Faculty Senate recommends four programs for permanent status

Four programs were recommended for permanent status and the University's policy on GRE and GMAT requirements was changed at Monday's Faculty Senate meeting.

The senate will recommend the Board of Trustees grant permanent status to the athletic training program, the environmental soil sciences major, the baccalaureate for registered nurses program and the interdisciplinary graduate program in biomechanics and movement science.

Senators voted 33 to 13 to allow each graduate program to set its own policy concerning the GRE and GMAT test scores as a requirement for admission, subject to approval of the Graduate Studies Committee.

Vice Provost John Cavanaugh told the senators that the predictive validity of these standardized tests varies widely from program to program. He said his office receives 150-200 individual requests a year to waive the scores, which he never refuses.

Sen. Annette Shine argued that maintenance of academic standards for an academy goes to the heart of "what an institution is about." Otherwise, she said, "it is just groups of individual programs running autonomously." Robert Hampel, interim director of the School of Education, which had sought to abolish the GRE requirements for two of its programs, said the test discourages mid-career adults from applying for graduate programs and "excellent students go elsewhere."

Senators also passed without challenge a proposal to establish a concentration in marine law and marine policy. Through a cooperative arrangement with Widener University Law School, students in the UD program can apply nine credits taken at the law school as part of their elective requirements for the master's degree in marine policy.

In other business, senators passed a recommendation that a minimum GPA of 2.0 be required of all students transferring into sociology. The agricultural education curriculum requirements also were tightened to require a minimum grade of C minus. The grade is a requirement for all professional education courses in all education programs.

Language in the graduate catalog also was changed to explain more clearly the reasons for dismissal from a graduate program, other than a student's grade point average. Included were failure to pass a preliminary, language or comprehensive exam; inadequate defense of an academic thesis/dissertation or executive position paper or the proposal for such a paper; or failure to make progress toward meeting the academic standards of the program in which the student enrolled. According to the revised language, academic standards "include, but are not limited to, professional, ethical, clinical and other standards required of graduate students."

Provost Mel Schiavelli told the senators that the upcoming freshman class will be smaller by about 300 students, but that the academic quality of the admitted students should be significantly increased. Applications to the University Honors Program are up by 12 percent and, overall, the average SAT scores of the pool has increased 5 to 10 points, he said.

"This may be the finest class ever admitted to the University," Schiavelli said, "with the possible exception of that first class of 10 men." -- Cornelia Weil

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