New doctoral programs arise once in a blue moon—which makes this year’s expansion of the Graduate School’s offerings remarkable.
Three new graduate programs have moved through the lengthy approval process this year: a doctoral program in nursing, masters of science and Ph.D. programs in medical physics and a doctorate in public policy. The first two programs won the Board of Trustees’ support Dec. 3. For the program in public policy, which the Academic Council approved March 24, a vote at the Trustees’ meeting in May is the last remaining hurdle.
“For all three of them, the timing was perfect,” said Leigh DeNeef, associate dean of the Graduate School. “We have a very active group of faculty.”
Over the past couple of decades, the Graduate School has added more interdisciplinary certificates than degree-granting programs. Although developing disciplines are opening the door to new degrees, DeNeef explained, three is still an unusually high number of new programs for a single year, not matched since the late 1980s.
Now, the nascent programs face the challenge of getting up and running. Medical physics is off to the fastest start, and its first masters of science and doctoral candidates will enroll in Fall 2005. Organizers of the program foresee a successful future.
“Our goal is to be in the top four in terms of quality within the first three years of our existence,” said James Dobbins, director of the program and associate professor of radiology.
Before the semester begins, arrangements for new classes still need to be finalized. Entering students will also take some courses cross-listed with other departments. More new classes are in the works for Spring 2006.
Recruitment of students has already begun. More than 60 people applied, taking advantage of the application deadline’s extension to Feb. 28. The Graduate School’s usual closing date is Dec. 31. Accepted students do not have to report their decisions until April 15, but Dobbins estimated that four to six doctoral candidates would enroll, in addition to 10 to 12 masters of science students.
“We’re all ecstatic about the fact that we’ve had so many applicants and that the quality of the applicants has just been excellent,” Dobbins said. “Recruitment, for us, was our first priority.”
Faculty advertised the new degrees on the Internet and communicated directly with the physics departments at Duke, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University.
“We’ve had a phenomenal response to our website,” Dobbins noted. “We get about 200 web hits a day.”
Technology also has a major role in promoting the University’s new Ph.D. in nursing. Even though students will not enroll until Fall 2006 and cannot even apply until this August, many are already requesting information.
“We’ve had a deluge of people interested,” said Marti Doyle, assistant to the directors for graduate studies. The resulting e-mail list includes well over 100 addresses. She described the Internet as the “primary source for potential students.”
Since the program will take only four students in the first year, selectivity will be high from the start, said co-director Jody Clipp, professor of nursing. Applicant numbers could be even higher after the program gets more national attention, she added.
“We’re going to be, I think, able to take the very, very top students,” Clipp said.
For now, there is still plenty to do. Faculty involved in organizing the program spend hours each week in planning meetings. Nevertheless, the preparations ahead have not dampened Clipp’s enthusiasm.
“This is a tremendous thing. I don’t even know how to put it into words,” Clipp said. “Our school has turned a major corner toward the upper tier of nursing science.”
Excitement about the potential Ph.D. in public policy is also high, said Frederick Mayer, director of graduate studies for public policy, even though the program has not yet come before the Board of Trustees.
“We had a long discussion in the department about whether we wanted to do this,” Mayer said. Now, he noted, faculty have become increasingly engaged even amidst the distractions of March Madness.
Public policy has the advantage of an established recruiting organization for its masters programs, an obvious aid for publicizing the new doctorate. Mayer anticipated that the Internet would also be vital to attracting students for the Ph.D.
“Much of this will be predicated on people searching for us on the web,” Mayer said. “We’ll also, of course, have a more retail approach, sending out letters and information to people in the field.”
In fall 2006, the program plans to welcome the first cohort of six to eight doctoral candidates—enough to make them feel part of a group—Mayer explained.
Approval from the Trustees has to come first, cautioned DeNeef, but he was optimistic.
“I wouldn’t see why they wouldn’t approve it,” DeNeef said.
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