Task Force Summary

Institutional Research and Accreditation Council

2002-03

 March 12, 2003

Name of Task Force:   Future UNT Programs
Chair of Task Force:   Warren Burggren

Members :  Yvonne Garza,  Donald Grose, Jared Hazleton, Jean Keller, Bob Killam, John Price,  Richard Rafes, Virginia Wheeless

Charge of the Task Force

The charge of the Task Force for Future UNT Programs is to propose, evaluate and recommend broad programs that would enhance the educational opportunities of our students, the scholarly activities of our faculty and staff, and the reputation and image of the University of North Texas - Denton.  The intent is not to duplicate the efforts of current curriculum committees, which largely react to contemporary proposals, but rather to look ahead 10-15 years and recommend the start of planning towards future programs that may be necessary or desirable.

Criteria for Program Consideration

·      How the Program will contribute to the Mission and long-term Vision of UNT and/or the sponsoring college, school or other unit.  Does the Program fit in with the identified priorities of UNT?

·      How many students, of what quality, will the intended new program generate.  In this regard, students may be viewed as an opportunity or challenge to the institution depending on the proposed areas of study.

·      How attractive would the new Program be to the University’s constituents (broadly defined)

·      Does the new Program duplicate unnecessarily Programs in North Texas, or does it provide either a new or improved opportunity for UNT’s students.

·      What is the general fiscal relationship between the Program and UNT (recognizing that projecting out costs more than a decade is an imperfect science)?    What is the projected student demand?  How does the Program factor in with respect to formula funding?  Is the new Program likely to be self-funding?  Are their community or business/industrial partners who would be interested?   Is the new Program in a position to enhance UNT’s funded research profile of UNT and other aspects of  the UNT mission?

·      How does the proposed new Program resonate with the community we serve – business, educational, industrial, governmental, etc.?

Methodologies of the Task Force

The Task Force will use a variety of methodologies to examine the feasibility/desirability of future academic programs:

·      The Task Force will conduct a web-based survey designed to invite suggestions of new programs that would benefit the University of North Texas.   The Task Force will survey UNT faculty, academic administrative staff and select external advisory boards to UNT programs. 

·      The Task Force will examine Coordinating Board and State documents on the need for additional academic programs in Texas and regionally in North Texas, as well as consider the distribution and popularity of existing programs. 

From these data, the Task Force will make specific, prioritized recommendations to the UPC regarding new programs to be considered in the future for UNT. 

Program Evaluation and Discussion as of 3/10/03

            A web-based survey to Chairs and Deans, to Associate Deans, and to UPC members were distributed on February 21^st, 2003.    Forty one responses were received and tabulated.   Most recommendations were in the near- to mid-term, comprising certificate programs and degree programs at the bachelors, masters and doctoral level, rather than far reaching suggestions guided by changes in the global, national and regional picture. Guided by this input, documentation from the Coordinating Board and the Committee’s own experiences, the Committee took two approaches.   The first approach was to consider professional programs at the level of school or college.   The second approach, guided in part by the more detailed suggestions generated by the survey, was to look at broad categories of future societal directions and concerns, and then consider what type of education and training opportunities UNT might capitalize in responding to these efforts and concerns. 

1) Professional Programs for Additional Consideration

• Law School
• Very likely to be a public law school in the Metroplex in next 10 years
• Huge financial start-up costs
• Pharmacy/RadioPharmacy
• No  current North Texas pharmacy school.
• Attractive and growing sub specialty of pharmacy is “radiopharmacy”.  UNT could capitalize on expertise in Physics department, Denton-based radio-pharmacy facilities, and UTSWMS research base.
•  The UNT HSC was thought to have made a proposal for a pharmacy program
• Optometry
• University of Houston College of Optometry is only Texas Optometry School
• Both UNTHSC and UNT-Denton have associations with Alcon laboratories, which could be beneficial if it was considered to be offered there
• Architecture
• Very attractive offering given the size and reputation of our School of Visual Arts, as well as our emerging Engineering College
• Would likely be competition with UT-Arlington School of Architecture

2) Possible General Programs To Meet Future Societal Directions and Concerns:

·        Internationalization

·        Conflict/peace studies

·        Global economics

·        Philosophy/Religion Studies

·        Communications

• Aging/Demographics

·        Rehabilitation/treatment

·        Leisure

·        Geriatrics/psychology

·        Very adult education

·        Disability Research

·        Advanced Technologies

·                    Nanotechnologies

·                    Biomedical/Biotechnology

• RadioPharmacology

·                    Environmental Remediation

·                    Information Technology Systems

• Emergency Management
• Security
• Data Mining
• Informatics
• Distance Learning
• Cognitive Neuroscience/Artificial Intelligence

Lessons Learned From Task Force Discussions

·        Effective planning at UNT requires detailed knowledge of how each of the three UNT System entities do their planning and requires a coordinated effort to broadly integrate each institution’s separate planning goals.

·        UNT must evaluate its future program additions in the context of the regionally competitive environment (which may come to include current and future UNT System institutions)

·        Effective planning at UNT requires an unwavering view of the UNT Mission and Vision

Recommendations to the UPC 

·        Seek Re-affirmation by the Central Administration of our current Mission and Vision to allow the most effective future program planning

·        Against the backdrop of a re-affirmed Mission and Vision, permit the Task Force to:

o       continue to gather additional data on both Professional School Programs in Texas and report back periodically to the UPC

o       identify “special interest groups” at UNT that could participate in more focused planning efforts on future recommended programs

o       monitor and collect information on general programs to meet “regionally fine-tuned” future societal directions and concerns.