[Vision2020] WSU to cut 20 percent of its courses

[Chasuk]

http://www.spokesmanreview.com/breaking/story.asp?ID=15027

Shawn Vestal
Staff writer
May 21, 2008

Washington State University will cut the number of courses it offers
by 20 percent, eliminate majors and minors, and redirect resources
from those changes toward key areas of strength, a new university
report says.

The report calls for an audit of all university courses, majors and
minors, as well as an "overhaul" of general education programs – the
core courses that students take in their first couple of years as the
foundation of their education.

The report, issued Tuesday, is part of a widespread effort to sharpen
the university's focus on its highest priorities, rather than trying
to be all things to all people, administrators said.

"We are spread too thin as a university and we need to focus our
resources," said Larry James, associate executive vice president of
WSU. "Just about everything in this document is designed to do that in
one way or another."

WSU now offers about 6,700 separate courses, but a lot of classes
aren't taught very often or have low enrollments, the university said
in a news release. Administrators hope that by eliminating such
courses, faculty will be able to devote more attention to scholarship
and teaching where WSU is the strongest.

The report follows seven months of discussions and evaluations at WSU,
as part of an effort to identify focused areas of scholarship within
each college, and to eliminate courses and degrees that are drawing
relatively few students. It also calls for a new approach to hiring,
with an emphasis on building "critical mass" in focused areas of
scholarship, and says a plan must be developed for redirecting faculty
into areas of high priority.

Provost Bob Bates announced the changes Tuesday, releasing an 18-page
report summarizing the decisions reached after months of input from
departments and colleges across the university, and a series of
recommendations from a 16-person task force.

Tuesday's report includes several final decisions about programs,
including the elimination of bachelor's degrees in forestry and
community and rural sociology that are "on the way to being final,"
Bates said.

But it also includes many more recommendations for changes – from
eliminating programs to reducing, merging or reorganizing them – and
asks each college to audit the courses and majors it offers and make
suggestions by June 15. A final plan is expected Sept. 26, though some
changes will take longer to develop.

"Reductions will vary across programs," the report says, "but should
total approximately 20 percent university-wide."

In an interview Tuesday, Bates and James said the overhaul of general
education is intended to take a new look at what courses are required
as well as an effort to bring more tenure-track faculty into teaching
those classes, which are now handled largely by graduate teaching
assistants and part-time instructors.

"We have put too many of those courses in the hands of our least
experienced instructors," Bates said during a campus meeting in
Pullman.

One element of the report focuses on hiring faculty, calling for a
strategy of hiring and retraining professors into "priority areas of
research/scholarship and teaching, rather than filling existing
specific teaching assignments."

Some of the priority areas that have emerged for WSU include the
development of a center to study global animal diseases, building on
the university's extensive experience in veterinary medicine; and the
creation of a Health Sciences division headquartered in Spokane.

The report also directs some colleges to develop more specific areas
of focus for strategic investment. For example, an internal review
will be conducted to determine how to develop a program on the
environment and sustainability among several departments.

William Cofer, chair-elect of the Faculty Senate and a professor of
civil and environmental engineering, said he thought the university
set up a good method of arriving at these decisions, with a lot of
opportunity for input from people all over campus.

"The process was a good one," he said. "I think they went about it in
the right way."

He said he was most familiar with the proposals in his own college,
and that they weren't too drastic. Among the recommendations for the
College of Engineering and Architecture were to expand graduate
programs in bio-engineering, to invest in a specific, focused area
within Biological Systems Engineering and to develop strategies for
redirecting faculty into the priority areas.

By contrast, two degree programs within the College of Agriculture,
Human and Natural Resource Scientists were eliminated on Tuesday – the
bachelor's degrees in forestry and community and rural sociology. The
college was also directed to trim course offerings and "low-enrollment
degrees," as were many colleges.

Some members of the faculty have been concerned about having enough of
a voice in the process, and one questioner at the Pullman meeting
noted that the report was released when many professors were away from
campus, with the steps for making the decision occurring over the
summer.

Efforts to reach representatives within the forestry and other
programs were unsuccessful Tuesday. James and Bates said there has
been some dissatisfaction among faculty involved with programs
targeted for cuts, as well as anxiety about what the future holds if
they're asked to change their focus.

James said reaction has covered "the whole spectrum."

"We've had people very upset about certain aspects of it. Forestry
might fall in that category," he said. "We've also had others who are
very enthusiastic that this is going to help the university."

Shawn Vestal can be reached at (509) 459-5431 or shawnv at spokesman.com