To continue its role as the world's premier college of agriculture while meeting the 21st century's heavy demands, Cornell's New York State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences has entered the end stages of its first comprehensive academic review in two decades. While departments are reviewed routinely, the comprehensive nature of this review is unique.
"I don't know of any college or land-grant institution in the country to have conducted such a review at this order of magnitude," said H. Dean Sutphin, the college's associate dean of academic programs. "We examined everything from instruction to support services to the teaching and learning environment."
Said Sutphin: "While the college has excellent national rankings, substantiated by recent very positive external reviews of individual department academic programs, there is a strong desire to look to the future, to position the college for a new educational environment that has electronic technology infrastructure support and educational facilities to teach emerging areas of science."
He explained that a retreat last Friday had faculty and students working together to consider areas that should be discussed across the academic departments, trying to pinpoint opportunities for enhancements and discuss priorities.
The task force began its three-year review in February 1997 by conducting surveys and examining the entire academic infrastructure at the college. The task force completed this phase last week and has begun phase two by examining each academic department. Sutphin said this phase will be completed by the end of the year, and he expects to begin implementing the task force's suggestions as early as next January by phasing in recommendations as they are endorsed by the appropriate faculty and administrative groups.
Task force committees reviewed national trends, collected information from peer institutions, reviewed journals and other media to develop a comprehensive set of recommendations. Now, the recommendations go to the faculty in departments for their consideration and action before final consideration by the college's faculty senate and by the college and the university. Sutphin said the heart of the review process was an inclusive approach led by a faculty and student leadership team.
One of the areas of strength in the agriculture college is the advising program. One of the goals, said Sutphin, is to make advising and faculty contact even stronger by lowering the student-to-faculty ratio.
In the report on the college's core requirements, the task force recommended that credit hours of the college distribution requirements needed for graduation remain at 39 but that the structure of the requirements be amended. They suggested that biological and physical sciences core requirements should be composed of five courses (15 credit hours minimum), which include Introductory Biology (two courses), Introductory Chemistry (one course) and mathematics.
The task force suggested that social sciences and humanities core requirements include five courses. Of these, students would take at least one course in ethics and one course in cultural and human diversity.
For the written and oral core requirements, the group suggested a minimum of two courses in written expression and one course in oral communication.
Among the possible changes would be increasing the grade-point average needed for graduation, making it comparable to peer institutions. "If we're going to raise the bar to keep Cornell's agriculture college a world-class institution, then we recommend raising the minimum grade-point average," said Robert Gravani, professor of food science and chair of the curriculum distribution task force.
In the area of admissions and financial aid, the task force found that some high school guidance counselors need additional information about the university to properly advise students on admissions. The group recommended that increased efforts be made to communicate with these high schools.
While most students and faculty like the current method of admitting students directly to departments or majors, a significant number of students and faculty surveyed either were undecided or disagreed with the practice. "We recommend that the college study and evaluate this practice further. This is not an endorsement of either practice," said Brian Earle, senior lecturer and chair of the college's admissions committee, in the written report.
Addressing financial aid, Donald Viands, a member of the task force's financial aid subcommittee, noted in the report that "larger financial aid packages would make a significant impact in attracting students." Cornell, he said, "would be able to compete better for students if a larger proportion of the financial aid package were in the form of grants rather than loans."
"Over the next several months, the college will review strengths and opportunities using working documents prepared for internal discussion, while building on the reputation it already enjoys internationally. The stage is set for dialogue to carefully consider choices within individual departments and across the college," said Sutphin. "While there will be attention to the details, we're focusing on the big picture that will define the college as a signature curriculum uniquely Cornell."
| Cornell Chronicle Front Page | | Table of Contents | | Cornell News Service Home Page |