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Faculty group decries history program cuts Says state focus on science studies hurting courses
September 11, 2007
By Dave O'Brien
Record-Courier staff writer
Kent State University's Faculty Senate overwhelmingly passed two resolutions Monday decrying a suggested reallocation of graduate studies funding that could doom the university's history doctoral program, supporters say.
Both measures urged university president Lester Lefton, provost Robert Frank and Dr. John West, vice president for research and dean of graduate studies, to fight what critics say is a Gov. Bob Taft-era mandate from the state to put more money into funding graduate studies in the sciences at the expense of a true liberal arts education.
As a follow-up to Taft's $1.6 billion Third Frontier high technology research initiative, the Innovation Incentive Program calls for Ohio universities to re-allocate 1.5 percent of funding for doctoral programs from humanities to science-based programs every year for 10 years, with the purpose of promoting high technology research and development to drive economic growth.
Ten public and two private Ohio universities were asked to identify their strengths and had their reports reviewed by outside sources. KSU was not pushed or urged in any particular direction said West, but reminded by both the Ohio Board of Regents and academics outside Ohio of its strengths in liquid crystal technology and the biosciences.
Critics among the KSU faculty say the reallocation would doom humanities graduate programs such as the university's history doctoral program by pushing funds in the direction of the sciences. Several who were present Monday said they were told that funding for the history doctoral program would be cut with the eventual goal of eliminating the program entirely.
On Monday, faculty senator Robert Twieg, a chemistry professor, held up what he called a "doctoral program hit list" of programs that would suffer from cuts in funding.
Jerry Feezel, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, said "there was never a proposal to eliminate the history doctoral program" and if there was, it was the first he had heard of it.
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