07-085
Page 1 of 6
College of Arts and Sciences
Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences
Senate Bill No.: 0708-09
UNIVERSITY SENATE
UNIVERSITY AT ALBANY
STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK
Introduced by:
Graduate Academic Council
University Planning and Policy Council
Date:
November 2, 2007
PROPOSAL TO SUSPEND GRADUATE ADMISSIONS
IN GEOLOGICAL SCIENCES
IT IS HEREBY PROPOSED THAT THE FOLLOWING BE ADOPTED:
1.
That the University Senate approves the attached Proposal, as approved by
College of Arts and Sciences on April 30, 2007, the University Planning
and Policy Council on October 5, 2007 and the Graduate Academic
Council on October 18, 2007.
2.
That this proposal be forwarded to the President for approval.
Earth Science Building, Room 351
1400 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12222
PH: 518-442-4466 or 4556 FX: 518-442-5825
Email: Chair@atmos.albany.edu
www.atmos.albany.edu
07-085
Page 2 of 6
College of Arts and Sciences
Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences
APPROVED BY CAS ACADEMIC PROGRAMS COMMITTEE, LESLIE
HALPERN CHAIR 04/27/07
APPROVED BY CAS DEAN JOAN WICK-PELLETIER 04/30/07
M E M O R A N D U M
TO:
JOAN WICK-PELLETIER, DEAN, COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
FROM:
VINCENT P. IDONE, CHAIR
SUBJECT: RECOMMENDATION FOR SUSPENSION OF ADMISSION TO THE GRADUATE
PROGRAM IN GEOLOGICAL SCIENCES
DATE:
CC:
As you are no doubt well aware, the situation with regard to the Geological Sciences
Graduate Program here in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences is critical. Actually,
subcritical would be a better characterization. On paper, this is still a doctoral degree
granting program consisting of but four formal faculty members: John Arnason
(Assistant), John Delano (Distinguished Teaching), William Kidd (Full), and Brad
Linsley (Associate). Note that it is generally thought that ten is the typical number of
faculty members appropriate for a doctorate-granting geology program at a major
university. This is a telling statistic.
Indeed, with the confluence of the recently undertaken campus-wide review of doctoral
stipends and the DEAS “Self-Study” underway for assessment, the status of the
Geological Sciences Program has been brought into stark relief. To be honest, many of us
here in DEAS have known for quite a while that the situation was poor and that it just
could not go on. But it is human nature to “go with the status quo” until change is forced
upon you externally or until the depth of self-awareness rises to the point that change is
embraced spontaneously and willingly. We’ve arguably undergone the latter experience.
In fact, the essence of the situation relative to the current status of the program
(regardless of how it got to this point, which is a two-decade long sad and painful story),
is captured in the tables below which compare the application and admission statistics for
the last several years between the Atmospheric Science Program and the Geological
Sciences Program (These are actually Tables 5 and 6 of our recently submitted Self-Study
document.):
Earth Science Building, Room 351
1400 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12222
PH: 518-442-4466 or 4556 FX: 518-442-5825
Email: Chair@atmos.albany.edu
www.atmos.albany.edu
04/04/07
07-085
Page 3 of 6
Table 5. GPA and GRE Scores for Applicants, Admits, and Enrolled Students
Atmospheric Sciences M.S.
Applied
Admitted
Enrolled
Year
GRE-V GRE-Q
GPA
GRE-V GRE-Q
GPA
GRE-V GRE-Q
GPA
Fall 2002
487
682
3.28
495
718
3.43
499
699
3.45
Fall 2003
501
727
3.43
495
742
3.59
479
742
3.64
Fall 2004
515
681
3.35
562
730
3.68
520
760
3.73
Fall 2005
487
676
3.36
510
733
3.75
453
713
3.81
Fall 2006
476
674
3.49
513
673
3.75
420
650
3.46
5-yr mean
493
688
3.38
515
719
3.64
474
713
3.62
Atmospheric Sciences Ph.D.
Applied
Admitted
Enrolled
Year
GRE-V GRE-Q
GPA
GRE-V GRE-Q
GPA
GRE-V GRE-Q
GPA
Fall 2002
574
774
3.38
588
750
3.48
525
730
3.65
Fall 2003
602
769
3.70
601
777
3.98
550
747
3.98
Fall 2004
523
748
3.73
531
740
3.73
530
734
3.79
Fall 2005
526
741
3.64
519
733
3.67
450
707
3.74
Fall 2006
513
757
3.52
553
750
3.62
568
750
3.47
5-yr mean
548
758
3.6
558
750
3.69
525
734
3.73
Geological Sciences M.S.
Applied
Admitted
Enrolled
Year
GRE-V GRE-Q
GPA
GRE-V GRE-Q
GPA
GRE-V GRE-Q
GPA
Fall 2002
Fall 2003
450
607
2.72
450
607
2.72
450
595
2.72
Fall 2004
538
683
2.92
527
653
2.96
560
685
2.68
Fall 2005
450
659
3.36
450
616
3.36
450
780
n/a
Fall 2006
520
608
3.20
520
608
3.20
520
590
2.5
5-yr mean
490
640
3.05
487
621
3.06
495
662
2.63
Geological Sciences Ph.D.
Applied
Admitted
Enrolled
Year
GRE-V GRE-Q
GPA
GRE-V GRE-Q
GPA
GRE-V GRE-Q
GPA
Fall 2002
490
490
Fall 2003
430
550
3.29
430
550
3.29
430
550
3.29
Fall 2004
417
683
3.10
455
625
3.10
460
500
3.10
Fall 2005
457
617
2.75
457
617
2.75
460
610
2.78
Fall 2006
440
785
n/a
440
785
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
5-yr mean
447
625
3.05
445
644
3.05
450
553
3.06
Table 6. Graduate Program Admissions
______
3
04/04/07
07-085
Page 4 of 6
Atmospheric Sciences MS
Year
Applied
Admitted
% Admitted
Enrolled
2001
19
8
44
1
2002
32
16
50
8
2003
31
12
39
8
2004
33
8
24
1
2005
48
5
10
5
5-year mean
33
10
33
5
Geological Sciences MS
Year
Applied
Admitted
% Admitted
Enrolled
2001
1
1
100
0
2002
8
6
75
4
2003
4
4
100
3
2004
5
4
80
3
2005
7
5
71
1
5-year mean
5
4
85
2
Atmospheric Sciences Ph.D.
Year
Applied
Admitted
% Admitted
Enrolled
2001
15
6
40
3
2002
22
5
23
2
2003
25
8
32
4
2004
14
6
43
5
2005
29
15
52
7
5-year mean
21
8
38
4
Geological Sciences Ph.D.
Year
Applied
Admitted
% Admitted
Enrolled
2001
1
1
100
1
2002
1
1
100
1
2003
1
1
100
1
2004
3
2
67
1
2005
3
3
100
2
5-year mean
1.8
1.6
93
1
______
4
In examining this data, it is clear that the Geological Sciences program has minimal
application rates and a nearly 100% acceptance rate. These are poor indicators.
With such manifest evidence and your own timely inquiry as to the appropriateness of
admitting new doctoral students in the current round of graduate recruitment, we met on
January 22nd to consider the facts and the options available to us. It was decided via a
formal vote of the faculty (10-1 in favor; 11-1 if you include me) to recommend
suspension of admission of students to the graduate program of Geological Sciences. In
essence, it was argued that the majority (3 of 4) of the current Geological Sciences
faculty could effectively continue their research and teaching endeavors within a sub-
track or stream of the Atmospheric Science graduate program, the details of this to be
worked out over the coming months. I and many others here are totally convinced that
this can work and actually lead to a much improved situation.
The issue of the cohort of current students needing to complete their degrees is readily
addressed. As no faculty member will lose his position, those same faculty members will
be here to continue their research and guide these students to completion of their degrees.
There are, in fact, only eight students. The breakdown with estimated completion time for
each is as follows:
Spring ‘07 TA's
Degree
Future TA Support
Likely graduation
Kritcheff
MS
1 year
Spring 08+
Langton
MS
?
Spring 07
Neumann
MS
1 year
Spring 08+
Marsellos
PhD
1 year
Spring 09+
Montario
PhD
1 year
Spring 09+
Zhang
MS
0
Spring 07+
Lim
PhD (ABD)
0
Spring 07
Gillen
BS/MS
2 years
Spring 09
The requisite courses for processing out these students will not be an issue, as most have already completed
the few such courses required. Other courses entailed will still be made available. In essence, assuming the
suspension of admission is approved to take effect this coming fall, the full cohort of students should be
processed out in two years. One student who previously would have been in this group (H. Wu) has already
opted to complete an atmospheric science degree. S. Langton is currently deciding whether to stay on for
her doctorate or attend a different institution. Should she decide to stay, she would represent the only
student for which degree completion would definitely take three or more years.
It should be noted that there will continue to be Geological Sciences courses offered, especially on the
undergraduate level. The ending of admission to the graduate program does not mean that all geology will
be eliminated from the curriculum. Various geology courses will be offered as a component of the
environmental sciences degree, and some my actually continue with the GEO designation, or both GEO
and ENV designations. Examples include ENV/GEO 201, 230, 250, 350, 435, 450, and 466. Consequently,
we do not see this as having any serious effect on the coursework required for students pursuing a master’s
degree in education and teaching certification in the School of Education, for example, and certainly not in
the near term as we process out the current geology undergraduates and graduate students over the next
couple of years.
We have yet to work out the details of what will be the exact format and graduate curriculum of the
“environmentally focused” transition of the former program. In essence, we will leverage the current
strength and stature of the Atmospheric Science program to build outward into areas that will expand and
04/04/07
07-085
Page 6 of 6
complement this program. Specializations which naturally intersect both disciplines and which are highly
environmental include hydrology/hydrometeorology, climate dynamics and paleo-climate, and numerical
modeling of any number of geophysical systems. Further down the road, creation of a formal graduate
program in environmental science could be an option, especially if the pool of resources improves for UA
or if other trends argue for the suitability of considering this. Regardless, many here believe that a name
change is in order for the department; one often suggested is “Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences.”
So, we would go from DEAS to DAES. (At least we would no longer have our acronym confused with East
Asian Studies.)
We are confident that in cooperation with your office, we can effect a transition that allows the remaining
Geological Sciences faculty and the overall program to gain new momentum and move ahead. This should
not be considered an end, but really, a new beginning.
We hope too that governance will appreciate the basis for our request and confirm our recommendation so
that we can actively move on from here.
______
6
