FUNT,BL
COLBOW
85-3
HUNTLEY
RIECKHOFF
HICKIN
ANDERSON
JOHNSON
LEISS
BERGGREN
GAY
CLEVELAND
CHAPPELL
VAR
HORSFALL
DE CASTELL
TUINMAN
MCLAREN
COLEMAN
DOERR
MANLEY-CASI
BRANTINGHAM,PL
BRANTINGHAM,
FATTAH
LEISS
SALTER
SHAPIRO
BUITENHUIS
HIEBERT
HORVATH
DAVIS
ANDERSON
HEYER
GATES
POIKER
BRANTINGHAM,
BHATTACHARYEAVES
MALLINSON
WIDEEN
WEXLER
BUSHE
MARCIA
HIEBERT
CONROY
SHEPPS
ROESCH
CORRADO
JACKSON,MA
COPES
GEEN
MAKI
HEAPS
S
Number of records in SAR: 27
S
