Anthropology
Established in 1959, the department has experienced both growth and reduction periods. At its largest, the department had 9.5 permanent faculty, with approximately 15 adjunct faculty, many of whom are graduates of the program. Currently, the department has 6.5 full-time faculty, with 118 majors, 33 minors, and 25 graduate students. The department has undertaken a number of efforts to increase enrollments, including a combined Bachelor’s - Master’s program, career pathways, expended internships, and a Skills Masters Track. Enrollments in the graduate program are up. Over 65% of majors identify as female and 36% as BIPOC.
Non-majors take Anthropology courses as electives, including 15 cluster courses per year. The department continues to engage in efforts to expand enrollments and is expanding remote and online offerings.
The department has a strong national reputation as an applied anthropology program, and community-grounded scholarship shows engagement with Tribal Nations. Anthropology emphasizes career pathways for majors, with employment demands in Cultural Resource Management.
The department affirms that these combined efforts—especially the emphasis on skills-oriented and community-based, social justice-focused applied anthropology—are moving the driver metrics “in a positive direction.” Further, plans underway include a fully online UG degree path by 2023, creating two new flexible/online graduate certificates in Cultural Resource Management and Tribal Monitoring, and piloting larger 100-level courses.
To sustain this work, the department requests two faculty members, one with expertise in archaeology and a second in environmental anthropology. They are open to exploring joint appointments.
Provost Response
The Anthropology Department clearly has a history of strengths, particularly in the areas of research and community impact. The department should be particularly commended for its long-standing efforts to develop and sustain tribal relations.
Nonetheless, declines in enrollments in Anthropology—both at PSU and nationally—suggest that the department should develop a pathway to align its faculty resources with a decreased number of students. While the faculty must make decisions about the curriculum, one example would be to consider further streamlining your curriculum and decreasing the number of areas in the undergraduate degree from 3 to 2. We also encourage exploring new programmatic collaborations with other departments.
Applied Linguistics
The department offers five qualifications: a BA in Applied Linguistics, a minor in Applied Linguistics, a BA+1 MA TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) degree, a post-bac certificate in TESOL, and an MA in TESOL. The MA in TESOL has two tracks: A teaching track and an Applied Linguistics track. The department is also home to the Literacy, Language, and Technology Research group, which is supported by external funding.
The department currently has seven TT, three NTTF faculty, and one self-supported research faculty member. In recent years, one faculty member retired, one died just pre-retirement, and two retirements are expected. The report notes that when faculty have time to invest in grant writing through course releases or summer funding, they have a good history of receiving funding. One faculty member is currently a PI on an NSF grant, another faculty member is a co-PI on an NSF grant in collaboration with faculty from GEOG, ESM, ANTH (under review).
The department's strengths are in applying linguistic analysis tools and knowledge of language-related issues in a variety of societal contexts. The unit also has expertise in language pedagogy. This expertise is often shared with the university (e.g., following a rigorous linguistic analysis, teaching engineering students about the writing genre in their field). Graduates work in a variety of fields, primarily in English language teaching, but also workforce training, computational linguistics, educational testing, and more.
The department’s lower SCH/FTE is the result of several factors: the loss of three GTA positions that supported higher enrollment courses (dropping enrollments from 60-80 down to 30-35); prioritization of offering courses that enable students to complete the program more quickly, which often results in smaller sections; limitation on class sizes in courses focused on teaching pedagogy; one the introductory courses for the major is writing-intensive (WIC), therefore requires a smaller size, and the decision to have one full-time faculty member focus some of their time on departmental advising to support student success rather than using their time exclusively for teaching.
The department noticed a decline in enrollment several years ago. Causes included: a new BA curriculum in 2016, designed to increase the breadth of student knowledge, had more required courses, more credits, and less flexibility; a TESOL certificate program took more than a year to complete due to strict course sequencing, and changes in pathway advising that may have led to fewer students becoming aware of Applied Linguistics.
In response, the department: revised the post-bac TESOL certificate in 2019 to enable students to complete it in a year, reducing the number of credits from 40 to 28; reached out to IGS to create a pathway for students majoring in INTL to add the certificate; reduced the number of credits required for the minor, removed limits on courses that can count towards both the TESOL certificate and major; added an accelerated BA+1 MA TESOL degree, and developed a proposal to make the BA more flexible and reduce the total number of credits. The reduction in the number of credits is also in line with many other programs at the University.
These efforts seem to be paying off, with the number of students enrolled in the minor up from 7 in 2020 to 37. The number of declared certificate students has increased from 8 in 2020-21 to 56 in 2021-22.
In addition to the curricular changes noted here, the department is exploring ways in which it can strategically collaborate with other units across campus to increase enrollment, bring issues of language to the fore, and provide critical support for the university’s missions of accessibility and preparing a future-ready workforce. These ideas include adding expertise in natural language processing, collaboration on degrees at both the undergraduate and graduate level, beginning campus-wide work on linguistic diversity and discrimination, and continuing important interdisciplinary work on the importance of discipline-specific language for student success.
Provost Response
While the TESOL program has grown, enrollments in other areas of Applied Linguistics have declined.
We ask that the unit develop a strategic plan and recommendations for continuing or altering its program with the current faculty resources. The unit is asked to deliver this plan to the dean by January 15, 2023. We strongly encourage the unit to consider possibilities for reorganization with another department (s) (e.g., WLL, Comm, SPHR, ANTH) in ways that could provide increased opportunities for cross-disciplinary curricula as well as shared support systems. ReImagine funds can be made available to support the development of this plan.
If the unit is not able to develop a viable plan for moving forward, we will move forward with steps towards program reduction as outlined in the "Elimination and Alteration of Academic Units" and relevant articles in our CBAs. If such steps are taken, we will follow all appropriate processes outlined in the Faculty Senate Constitution and the CBAs.”
Architecture
The School of Architecture offers two fully accredited professional programs: a 4+2 and a 3-year Masters in Architecture. The School also offers a minor in Architecture. The School is one of only 24 programs selected by the NCARB to participate in the Integrated Path to Architectural License Program, allowing students to begin taking the licensure exam while still in school.
Faculty in the School have received numerous awards and recognitions, both nationally and internationally. The School is equally proud of the awards that its students have received.
The report notes that, while Architecture may appear to be less efficient when compared with some PSU programs, it is extremely efficient when compared with other accredited programs of architecture.
The School notes that previous efforts to increase enrollments were not met with promised resources. To adjust to reduced resources, the school reduced the number of introductory sections offered.
National enrollments in Architecture are predicted to decline. Because these predictions include international students, and because PSU’s programs enroll few international students, it is expected that PSU may be less impacted by this decline.
The school is proud of its high graduation rates for students admitted to the architecture program— above 95%. The report acknowledges that there is not a meaningful “off ramp” for those not admitted to the major.
Recognizing that Architecture is predominantly a white profession, the school is undertaking efforts to increase diversity among faculty and students. One effort will be launched this summer—a free summer immersion program exclusively for BIPOC high school students. The School is raising private funds to cover the costs of this program.
Community engagement is a cornerstone of the program. The report lists over 40 community engagement activities in the past three years.
To increase enrollments, the school is exploring adding an Interior Design Program to increase undergraduate SCH. With the loss of interior design programs offered by other institutions (such as Marylhurst), there are currently no accredited programs in the Metro area, in spite of the fact that PCC offers an AA degree that graduates dozens of students annually.
Requests: The unit requests one-year funding for an NTTF position to develop the Interior Design Program proposal.
Provost Response:
While Architecture has an admirably high graduation rate for students admitted into the professional program, the graduation rate—in Architecture—for those who began the program but were not admitted into the upper division is quite low. In other words, a substantial number of students who take the qualifying courses to be admitted to Architecture are not admitted to the degree program. We ask that Architecture undertake a process for better understanding the outcomes for the students who are NOT admitted to the degree program. Do they remain at PSU? Do they pursue other majors? This retention issue—while not entirely the responsibility of Architecture—should be an issue to which the program attends. Are there options within Architecture or COTA to create an alternate pathway for these students to complete a degree at PSU?
In support of the unit's intention to develop a degree in Interior Design that responds to an unmet transfer need in the region, Academic Affairs will provide funding for a one-year NTTF position to collaborate with faculty in the completion of a degree proposal. These funds are provided from the Strategic Investment Plan and are directly in response to the unit's proposal to increase enrollments by 64 new students/1,664 new SCH per year. Ongoing funding for this position will need to be provided as part of overall COTA budget planning.
Conflict Resolution
Conflict Resolution is proud of its 26-year history, beginning as a graduate program in 1996 in response to community support and now includes an undergraduate degree and a minor. The program has adapted to reflect the changing times and has revised its offerings at both the undergraduate and graduate levels in recent years. The BA/BS and minor degree programs are one of the largest in the western US. The report points to CR as a highly marketable degree that offers skills valued by employers in many sectors. The unit applied for departmental status in 2020, but this request was not approved.
Conflict Resolution is proud of its long commitment to diversity, including enrollment of students from diverse backgrounds. CR also maintains community partnerships with a variety of organizations in the region.
The program enrolled eight majors in 2016, growing to an average of 11 majors in recent years. There are 33 CR minors. The graduate program underwent revisions in 2017-19 that yielded the first “Stackable” masters at PSU. Between 2011-2015, 78 students obtained a master's degree in CR. The program has worked to connect to students who stopped out by offering certificates that recognized student work, and the unit is developing marketing plans to address decreasing enrollments at the master's level.
Both the BA/BS and minor are offered fully online, and the unit has submitted a proposal for a flexible online master’s degree in conflict resolution, the first of its kind in the PNW.
The unit acknowledges its decreasing SCH and points to a number of factors, including that the unit was under a moratorium in 2018-19 as part of a restructuring effort. The unit also has not been able to hire replacements for faculty retirements. The program ran the Conflict Resolution Resource Center, but the Center has been dormant due to losses of FTE.
To address these and other issues, they are: developing SCH goals for the aggregate of faculty, including floors beneath which a course would not be taught; seeking to add more courses to Junior Clusters, and cross-listing courses with other units. They also plan to create a professional UG certificate.
The unit is interested in partnership with other units in CLAS and elsewhere to develop new degree or certificate offerings. The unit also expressed an interest in operating from within a school in CLAS. A new graduate certificate in Holocaust, Genocide, and Atrocity Prevention includes participation from CR.
Provost Response
Given that the university’s resources are significantly constrained, how can your unit continue to fulfill goals that are in alignment with your unit and your college if additional resources will not be made available for the foreseeable future? To respond to this question, each plan will need to identify ways in which degree programs, curricula, community partnerships, or other key activities can be sustained or altered with current resources. Please take into account enrollment patterns, both current and prospective. One way that units often think about their sustainability is to look at how resources are aligned with enrollments.
Plans are expected to show how your unit can function effectively for the foreseeable future. We would like to avoid solutions that may work for one or two years only and seek plans that address longer-term challenges.
We need to separate the financial challenges facing units from the value of the curricula and scholarship taking place in those units. There is no unit at PSU that does not contribute value to the university’s mission and purpose. However, the university’s declining finances do not allow us to provide all of the resources that units request to undertake their work. In that spirit, there are efforts across the university to explore how sharing resources can enable multiple units to function effectively on a smaller budget. Are there ways in which your unit’s contributions to curricula and scholarship can be sustained at the university through potential reorganizations that allow for shared use of resources?
Educational Leadership and Policy
The Educational Leadership and Policy (ELP) Department offers three programs: Educational Administration, Post-secondary Adult and Continuing Education, and Leadership for Sustainability Education. The department also serves as the administrative home for the First Nations Administrator and Knowledge Keepers program.
The department also hosts the Learning Gardens Laboratory, which provides “multicultural interdisciplinary, intergenerational, and experiential garden-based education for public school students and their families, university students, and community members.”
A department strength is the heterogeneity of its course modalities, teaching both hybrid and asynchronous online courses while ensuring that all master’s students are offered face-to-face, hybrid, and online course modalities at least once every academic year.
BIPOC students comprise just under 50% of ELP’s students.
The department engages annually in a continuous improvement cycle that strives to respond in a data-driven way to the evolving needs of the workforce. This process includes documentation of the latest workforce needs, identification of unmet workforce needs within program design/coursework, and co-construction of workforce sensing knowledge base. The department is currently developing an internship opportunity database to support student learning opportunities.
To reduce costs, the department is currently working to pare back the number of non-instructional course releases that are allotted to the coordination of five program certificates (from 22 credit hours down to 4). The department is also sunsetting the use of adjunct instructors as dissertation chairs and committee members. In the future, the department plans to monitor low-enrollment courses.
The department is working to increase marketing and philanthropic support.
Provost Response
The department should work to align its limited faculty resources with student enrollments. We ask specifically that the department looks at the sustainability and applicability of the Leadership for Sustainability Education (LSE) pathway in light of the interim dean's decision to no longer provide university funds to support the operations of the Learning Garden and declining enrollment.
Due to its size, LSE should consider reorganization with other units at PSU that share similar curricula and scholarly practices.
We ask that the LSE develop a plan and recommendation for continuing or altering their program with the current faculty resources. LSE is asked to deliver this plan to the dean by January 15, 2023. ReImagine funds can be made available to support the development of this plan.
If the unit is not able to develop a viable plan, we will move forward with steps towards program reduction as outlined in the "Elimination and Alteration of Academic Units" and relevant articles in our CBAs. If such steps are taken, we will follow all appropriate processes outlined in the Faculty Senate Constitution and the CBAs.
Engineering Technology Management
Engineering Technology Management is a graduate-only program started in 1987. The program is directed towards working professionals, with an emphasis on flipped classrooms and experiential learning models, and has also had strong enrollment from international students. ETM points out that local demand for graduates with an ETM profile is 30% larger than the national average, with demand increasing 1-2% annually.
The unit has served as headquarters for the flagship journal, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, for over 18 years. It has been pivotal in organizing the leading conference in the field, the Portland International Conference on Management of Engineering and Technology. ETM is a research-active unit, with faculty and graduate students publishing over 100 peer-reviewed papers and articles since 2018. The unit averages $212,000 in research expenditures annually.
While courses had historically been in person, the department has begun to rethink its course modalities after observing a strong student preference for online courses. While enrollments declined during the pandemic, fall enrollment numbers are on track to exceed recent years.
As a result of new collaborations with the SBA, the unit proposes changes to the ETM program. It also plans to revise the ETM Masters and certificate programs to increase the program profile, provide more attractive course options, and increase marketability.
The unit’s primary challenge is its faculty size: four TT faculty (decreased from seven). The unit faculty are challenged to manage the activities critical to program management, such as admissions, curriculum committee, and covering the full range of courses.
The department requests resources for marketing its programs to potential students and funding for a Professor of Practice position. The unit also requests an opportunity to put forward a strategic hiring plan for connecting industry/community problems to methods expertise in ETM. Changes to the capstone program have begun to put this into place.
Provost Response
After reviewing the report alongside the information in the dashboards and conferring with Interim Dean Feng, we write today with the recommendation that while it is clear that the ETM degree speaks to an industry need, it is also the case that the unit's size constrains its ability to realize its greatest impact. We ask that the unit develop a plan by January 15, 2023, for how to continue its program to best utilize its current resources. That plan should consider some of the following options:
- Developing more online programs
- Collaborating more closely with the School of Business
- Reorganizing to consolidate with another unit/college
- Increasing differential tuition to help cover increased costs of the program
ReImagine funds can be made available to support this work.
Film (School of)
The unit is proud of its distinction and the work of its graduates and offers the most comprehensive curriculum in film studies and film production in Oregon and the PNW. The School was listed in Movie Maker Magazine as one of the Best Film Schools in the U.S. and Canada. The list of curricular strengths is long. Students have screened work at festivals, organized PSU’s 5th Avenue Cinema and Sub-basement Studios, and served in regional internships. Graduates work in film and television and attend prestigious schools such as USC and RISD. The unit is proud of its faculty accomplishments and lists individual scholarly achievements. The unit meets the university median for base net revenue.
Film notes that SCH generation is limited due to the faculty’s decision to cap filmmaking and writing classes at 16-20 students per class for pedagogical and learning outcomes. All majors are assigned a FT tenure-stream faculty advisor. The unit also prioritizes the use of FT faculty to deliver the curriculum. The department also decided to strategically limit program growth to maintain sustainable student-to-faculty ratios in light of resource allocation not commensurate with increasing enrollment numbers.
Most classes are for majors only. Because increases in SCH generation were not reflected in the program’s budget, the unit reduced undergraduate offerings. The unit has adapted course scheduling and modalities to reflect student interests.
The unit has revised the major twice since its creation in 2007 and plans to revisit this to serve the needs of students. Film is hoping to contribute a number of courses to the new RESR requirement and is also developing a 100-level course in Digital Culture.
The unit requests: funding for a consultant to develop a strategic plan for new courses in stop-motion animation, soundproofing the production studio, and a full-time production technician to oversee equipment management. Film mentions the increased interest in the state of Oregon in attracting film and television production projects and believes its faculty and students can contribute to enhancing that effort.
Provost Response
Film effectively summarizes the factors that inform the unit's decisions to set class size limits and to have full-time faculty assigned to advise each major. While these decisions have yielded positive outcomes in terms of retention, graduation, and post-graduation success, they also have limited the unit's capacity to expand to offer courses that respond to broad student interest in Film. In order to more effectively align the costs of these program practices with institutional resources, we ask that Film begin a conversation about charging differential tuition that would enable the unit to more effectively cover the costs of these more intensive program features.
You make an effective point about the school’s contributions to the regional film industry. We encourage you to explore partnerships with regional and state organizations that benefit from the school’s graduates and to explore opportunities to increase external support for these contributions.
Geology
Geology is establishing itself as “the preferred training ground for a growing and increasingly diverse geoscience workforce in Portland and beyond.”
As part of these efforts, the department is awaiting final approval of a new Professional Science Masters in Applied Geoscience. This emphasis reflects that more students at PSU take the professional licensing exam than any other Oregon university.
The department faculty has reduced from 9 TT faculty in 2017 to 5.37 in 2020. The report acknowledges that geoscience departments nationally are small, with 63% having fewer than 10 TT faculty. The report notes that all TT faculty have been funded by external awards from NSF, NASA, DOE, and community contracts.
The department argues that its performance on the dashboard metrics is above the median when normalized for size. The unit experienced significant enrollment decreases during the pandemic, though the unit gained 0.3% in fall 2021, with stable enrollments in spring 2022. Geology has been working to strengthen relationships with community colleges since most majors are transfer students. Graduate enrollments are limited by the number of faculty to advise the required thesis component.
The department has taken measures to break down barriers to student success, especially for under-represented minorities, participating in a number of PSU’s funded programs to increase diversity in STEM fields. In addition, the department has established a Curricular Advisory Council of professional geologists.
Geology is undertaking conversations as part of a ReImagine grant that explores formal integration with Geography, ESM, and other units to streamline course offerings, increase cross-disciplinary research, and take advantage of cooperative administrative support for partnerships student support, and diversity efforts.
Provost Response
We ask that the department continue to develop a plan to align a smaller faculty size with curricular offerings. While decisions about the curriculum must be made by the faculty, one example would be to consider further efforts to streamline and concentrate your program and reduce the number of required credits for the major.
The unit report also puts forward an idea for consolidation with two other units (Geography and Environmental Science) to form a new School that supports greater synergies across the units; the formation of a consolidated school would also enable the units to collaborate on a more effective support infrastructure. We encourage the unit to develop a plan to implement this idea and undertake any appropriate Faculty Senate processes required.
History
History has strengths in U.S. and Pacific NW History, World History, and Pre-Modern History. The department is proud of its academic distinction, with numerous faculty having received awards for teaching, research, and graduate mentoring. They have received numerous external awards for scholarly publications and are home to the Pacific Historical Review, a premier academic journal of western American and Pacific Rim history. Faculty awards and distinctions include recognition by the NEH, ACLS, NSF, Mellon, and more. The report describes the department as “one of PSU’s most formidable collections of scholars.”
The department has 15.5 TT and 4 NTTF faculty. 2.5 faculty will retire in June 2022. Including these 2.5 faculty, the department will have lost 6 FTE in the past three years. The unit acknowledges that it will be smaller than it was in 2018-19. The department is largely tenured, with 55% of TT faculty holding the highest rank. Enrollment declines in History mirror those of national declines across the Humanities. Between 2011 and 2019, the number of majors decreased from 460 to 203, while the total SCH decreased from 6852 to 4248. The report notes that the combined SCH/FTE was 531 in 2020-21, right around the university medians.
In response to decreasing numbers of students and faculty, the unit reduced its 400-level courses in 2020 while expanding 100-200 level courses. In addition to revising courses, the department has also emphasized having FT faculty teaching lower division courses.
National enrollments in graduate programs are down as well. The department retains one of its TAships, which it affirmed has had a substantial impact on graduate recruitment. A recent external review offered a number of recommendations for rethinking elements of the graduate program. In light of this feedback, the unit has: introduced an MA non-thesis track, eliminated written exams for the thesis track, reduced the total number of credit hours, and approved a combined BA/BS+MA pathway. The department is also exploring an MS in History (with a non-language requirement). In response to these efforts, the number of applications has increased over the past two years by 18%.
The department notes that it is “holding its own” in the number of degrees awarded when put in context with other units in CLAS. The MA awards in the past three years have approached the average number from 2002 to 2013 (11.4/year) and matched our highest output ever between Fall 2021 and Summer 2022.
About 40% of the department’s courses contribute to service hours to other units. In UNST/HON, for example, the unit has contributed the equivalent of 2 FT TT FTE in instruction. The unit points to the number of courses taught by its faculty that generate SCH for other units.
The department prides itself on its contributions to university goals of community engagement and racial equity/DEI.
Provost Response
The unit report summarizes many of the key strengths and areas of distinction of the History Department. In particular, the department has an impressive history of scholarly accomplishments and leadership in the field. We commend these achievements.
The department shows strong evidence of working to accommodate the declining numbers of students—locally and nationally—taking courses in History. We particularly encourage the ongoing work to reduce the number of electives offered in the curriculum.
The department has shown an equally strong willingness to contribute to the curricular needs of other units experiencing enrollment expansion, particularly UNST and the Honors College. We encourage continued exploration of how History Department faculty can be involved in instruction in other units.
As enrollments in History graduate degrees decline, opportunities to maximize faculty resources may come from exploring ways to creatively engage with other units to broaden enrollment and training opportunities as well as external support for the History graduate degree program.
Based on continuing declines in enrollment, aligning faculty resources with the teaching needs of the unit will be essential. We encourage you to continue your efforts to strategically redistribute teaching assignments and explore opportunities to reduce adjunct and NTTF teaching faculty to better align overall faculty resources with student demand.
International and Global Studies
International and Global Studies began in the early 1980s, offering a BA with five regional tracks, with a thematic track in International Development Studies added in 2007. In response to an external review, the program became a department in 2014. In 2016, the unit moved to CUPA, subsequently creating a track in Global Studies in 2017. The unit contributes to UNST (FRINQs, SINQs, and Junior Clusters.)
IGS prides itself on being one of the most diverse units at PSU, with intentional prioritization of hiring BIPOC and international faculty. Between 2019 and 2021, BIPOC faculty comprised between 37-57%. 40% of IGS students are BIPOC.
The unit was among the first at PSU to offer a large number of courses online and continues to offer a flexible degree to meet student needs. The department reviewed its curriculum in recent years, eliminating some courses and changes in titles and descriptions and sequencing courses to support student experiences in upper-division courses. Additionally, the unit worked with the Faculty Senate to place a moratorium on admission to three tracks in the BA program and one certificate to focus reduced faculty resources on growing areas of student interest. The department has also emphasized making its courses low-cost or no-cost to support the university’s accessibility mission.
International and Global Studies has seen a 7.1% decline in majors and minors in the last three years. IGS points out that, in this, it is like many other units at PSU. In response, IGS focuses on the visibility of the degree, noting some of the following factors: that PSU students are asked to declare majors early; changes in the PSU advising model; and the unit’s move from CLAS to CUPA. IGS also argues that it is losing students to PSU’s unstructured degrees, such as the BA in Liberal Studies.
The unit also points to the changing national and political climates impacting the recruitment of international and domestic students with an interest in topics of global salience.
Simultaneously, the unit lost faculty lines to retirement, currently having six TT faculty. The report points to the number of national and international awards and grants received by IGS faculty over the years.
IGS argues that it is not fully credited in the dashboards for SCH that are generated by its faculty teaching in other units, such as SINQs, and that these SCH are not reflected in the unit’s RCAT values.
The unit is currently conducting a survey of CC courses to create a list of equivalencies between those courses and the IGS major. In addition, the Faculty Senate approved the reduction of the overall credits required for two of the tracks. The unit has worked to make the minor and certificates more accessible to majors in other areas.
IGS put forward a vision for a School for Global Interdisciplinary Studies that would include IGS and a number of departments in CLAS.
Requests: The unit requests a dedicated advisor to increase majors and funding for an internship coordinator to make the degree more attractive to students by clarifying career opportunities. The unit also requests funding for an outreach coordinator to increase the visibility of the degree among prospective students.
Provost Response
While offering classes that cover valuable areas of study, IGS enrollments, particularly majors, are declining. The unit is asked to develop a plan for continuing or altering offering courses with the current faculty resources. The unit is asked to deliver this plan to the dean by January 15, 2023. ReImagine funds can be made available to support the development of this plan.
Your report indicated an interest in possibly combining or reorganizing with other unit(s). Please include these considerations in your plan.
If the unit is not able to develop a viable plan for moving forward, we will move forward with steps towards program reduction as outlined in the "Elimination and Alteration of Academic Units" and relevant articles in our CBAs. If such steps are taken, we will follow all appropriate processes outlined in the Faculty Senate Constitution and the CBAs.
Physics
Physics has 14 FT faculty. The BS degree consists of 4 specialized tracks recently revised to reduce the number of required credits by 10-15. The graduate degree consists of a flexible MS and a doctorate in Applied Physics. The report notes the decline in graduate enrollments and the department is developing certificates and MS programs in areas of applied physics to address this decline.
The unit report acknowledges concerns about the number of UG degrees awarded in Physics. They point out that the number of degrees at PSU is similar to other Oregon institutions for Physics majors.
The department notes that it is a key contributor to university-wide service courses, principally at the 200-level, providing essential courses for almost all engineering and STEM majors. The department is committed to addressing issues that have caused some students to prefer to tackle these courses at community colleges and are innovating offerings to increase SCH and revenues in these courses.
Physics is also enhancing its ability to offer online and hybrid courses. To address concerns about labs, the department developed inexpensive lab kits that enable at-home labs. The department has concerns about continuing these sections due to decreases in allocated TAs. Beginning in fall 2020, the department also began offering an introductory course for pre-health and life science students, funded by an NSF grant. One of the outcomes is using an online textbook platform that reduces costs to students and provides individualized learning pathways.
The department has played a strong role in STEM education initiatives at PSU. With a grant from APLU, the Physics faculty developed innovative adaptive learning courses for the 200-level sequences of General Physics. In 2020, the department also added an innovative pre-health General Physics course for students planning to pursue life science and allied health degrees.
The department notes that its RCAT budget is affected by the inclusion of the Science Support Service budget in the Physics budget, even though this unit serves all STEM departments.
Physics is involved in several initiatives that enhance the participation of underrepresented minorities in STEM fields and established a DEI committee three years ago.
The department has extensive interactions with local high-tech industries. These relationships have supported increased Co-op opportunities as well as philanthropic gifts. Before the pandemic, the department began a Co-op program that it hopes to continue.
Physics is involved in early discussions of a national workforce training program in semiconductor physics and engineering, with one faculty member serving on the planning committee.
The report notes that completing the new Vernier Science Center will support many of the innovative teaching practices the department has been developing.
Provost Response
The report outlines impressive work focusing on student success; in this, Physics stands among the leaders at PSU in its innovation.
With this emphasis on the undergraduate program, we ask that you put the Ph.D. program on moratorium while you consider developing a more applied (and collaborative) Master’s program that would support partnerships with industry and other regional partners, as well as continuing your efforts to explore opportunities to partner with other departments (ESM, GEOG, GEOL, BIO, CHEM, etc.) to support collaborative graduate training in the environmental and natural sciences.
Given the strong regional and statewide interest in workforce training in semiconductor and advanced manufacturing, we ask you to continue and enhance efforts to collaborate with other units (e.g. CHEM, MME, ECE, etc.) to develop applied undergraduate training programs (in partnership with local industries) that would further advance student social mobility and enable PSU to contribute to addressing some critical regional workforce needs.
Political Science
Political Science strives to: provide students with training to understand the ways in which politics impacts their lives, produce cutting-edge research, and contribute expertise to community partners, media, and the discipline.
The department has revised all of its undergraduate programs in the past three years to maximize student satisfaction and success. PS affirms that its “commitment to responsiveness has paid off,” with FY20 showing a positive upswing in majors and minors, putting them above the university median for growth in the past three years.
The department states that its graduate SCH does not accurately reflect the courses taught by PS faculty in multidisciplinary courses; those credits are allocated to another department. Its total SCH is thus not accurately reflected in the dashboards.
PS acknowledges that its PS Masters shows low numbers of graduates but emphasizes that the courses taught in the PS MS are integrated into other graduate programs, making the courses productive of SCH for multiple programs. The faculty recently focused on revising the PS MS and have begun to see positive results. The revised program is set to “meet the needs of modern students.” This revised program has now received more applications than in the previous four years combined. The report also points to the inequitable distribution of graduate assistantships given to masters degree students in the college.
The department cites its strong scholarly reputation, with almost all faculty having won national book awards or fellowships. The department enrolls 42% BIPOC and 55% female students and notes the increasing demand for law classes and requests resources to provide a focused pre-law program.
Provost Response
Political Science has made impressive efforts to streamline the curriculum; we encourage you to continue this work. Examine the purpose and sustainability of the Master's degree.
Public Administration
Committed to the motto, “making a difference through public service,” the department offers four Masters programs, two graduate certificates, and an undergraduate minor. Together with the Political Science Department, PA also offers an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Public Affairs and Policy and a Masters in Public Policy. Several PA programs are ranked among the top 50 in the US. The department also contributes to several interdisciplinary graduate programs. Students are public service professionals seeking careers in federal, state, and local government as well as non-profits.
Core faculty include nine FT core faculty (eight TT and 1 NTTF) and two FT staff. In 2021, the core faculty numbered 14. New faculty hires will increase the core faculty to 11 in the fall of 2022. Core faculty receive course releases and buyouts for administrative duties and research activities.
The department experienced some restructuring as a result of the creation of the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health, with faculty in health administration moving to that new School.
The department has 133 enrolled graduate students and 25 undergraduates enrolled in the Civic Leadership Minor. Enrollments have declined, mirroring a national trend. The SCH trend for undergraduate SCH was increasing until the pandemic. Faculty contribute to the PAP doctoral program, serving as chairs and on exam committees, though these activities are not reflected in SCH generation. PA also contributes significant service credit hours.
The unit also placed one of the MPA program specializations on hiatus due to its small size and will be requesting a moratorium for the MPA: HA. It also is considering offering certain electives every other year, eliminating redundant courses, and exploring combining course content into fewer courses. The unit considered shifting courses from 3 to 4 credits and decided against this to avoid increasing students’ financial burden.
Three new degrees are under development: a BUPA+MPA accelerated pathway, a graduate certificate in Advanced Nonprofit and Public Management, and a graduate certificate in Cybersecurity.
The unit now offers all undergraduate courses in multiple modalities to meet student needs.
PA has a broad range of external partnerships, with faculty and students contributing to numerous organizations.
PA recently completed a series of Futures conversations facilitated by Laura Nissen. The unit plans to develop a strategic plan during Spring 2022 to clarify the department’s priority areas. PA also participated in several ReImagine proposals, the outcomes of which informed a number of the steps outlined above.
Requests: PA requests a dedicated staff with expertise in recruitment and outreach.
Provost Response:
The MPAHA degree program has been put on pause due to low enrollments and limitation of resources. We ask that the unit develop a plan to move from "pause" to closing the degree, following all necessary Faculty Senate procedures.
Enrollments in the Master of Nonprofit Leadership are low; given limited resources, pause this degree program while considering whether there is a viable path to sustaining the degree.
We ask you to proceed with your proposal to revise PA graduate courses from 3-credit to 4-credit courses while sustaining the same number of credits needed to complete the degree. This is a positive direction that we encourage the faculty to consider, working with all appropriate faculty committees in proposing curricular changes.
While offering students coursework in an important area, the undergraduate minor in Civic Leadership does not show significant enrollments. Is this the best use of limited faculty resources?
Special Education
The Special Education Department is the largest provider of Special Education teachers in the state of Oregon and offers degree and licensure programs at the undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral levels. All Oregon educators are required to complete an approved program that leads to a license and the department offers multiple pathways for students to receive training.
The department has a number of programs that support these efforts, including the National Transition Center, the Mobility Matters Conference, Career and Community Studies, Inclusion Program National Videos, Inclusive Storytime, Universal Design Lab, and Project Lectura para Excelencia y Exito.
The department has 11 TT and 4 NTTF faculty. Faculty have instructional credits, research, and service, as well as play roles in college leadership. The department has a track record of externally funded grants and contracts.
The unit has several plans underway, including adding a second cohort of students to respond to the persistent growing need for early childhood interventionists throughout the state. The department also made revisions to make pathways to licensure more accessible for students currently working in the field. The unit has begun to offer hybrid courses to accommodate practicing teachers.
The SPED K-12 program recently voted to place its full-time graduate program option on hiatus, allowing the unit to focus faculty resources on the 2-year program.
Provost Response
After reviewing the report alongside the information in the dashboards and conferring with interim Dean Coll, we write today to recommend that with the increasing needs across the state for teachers with Special Education training, we ask that the unit increase its online presence so that programs can be made available to broader populations of students, particularly in rural areas. Resources to support this work may be made available through the Strategic Investment Plan.
Speech and Hearing
Speech and Hearing (SPHR) is recognized nationally for its strong emphasis on multicultural training, the Bilingual Concentration, specialty clinical rotations, and strong opportunities in research labs. They have recently added a new Medical Concentration that is also receiving recognition.
The unit has 16 faculty (8 TT and 8 NTTF). Through a variety of funding sources, the department is undertaking three faculty searches this spring.
The unit regularly receives over 300 applications annually for its graduate program. The department’s enrollments are limited by the clinical requirements for graduate degrees (400 direct client hours). Undergraduate enrollments have declined in the past ten years, mirroring a national trend.
SPHR has worked in recent years to increase student access to classes, creating in 2019 a Student Recruitment, Retention, and Engagement Committee. The department received funding from OAA to host a series of facilitated conversations with underrepresented students to understand the cultural responsivity of SPHR’s learning environments. Those conversations yielded a number of recommendations that have informed departmental actions.
In 2020, the department created a fully online undergraduate CSD certificate with Baccalaureate, developing a fully online undergraduate degree (beginning Fall 2022) and including at least one online section for each required course.
SPHR faculty are active researchers and regularly receive external funding from federal agencies and community partners to support students and research. The department has also received important philanthropic support from the Oregon Scottish Rite of Freemasonry.
The unit requests resources for a new NTTF faculty hire in pediatric medicine as well as support for marketing and outreach.
Provost Response
The region shows increasing demand for graduates with the training and expertise offered by Speech and Hearing. In order to increase opportunities for others around the region to benefit from SPHR degrees, we encourage the development of a fully online speech pathology program.
Similarly, the region could benefit from Speech and Hearing offering a post-baccalaureate certificate in CSD.
Speech and Hearing would benefit from increasing partnerships with other units in ways that could maximize course offerings and resources.
In support of the unit's efforts to expand enrollments in order to meet the region's increasing needs for bi-lingual speech pathologists, we will invest resources from the Strategic Investment Plan for bridge funding for one year for the position of a Bilingual Clinic Director. SPHR/CLAS will be responsible for funding the position after the first year.
Supply Chain Management
The Supply and Logistics Management concentration began in 1997 and has grown, with graduates tripling in the last ten years. The program is one of only 13 Boeing supply chain-focused universities, with students recruited by Boeing every fall. The unit points to the increasing recognition of the significance of supply chain management.
The program points to the high percentage of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) and multi-racial students, at over 62%. Mirroring this proportion, 60% of the faculty in this unit is BIPOC.
The unit has five full-time (FT) faculty - three tenure-track faculty (TTF), one non-tenure-track faculty (NTTF), and one academic director. The faculty support the Supply and Logistics Management undergraduate program, the MS in Global Supply Chain Management, and other programs in the School of Business. Faculty are research active and have received multiple honors and recognitions.
The program works with numerous community organizations to address the impact of supply chain management, including local and state government.
The undergraduate program averages 360 students per year over the last six years, though recent years have shown a decline. The program recognized this trend and has developed a plan to address underlying causes. One step is to improve the balance between in-person and online classes.
A recent survey of students will be used to inform improvements to the program. Hearing that course material costs remain a pain point for students, the program is pursuing a low-cost/no-cost program.
The unit is committed to improving connections to community colleges and community organizations, particularly BIPOC community organizations.
Provost Response
The unit needs to work to balance the distribution of in-person and online classes to maximize student enrollment. We appreciate that you have been working to be more responsive to student enrollment trends during the pandemic and recommend that you continue to monitor these enrollment trends as part of your planning.
Pursue the strong and innovative plans you have identified in the section on Plans Underway.
Theater Arts
The Theater Program dates back to the 1960s, is nationally accredited, and offers a BA/BS as well as a minor. It is now part of the School of Music and Theater in COTA. In 2016-17, the dance program that had been part of Theater was suspended.
With the increase in interest in Film, resources shifted towards Film during the period when the units were combined. Between 2006-2015, Theater maintained eight faculty lines; the unit now has four FT TT faculty.
Theater cites its many community engagement and external partnership efforts.
SCH in Theater declined from 5,563 in 2014-15 to 1,569 in 2020-21. The number of majors declined from 179 in 2014-15 to 50 in 2020-21. The report argues that these declines corresponded to the decrease in faculty size and reduction in adjunct budget.
Theater argues that it has undergone reorganization in recent years due to its merger with Music and the suspension of the dance program and proposes developing a 5-year plan with the guidance of the dean. With the decline in enrollments, the unit is prepared to ask itself “how we can re-vision our program and retool for the future.”
Theater is undertaking outreach to high schools and community colleges to increase enrollments. And while accreditation standards limit some class sizes, the unit hopes to re-establish a number of “outreach” courses for non-majors that could attract larger enrollments. The unit is also considering expanding existing courses through online offerings. Theater seeks to expand its audiences and impact through “transformative engagement with the community.”
Provost Response
You’ve identified several thoughtful plans underway, which we encourage you to consider pursuing. We particularly encourage you to follow up on the ideas of philanthropic engagement and reimagining the curriculum.
While the Theater Arts Program is an important contributor to the Portland cultural community, COTA does not have the resources to invest further in the program. The unit is asked to develop a strategic plan and recommendations for continuing or altering its program with the current faculty resources. The unit is asked to deliver this plan to the dean by January 13, 2023. ReImagine funds can be made available to support the development of this plan.
If the unit is not able to develop a viable plan, we will move forward with steps towards program reduction as outlined in the "Elimination and Alteration of Academic Units" and relevant articles in our CBAs. If such steps are taken, we will follow all appropriate processes outlined in the Faculty Senate Constitution and the CBAs.
Urban Studies and Planning
The Toulan School has been a part of PSU’s urban identity since the 1950s, offering the following degree programs: BA/BS in Community Development, Masters of Real Estate Development (joint with SBA), Master of Urban and Regional Planning, Master of Urban Studies, and a Ph.D. in Urban Studies. There are also three undergraduate minors, and the unit contributes 11 graduate certificates. The School also houses several centers and institutes.
The faculty have been recognized through national awards and serve on national boards. In the past eight years, faculty have submitted proposals for $18.8 million in external funding, securing $6m. The report cites USP as “one of the leading research units” at PSU, having generated over $7m in awards since 2015. Faculty have contributed to urban policy and practice at all levels.
The School is proud of its commitments to racial equity, with more than 50% of faculty from diverse backgrounds. Just over 30% of undergraduates identify as BIPOC. Almost 50% of majors are First Generation.
Community engagement happens throughout USP.
Employment rates for graduates exceed 90%, with median salaries in the $60-70,000 range. Graduates are admitted to top Ph.D. programs across the country.
Enrollments have declined in the last five years, though the average undergraduate degrees awarded has remained relatively constant at 32 per year. Community Development enrollment declines of 142 down to 95 were offset by increased enrollment in the college-wide BA/BS in Urban and Public Affairs. Declines in enrollments in minors have gone from 117 to 78. There has been an increase in SCH generated by service hours from 2,326 to 2,922.
Graduate enrollments generate roughly 40-45% of the unit’s SCH; the overall number of graduate majors has declined by 16%, with a smaller decline in SCH.
USP has been “hemorrhaging” faculty lines over the past five years, dropping from 20.5 in 2015-16 to 15.3 in 2021-22.
The School plans to redesign courses to make majors and minors more attractive, relevant, and effective. Work in progress includes the design of 100- and 200-level courses to introduce students to the major and minor. The unit is also developing proposals for combined bachelors+masters degrees. To increase flexibility, the school is exploring online courses. The school also seeks to increase synergies with other units on campus. Other efforts in progress include increasing course offerings that speak to contemporary issues, contributing to the RESR requirement, renaming and restructuring courses, revising prerequisites, and aligning 300-level courses with clusters. The School also seeks to increase enrollments in graduate certificates.
The School received a ReImagine grant to assess the Ph.D. and Masters in Urban Studies. As a result, the unit will be: optimizing course offerings and increasing course enrollments, improving communication with students, marketing, connecting the program to School priorities, and shifting faculty resources to support these efforts. The School also plans to explore short courses and certificates in areas of faculty expertise.
Requests: The school requests resources to hire a staff person or contractor to develop marketing materials to raise the profile of USP.
Provost Response
As an urban institution, we recognize the need to have strong Urban Studies and Planning curricula and scholarship at PSU. We encourage you to continue your plans underway that articulate pathways for redesigning curricula and reassigning faculty resources to higher-enrollment areas.
We also encourage you to continue to pursue certificates and short-term courses in areas that can attract new enrollments and generate new revenues.
We ask that you pursue your stated plans to consolidate graduate courses by collaborating with doctoral programs across the university.
We ask that you pursue ongoing conversations to reconfigure doctoral programs within CUPA.
Because enrollments have declined, we ask that you develop means to offer courses to a broader range of students through online formats. This would enable this strategic strength to become more visible to a broader community and to increase enrollments in ways that align unit resources with revenues.