SENATE DOCUMENT #15 AUTHORIZATION TO PLAN FOR A DEGREE PROGRAM IN GERONTOLOGY Memorandum December 12, 1978 To: Faculty Senate From: Robert S. Cole, Chairman, Institutional Development Committee The Institutional Development Committee passed the following motion at its December 8 meeting: "that the Faculty Senate be asked to endorse a request for the Authorization to plan for a Degree Program in Gerontology." Since we will be asking the Senate to act on this matter at the meeting on Thursday I am enclosing a copy for your information. The request was prepared by an ad hoc committee composed of faculty, from some of the departments likely to be involved, and Starlett Craig who is already involved in a closely related project. Vice Chancellor Dorr convened the meeting. The Institutional Development Committee met and consulted with the ad hoc committee during its study. The attached first draft planning authorization request is subject to further improvements based on our suggestions and those of the appropriate administrative officials. December 14, 1978 FIRST DRAFT REQUEST FOR AUTHORIZATION TO PLAN A NEW DEGREE PROGRAM THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT ASHEVILLE Date: _________________ Constituent Institution: The University of North Carolina at Asheville HEGIS Discipline Specialty Title: Gerontology HEGIS Discipline Specialty Number: 2190 Level: Baccalaureate Proposed date of establishment: August 24, 1980 The University of North Carolina at Asheville requests permission to plan an undergraduate degree program in gerontology - the study of adult development and aging. 1. Rationales The proposed program would fit comfortably and with considerable consonance within the context of institutional purposes and existing programs. Since 1963, as Asheville-Biltmore College and then as The University of North Carolina at Asheville, the institutional aims and purposes have emphasized the provision of a liberal education of higher quality; the development of an experimental, innovative atmosphere; an emphasis on interdisciplinary studies. Since the early 1970's, the institution has been developing programs which would meet important community needs, building upon the liberal arts faculty and curriculum, which was by then developed. Examples of these more community-oriented programs include health care administration, nursing, and Office of Continuing Education on Aging. The broad educational objectives of the gerontology program envisioned will emphasize social science and humanistic perspectives on aging with correlate biological study. Sample courses which are now provided at UNC-Asheville include Adult Development and Aging (Psychology); Sociology of Aging; Western Attitudes Toward Death and Dying (History); The Biological Causes of Aging. Further offerings to be developed would touch upon philosophical issues regarding the end of life, the rural aged, the talent and special human potentials sometimes expressed in the last decades of life. PARTICIPATION IN THESE ADVANCED, CROSS AND INTERDISCIPLINARY COURSES WILL PRE-REQUIRE APPROPRIATE STUDY IN THE RELEVANT BASIC LIBERAL ARTS DISCIPLINES. Thus, the program will be an excellent expression of basic institutional purposes and traditions - for the liberal arts, for innovation - and will reach to meet an important community need. Unique and Conductive Geo-Social Setting In this connection, the unique social geography of the Asheville area, conducive to such a program, must not go unremarked. The mountains have long been a retirement objective for many people. The region is disportionately populated with urban, rural, poor, and wealthy aged. These individuals comprise, variously, groups with large and important social and health care needs, and a potential pool of community influence, leadership, talent, and support for a gerontology program. Asheville is also densely developed in health care and social service institutions and agencies. The Directory of Community Services lists an array of 156 such entities in its 1976 edition. These facilities, increasingly, deal with aging clients and their families, and therefore, provide a large pool of prospective students and employment opportunities for graduates. An advisory planning panel, described below, will include representatives from among the retired community leadership and the professionals and executive leadership of health and social service agencies in the community. This group is expected to evolve into an advisory committee for the program (assuming that planning and implementation are authorized) providing a practical influence as well as field experiences and employment contacts for graduates. 2. Public and Private Institutions which offer Gerontology Degree Programs On a national basis, fewer than thirty colleges and universities offer majors in the field of gerontology. In North Carolina, Peterson's Annual Guide to Undergraduate Study (1978) lists two programs, both at the associate level: Central Piedmont Community College Charlotte, North Carolina Wayne Community College Goldsboro, North Carolina Neither of these programs is at the baccalaureate level, and neither is within one hundred miles of Asheville. Many colleges and universities offer brief courses, workshops, or special lectures. None, insofar as we have determined, offers a systematic, coordinated, concentrated program of studies at the baccalaureate level in gerontology. 3. Current and Projected Demand for Graduates Graduates of a program in gerontology will seek employment in many and diverse institutional settings - in social services departments in hospitals, in nursing homes, in recreational-nutritional centers, in housing and health clinics, and in many other human service roles and settings. Any precise projection of demand figures is beyond our current resources. However, the general trend is absolutely clear. By the year 2000, 25 per cent of Americans will be over the age of 65. The demand for personnel in gerontology exceeds the supply in all areas and this imbalance is expected to continue for some considerable time in the future.1 4. Procedures and Schedule for Planning The person primarily responsible for the planning of this new program will be the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Dr. Laurence A. Dorr. If planning is authorized he will appoint a planning group, as follows: Faculty members of relevant interests and specialty from the departments of psychology, sociology, and biology; a member of the faculty from the Humanities Division; the Director, Office of Continuing Education on Aging. This group will have responsibility for writing the curriculum of the program and for recommending as to its organizational relationship (vis., the housing of the program within an existing department). The Faculty Senate and its appropriate committees will review the proposed program. An advisory planning group will be established to include representatives of community leadership among retired persons, hospitals, social service executives, and area professionals interested in aging. These voices will provide a valuable counter-balance to the more purely theoretic and academic faculty perspectives in planning. Final authority, nonetheless, will reside within the faculty and the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. This advisory panel will continue to critique, guide, and support the program and its graduates, if the degree is established. If planning authorization is granted, planning will begin at once. An approximate period of six months will cover the tasks of consultations with advisor panel and out-of-state programs, curriculum description, and review by Faculty Senate. Therefore, if planning authorization is granted during May of 1979, the program proposal will be submitted by November 30, 1979. 5. Existing Resources As indicated, the institution within its existing resources provides the foundation study for a liberal arts degree and considerable of the basic disciplinary study required. Existing courses in life-cycle developmental psychology, sociology of aging, biological causes of aging, and conceptions of death and dying will support the program. No special or additional laboratory or classroom requirements will be imposed by this program. The primary need for the new program will be in the area of faculty and secretarial support. The first year costs are estimated as: Faculty: 1.5 @ $17,000 $25,500 Secretarial: 1.0 @ 6,960 6,960 Equipment, Films, and Supplies 2,000 2,000 Consultant Costs - Planning Phase 500 _________ $34,960 The new resources required are therefore minimal. _______________________________ Chancellor _____________ 1. Bureen, J.E., Training in Aging; a background paper. White House Conference on Aging, 1917. RACIAL IMPACT STATEMENT Date: Institution: The University of North Carolina at Asheville Degree Program/Track Title: Gerontology HEGIS Code #: 2190 Level: Baccalaureate Proposed date of initiation of new program/track: August 24, 1980 1. Describe how this proposed program/track would increase minority presence at your institution. As the only North Carolina baccalaureate degree in gerontology, this program may attract minority students to UNC-Asheville. Service to Blacks and other minority aged populations will increasingly offer employment to minority as well as majority professionals. The program will be advertised in urban centers and at traditionally Black Community and Junior Colleges: 2. Project total student enrollment by numbers and race. Complete the chart below. Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 1980-1981 1981-1982 1982-1983 1983-1984 Majority 8 14 20 22 Minority 1 2 2 3 Totals 9 16 22 25 3. Indicate the basis for the projected student enrollment: Projecting the student enrollment of both majority and minority students is a very subjective process. No firm data are available to support or correct these enrollment projections.