At their final meeting of 2014 this weekend, the Board of Trustees approved two new master’s degree programs.
The two degrees—one in quantitative financial economics and the other in biomedical science—were proposed at the Nov. 20 meeting of the Academic Council.
The quantitative financial economics program will be geared toward students who eventually want to enroll in Ph.D. programs in finance or careers in the financial markets or with related regulatory and policy institutions. Faculty in Duke’s department of economics are already deeply engaged the research and study of quantitative financial economics, said Emma Rasiel, associate professor of the practice of economics, at last month’s meeting of the Academic Council.
The master’s degree in biomedical science will be geared toward prospective applicants to schools in the medical field as well as those pursuing careers in biomedical sciences. The program will provide students with more knowledge and clinical experience in various areas of medicine.
At last year’s December meeting, the Board approved five new master’s programs. This approval raised questions from the Academic Council regarding whether the infrastructure for adding new programs was driven by financial or academic factors.
"There was much concern about the trend [last year]," Academic Council chair Joshua Socolar, professor of physics, said at last month’s meeting. "Since then, Dean [of the Graduate School] Paula McClain and others have paid close attention to this issue, and it appears that the pace has slowed a bit."
In other business:
The Board reviewed the financing and construction plans for the new parking garage to be constructed at the corner of Cameron Boulevard and Science Drive set to be finished in 2016.
The new structure will add an additional 2,000 parking spots and cost approximately $53 million.
“The new spaces will provide some much needed relief to students at Fuqua and the Law School,” said Michael Schoenfeld, vice president for government affairs and public relations.
The Alumni Association briefed the Board on updates to the strategic plan for alumni affairs, focusing on new ways that technology can be used to keep former students connected with the University and each other.
“Alumni relations have always been very backward-looking, but there are new things we can be doing to keep alumni engaged starting now,” said President Richard Brodhead.
He added that he envisioned a system in the future in which graduates can connect seamlessly to other alumni living in their area through Duke-run social media—not just for networking and career advancement but also for social purposes.
The Board heard a report on Ph.D. programs. Brodhead said it was particularly interesting to hear the ways in which administrators within the Ph.D. sector are focusing on guiding students who want to use their degrees to go into fields other than academia.
“Everyone on the Board has been an undergraduate, but not everyone has graduate education,” Brodhead said, emphasizing the importance of thinking critically about the nuances of graduate education.
This year—as with every few years—the Board had a briefing and breakout session on institutional risks facing the University. They discussed possibilities of risk within health crises, information security and other topics. Ebola was a large topic of discussion this year, Brodhead said, noting that much of national media was focused on fear surrounding the potential of an outbreak.
“Newspapers are filled with something every hour about risky things going on at universities,” Brodhead said.
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