Regents panel OKs LSU programs
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A Louisiana Board of Regents panel approved new academic programs at LSU and Baton Rouge Community College on Wednesday.
The committee also issued a stern warning about the lack of faculty hiring in some Southern University graduate programs.
The Regents Academic and Student Affairs Committee signed off on a new LSU Center for Advanced Materials to coordinate science engineering research ranging from biotechnology to homeland security.
LSUCAM will still require full approval in one year once the center is off the ground.
The panel also gave the go-ahead for LSU to begin developing a new doctoral program in the environmental sciences.
Full Regents approval is expected today.
Existing graduate programs at Southern bore more criticisms Wednesday.
Gerard Killebrew, Regents academic affairs associate commissioner, complimented both Southern’s doctoral program in urban forestry and its master’s program in criminal justice.
But he said Southern has “failed” in its commitment to hire enough faculty.
Killebrew said he fears “faculty burnout” because a few people are “processing a hell of a lot of students,” particularly in criminal justice where there is only one full-time faculty member and four part-time instructors for more than 100 students.
“This program is in a precarious position,” Killebrew’s criminal justice report states. “The size of this program has greatly exceeded both current and projected resources.”
“People need to start doing what they need to do, or we’re going to have to start cutting programs,” said Regents board member Mary Ellen Roy, of New Orleans.
The Regents have approval oversight of all public college degree programs in the state.
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