President Scott Green and Vice President Christopher Nomura presented Ph.D. production incentive program to the University of Idaho Faculty Senate at the weekly meeting held on Tuesday, Nov. 4.
According to Green, UI is at risk of losing its R1 Carnegie classification, a status indicating high levels of research activity, due to a decline in Ph.D. conferrals. The R1 status requires a minimum average of 70 doctoral completions per year. In recent years, Green said that UI’s number of conferrals have dropped below this level.
In response, the administration created an incentive program that gave a total of $800,000 to colleges, divided based on the number of doctoral graduates. Each college has the autonomy to decide how best to use the available funding such as hiring teaching assistants and providing student support. Monthly meetings will be held with administrators and deans to track progress and identify roadblocks.
Barriers for Ph.D. students identified included part-time status due to employment, language barriers for non-native English speakers, life circumstances, variability in program requirements, infrastructure failures and limited faculty for supervision in some departments.
To address these issues, the administration has hired additional writing consultants in the English department, developed new data metrics to track student progress and made fund use customizable for college-specific needs.
Some members of the senate expressed discomfort that the program was created and implemented without faculty and senate input during the summer recess. Members were also concerned that there were administrative changes the academic process.
Green and Nomura responded by saying that this was an urgent issue to address institutional needs.
The chair’s report, given by Tim Murphy, included a reminder to faculty about the campuswide safety survey and encouraged colleagues to participate.
The provost’s report, given by Torrey Lawrence, provost and executive vice president, reminded the senate of the faculty gathering on Nov. 6, hosted by the College of Art and Architecture.
The Faculty Senate meeting concluded after addressing all agenda items and open concerns. The senate will continue to meet on Tuesdays at 3:30 p.m. during the academic year to discuss university issues.