RADFORD – Declaring a desire to make the academic program review process “an open and inclusive exchange of ideas and opinions,” President Penelope W. Kyle hosted her second public forum in a week for the Radford University community.

For 90 minutes, a panel of 18 academic deans, directors, faculty and a student representative joined Provost Wil Stanton to field dozens of questions from several hundred students and faculty related to 29 academic programs that are currently under review. The 12 undergraduate degree programs – which together comprise 7 percent of all undergraduate majors and 6 percent of recent undergraduate degrees awarded – were identified for review because they were not meeting the criteria for degree granting programs according to standards RU set based on State Council of Higher Education for Virginia guidelines.

Earlier in the day, Stanton also posted to the Provost website answers to more than 80 program review questions his office has received.

“We can no longer continue the practice of adding new initiatives without critically assessing and eliminating those that have declined in student demand,” Stanton wrote. “We cannot simultaneously provide sustainable resources to all existing programs and services … and prepare our University for future populations of students without fiscal tradeoffs and reallocation of resources.”

(In the photo: Brandi Gross asks a question at Tuesday's forum.)

Today’s forum gave students and faculty the opportunity to ask questions about the review process. It came about after many students and faculty expressed dissatisfaction that their academic questions went unanswered at a separate forum held on Thursday that had been advertised as focusing on RU’s response to state-mandated budget cuts. At Thursday's forum, Kyle and Stanton said academic review questions could not be addressed then for fear of influencing the work of the 16-member Academic Program Review Committee, which was charged with developing recommendations on the 29 flagged programs.

The committee concluded its work Friday.

Of the 29 programs under review, five chose to voluntarily discontinue: the Anthropology degree and post-baccalaureate certificates in Information Technology, Informatics, Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, and Professional Development in Library Media.  The Anthropology degree is suspended and has ceased the enrollment of new students until the possibility of restructuring is considered.  Current anthropology majors will be allowed to continue taking coursework to complete their degree, Stanton said. Brian Conniff, dean of the College of Humanities and Behavioral Sciences, added that the university hopes to develop a new, more science-based physical anthropology major under the auspices of the newly approved School of Environmental and Physical Sciences.

“The question we face about these and all the programs under review is how to position these programs to be more viable,” Conniff said.

The committee’s recommendations now go to the Faculty Senate, which will be given the opportunity to review and comment on the committee’s work. Stanton will use the committee’s recommendations and Faculty Senate’s comments to inform his own recommendations to Kyle and the Board of Visitors, which meets April 22-23.

“We must strategically determine a future focused portfolio of offerings and support services, rather than continue the practice of adding new initiatives without critically assessing and eliminating those that have become less demanded at RU and across the country,” Stanton told the audience. “We must position Radford University to meet the educational and career needs not only for today’s students but also for future populations of students."

As Dean Trae Cotton holds the mike, Brandi Gross (right) asks her question at Tuesday's Academic Forum in Preston Hall (Bondurant Auditorium). Listening are Dr. Dennis Grady (Dean of the College of Graduate and Professional Studies) and the group of Deans and Directors who were fielding questions from the audience.

Photo by Lora Gordon/Radford University