1982-1983 SENATE DOCUMENT #24 PLANNING COUNCIL DOCUMENT #5 EXPANDED GRADUATE PROGRAM AT UNC-ASHEVILLE Since 1974, the General Administration and the Board of Governors of the University of North Carolina have taken steps to see that the educational needs, both undergraduate and graduate, of persons in the Asheville area are served effectively while avoiding costly and unnecessary duplication and competition. To that end UNCA was assigned nearly all undergraduate instruction and WCU all graduate level instruction in the Asheville area. The Board of Governors, in the latest amendment of the Long Range plan, stated that this arrangement should be reviewed in 1983-84. The Board recognized that "problems and frictions exist, especially with regard to UNC-Asheville's desire to establish its own master's degree programs." In the 1980 amendment to the Long-Range Plan of the University of North Carolina, UNC-Asheville requested that consideration be given to establishing the "Asheville Graduate Center of the University of North Carolina." At that time there was evidence of a need for a broad-range program of graduate instruction in Asheville. In the ensuing two years the need for a resident graduate level education has become even more significant. Both the overall population and the number of new businesses and industries have been increasing in the Asheville area. The Asheville metropolitan area is now the only significant population center in the state of North Carolina without a resident graduate level institution located within it. Currently the graduate level education needs of the Asheville area are being served by our sister institution, Western Carolina University. They offer a number of graduate programs, most notably in the areas of Education and Business Administration. In 1981-82 their Asheville program enrolled nearly 600 graduate students (60% of WCU's total graduate enrollment). A small suite of offices on the UNC-A campus serves as the administrative offices of the WCU program in Asheville. Graduate faculty commute from the WCU campus in Cullowhee, 60 miles away, each evening and then back after classes. All of the academic support services including the library are provided by UNC-Asheville, as well as classroom space. UNC-A has also made its recreational and student services available to the WCU students on the UNC-A campus. UNC-Asheville has been able to provide this support on an ongoing basis even as its undergraduate program has grown dramatically. Page 2 The faculty and administration at UNC-Asheville have worked diligently to provide a highly reputable undergraduate experience to the people of the Asheville area. We have been successful in that endeavor. The reaction of the reaccreditation committee of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools with regard to its recent visit to the UNCA campus supports this assertion. The faculty and administration feel that equal quality can be established at the graduate level as well. As the institution most concerned with providing a quality educational experience to the people of the Asheville area, UNCA feels obligated to initiate steps that will ensure uniform, quality resident graduate education for its constituency. Current graduate students in the Asheville area do not have convenient, ready access outside of the classroom to graduate faculty. More importantly these students do not have ready access to a graduate level library. Until these two situations are resolved Asheville area graduate students will not receive the type of educational experience people have come to expect of the University of North Carolina. Though the administration and faculty of the university believe only formal resident graduate programs offered by UNC-A will ensure the provision of appropriate quality graduate training, the concept of a Graduate Center serviced by other regional and state universities has merit as an interim solution and could serve effectively as a transition structure leading to the eventual establishment of resident graduate programs. Such an administrative arrangement would enable expanded graduate offerings to be provided to persons in the Asheville area and would allow for the all-important development of a graduate level library for students. The one limitation to the Graduate Center concept, and the reason to view it as a transitional program is the inability of this approach to appreciably resolve the problem of resident faculty. Nonetheless UNC-A affirms its request for the development of a Graduate Center. The university believes that the interim provisions of a variety of master's level programs via a graduate center will help meet the educational needs of the area, ensure continued cooperation and nonduplication by constituent institutions, while complimenting UNC-A's mission of providing a quality liberal arts education for undergraduates. In fact, the presence of graduate level programs and faculty will also enhance the quality of the educational experience to UNC-A's undergraduates. THE ASHEVILLE GRADUATE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA In the 1978 proposal for amendments to the Long Range Plan and again in 1980, the UNC-Asheville Board of Trustees requested that the General Administration and the Board of Governors consider the establishment of an Asheville Graduate Center. We reaffirm that request and emphasize the need of such a center, but primarily as a transitional program leading eventually to the establishment of resident graduate programs at UNC-Asheville. In recent years graduate courses have been offered on the campus of UNC-Asheville by UNC-Chapel Hill, North Page 3 Carolina State University and Western Carolina University. Clearly, the need for graduate programs for persons in the Asheville area exists. Based on recent population trends and the immigration of business and industry to the area, adequate graduate enrollment could be anticipated in the areas such as education, management, international management, health care administration, and psychology, to name a few. A graduate center similar to those established at Fayetteville, Winston-Salem, and Elizabeth City would be an important step in the eventual development of resident graduate programs at UNC-Asheville. We urgently recommend the establishment of the Asheville Graduate Center of the University of North Carolina. An Asheville Graduate Center could operate on the following basis: 1. A Director, responsible for planning and managing, would be accountable to the General Administration. 2. Funds would be allocated to the Graduate Center based on FTE enrollment in the respective programs. 3. Constitutent institutions would be reimbursed from these funds on the basis of services rendered. 4. Degrees would be awarded by the constitutent institutions involved in offering the degrees. 5. Equipment and related supplies would be properly inventoried, held by the Graduate Center, and purchased from its budget. 6. Constitutent institutions involved might be: UNC-Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University, Appalachian State University, Western Carolina University, UNC-Greensboro, UNC-Asheville, and UNC-C. We believe that the following results could be anticipated: (1) genuine system-wide cooperation in the field of graduate study; (2) eliminate duplication of institutional effort; (3) concentration on services to students; better service in terms of faculty, library, and equipment; (4) more appropriate use of qualified UNC-Asheville faculty members; (5) presentation of graduate degree programs not currently available and (6) provide coordination for efficient and orderly development of resident graduate programs in the Asheville area. Page 4 7. Coordinate the development of a graduate level library for Asheville area students. 8. Work to create a resident faculty.