What is the Graduate Council? 

The Graduate Council is a governing body that supervises all graduate studies at Southeast. Under the leadership of the Provost, the council has primary responsibility for initiating, reviewing, and coordinating policies that affect graduate education.  This council is composed of both faculty and student representatives.  While the council has a primary leadership function, the responsibility for the design and modification of graduate programs rests with the departments. 

Council Membership 

As representatives of the graduate faculty, members are expected to have sufficient knowledge of graduate studies to enable them to protect the autonomy of department offerings and provide responsible self-government within University-wide policies and procedures in graduate studies. Members must be regular appointees to the graduate faculty and be elected by the graduate faculty in their respective college/school to serve terms of three years. 

Membership on the council is composed as follows: 

  • Designated Liaison Officers 
  • The Provost and the chairperson of the Academic Affairs Committee of the Faculty Senate. 
  • Graduate Student Representatives 
  • Graduate students are eligible to serve as representatives within the Graduate Council and must be invited to serve from nominations by members of the Graduate Council.  
  • Faculty Representatives 
  • Two faculty members from each college/school are elected by the graduate faculties of the respective colleges for three-year terms within the council. 
  • Additionally, any college/school accounting for more than twenty-five percent of the total graduate credit hours produced during the preceding calendar year will be entitled to elect two additional representatives to the Graduate Council. 
  • The Graduate Council will be chaired by the Provost and will elect a vice chairperson annually.

Graduate Council Members

Name  Department  Term Expires  Email 
Mel Odegard (Chair)  Interim Vice-Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies Non-rotating 

modegard@semo.edu

Hayley Love Chairperson of Faculty Senate Academic Affairs Committee  Non-rotating 

hlove@semo.edu

Dean of Kent Library  Non-rotating 
Sandy Hinkle  (Proxy)  Registrar  Non-rotating  shinkle@semo.edu
Alisa McFerron  Graduate Admissions  Non-rotating  amcferron@semo.edu 
Kevin Timlin  Executive Director of International Education and Services  Non-rotating  kjtimlin@semo.edu 
Faculty Members:          
Reshmi Mitra Harrison College of Business and Computing  2024-2027  rmitra@semo.edu 
Gillian Nicholls  Harrison College of Business and Computing  2023-2026  gnicholls@semo.edu 
Charlotte Cervantes College of Education, Health and Human Studies  2024-2027 

ccervantes@semo.edu

David Tomchuk College of Education, Health and Human Studies  2023-2026  dtomchuk@semo.edu 
Robin Smith College of Education, Health and Human Studies  2023-2026  rsmith@semo.edu  
Corrie Dudley College of Education, Health and Human Studies  2024-2027 

cdudley@semo.edu

Pete Soland College of Humanities and Social Sciences  2023-2026 psoland@semo.edu  
Irina Ustinova College of Humanities and Social Sciences  2024-2027 

iustinova@semo.edu

Indranil Roy Harrison College of Business and Computing 2024-

iroy@semo.edu

Suhair Amer Harrison College of Business and Computing 2024-

samer@semo.edu

Jack Winstead Harrison Colleg of Business and Computing 2024-

jwinstead@semo.edu

 Emmanuel     Thompson College of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics  2024-2027 

ethompson@semo.edu

Sven Svenson College of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics  2023-2026  ssvenson@semo.edu 
Amber Cook Holland College of Arts and Media  2024-2027

amcook@semo.edu

TBD Holland College of Arts and Media  2023-2026  TBD
Student Representative:          
Student Representative  2024-2025 

Graduate Council Reports 

The Graduate Council documents are broad reports of decisions made during Graduate Council meetings. This typically includes various proposals, motions passed/denied, and follow-up reports of previously discussed topics. 

 

Location
Office
Academic Hall 132
Mailing Address
One University Plaza, MS 3400
Cape Girardeau, MO 63701