A recently completed university-wide review of graduate and professional programs could be used to decide which programs to emphasize and which to potentially scale back or eliminate.
The report, completed earlier this month, rated 72 of the 88 programs excellent, good or satisfactory. Eight fell into the limited category, and eight are new or developing programs.
The review will also be factored into deciding Ohio University's Centers of Excellence in June.
Deciding the Centers of Excellence and resource allocations will be based on more than just this report though, said Jeff Connor, chairman of the mathematics department and co-chairman of the task force.
Peter Wickman, Graduate Student Senate president and the only student on the task force, said the question of funding for graduate students remains important. Grad students currently receive money through fellowships, paid tuition, stipends and research grants, he said.
He likened funding to a pool of money divided among graduate programs. Wickman said he understood the plan to be about improving graduate education, not saving money. If one program were dissolved, he said he wanted to make sure funding would be moved to other areas instead of being lost altogether.
The doctoral program in Cultural Studies in the College of Education was recently put on suspension because of the university-wide report - which rated it limited - and an internal review.
Dean Renée Middleton said the program temporarily stopped admissions because of a lack of faculty and to create a certificate program on diversity for fall 2009. Current students will not be affected, and she is optimistic that the program will return, she said.
Two masters programs in the College of Business were also rated limited in the report. Dean Hugh Sherman attributes this to the review's set-up, which he said was directed mostly at traditional, academic research programs.
Sherman said the programs were reaccredited last November by the International Accrediting Agency for Business Programs, which approves only about 400 MBA programs in the world.
These programs are in high demand and they will continue into the future and will not be phased out
Sherman said in an e-mail.
All programs had the opportunity to appeal the ratings by Feb. 23. The committee has a month to make final decisions, said Ben Ogles, dean of the college of arts and sciences and chairman of the committee.
After the task force submits the final report, responsibility will move to deans and the provost to decide how to best use results from the report, said Ann Fidler, interim associate provost for Strategic Initiatives.
This is only one piece of the process Fidler said. Just because something has been rated excellent in this report ... doesn't necessarily mean that it is going to be designated a University System of Ohio Center of Excellence. The task force report is certainly going to play a part in it but it's not the chief determining factor.
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