The task at hand: Design and implement a new academic program from scratch, factoring in the upcoming quarters-to-semesters transition.
However, directors of two recently conceived certificate programs at Ohio University say the process has gone very smoothly.
The interdisciplinary nature of many certificates eased the Q2S transition process for the programs because other departments did much of the work redesigning courses, said Jaylynne Hutchinson, associate professor of cultural studies and education and director of the undergraduate diversity-studies certificate.
“Thankfully, doing the quarters-to-semesters process, we were able to just piggyback onto other departments’ offerings,” Hutchinson said. “We had to change a couple of our courses that are required.”
The diversity-studies certificate began in spring 2010 after receiving approval from OU’s Board of Trustees, and about 25 students have signed up, she said.
Even upperclassmen in the program should be able to graduate with the certificate without significant problems, Hutchinson said.
“We don’t really anticipate having much trouble with it at all,” she said. “It seems like people who jumped into the certificate right away were ready to graduate; they already had many of the courses.”
An undergraduate certificate offered by the Center for Law, Justice & Culture is still in development and has had even fewer troubles navigating the Q2S transition.
“We’re proposing (the certificate) now so it will be up and running as a semester program,” said Kathleen Sullivan, associate professor of political science and the certificate’s coordinator.
The program will be selective, admitting only about 25 students each year and asking for a minimum GPA of 3.4. The center aims to begin the program during the 2012–13 school year, offering its core courses for the first time in spring 2013, Sullivan said.
“We want to expose students to socio-legal study from an interdisciplinary perspective,” she said. “This is for students with a scholarly interest in law.”
The program is being reviewed by the University Curriculum Council, a division of OU’s Faculty Senate, Sullivan said.
Review by the University Curriculum Council is the last step in approving a program, said Greg Kremer, associate professor and chair of OU’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. Kramer serves as chair of the Programs Committee on the University Curriculum Council.
“We trust the departments and colleges to do the right thing, and all we do is verify that they have not done anything that would be of harm to the university — duplicating a program or somehow not meeting a university requirement,” Kremer said.
He added that all certificates that had previously existed under the quarter system have already gone through the transition process, and that there were few problems with the transition.
“There was good overall support from some of the software systems, and there was good communication and collaboration on the university level,” Kremer said. “It actually went more smoothly than I anticipated.”
bv111010@ohiou.edu
