Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 26, 1993 TAG: 9308260093
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By RANDY UDAVCAK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Long
They are part of a university-wide effort to expand graduate offerings and respond to new interests.
The programs have been approved by the State Council for Higher Education.
The geology department is offering a master's in engineering geosciences, the economics department will offer a master's in international economics, the department of social work and human development is offering a master's in social work and the department of sociology is offering both a bachelor of arts and a bachelor of sciences in anthropology.
"I think it's coincidence that they happened to come all at the same time," said Dr. Charles Owens, vice president for academic affairs. Owens said new programs always are in the works, but it may be years before all the ideas have congealed into a coherent plan of study.
When and if such a point is reached, a proposal for the program is submitted to the Council for Higher Education for approval, "and it happened that we had four of them ready this year," he said.
Owens said that some of the programs are part of a larger plan for Radford University in both the scope and nature of its graduate and undergraduate offerings.
"We have quite a number of master's degree programs already," Owens said, "but it is our intention to develop the graduate programs here, particularly in the health and human services area - and the master of social work, of course, fits that very well - and also we're increasing our focus in international education, so the master's degree in international economics is a natural there."
The origins of the programs vary widely.
They came from occupational needs for master's degree graduates, through evolution from existing programs and simply from student demand.
Master of social work
Dennis Cogswell, chairman of the department of social work and human development, said the new degree came from needs in the job market.
"The professional social work community in Western Virginia, which roughly goes from Roanoke to Bristol, has for quite a few years been asking us to take a look at offering such a degree here," Cogswell said, noting that the only other such programs in Virginia are at Norfolk State and Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.
"The program is going to focus on training people to be skilled helping professionals in working with families, and it's also going to focus on working in human service agencies in small cities and rural areas," he said.
"So literally any job that relates to working with families, or that might be an administrative position in a small city or rural area, would fit."
Cogswell said there is substantial interest in the program:
"For the first year, we're only going to have 25 students, and we've already got 150 inquiries without any advertising." he said. "It's word of mouth. We're having inquiries from all over the United States."
He said the department is adding six faculty members.
Engineering geosciences
The department of geology's new master's in engineering geosciences originated through the scientific bent in Director Robert Whisonant's thinking. "It evolved," he said.
"We've been oriented in that area. A lot of us on the staff do consulting in that area, and we decided that the time had come - because of market demand, as much as anything," Whisonant said.
"There's a real need out there for trained professionals in engineering geosciences, and there isn't a program like this" in Virginia, he said.
"Geologists on the job interact a lot with engineers in things like designing highway road cuts, landfill sites, soil testing, ground-water monitoring and so on."
Whisonant added that the new degree will open up several possible avenues for graduate students. "A person with a master's in engineering geosciences from Radford could go ahead and continue their studies at the doctoral level, or they could go into industry. And consulting firms that hire engineering geologists generally like to see the master's degree."
Anthropology
Sociology Chairman Stephen Lerch said the strongest motivation behind a new undergraduate program in anthropology came from students.
Many said they would have chosen this major if it had been available.
This semester, it will be the only anthropology program in Southwest Virginia, Lerch said.
It grew out of an existing plan that let sociology majors take a concentration in anthropology. "What this basically did was make that option into a major," he said.
Over several years, four professors of anthropology were added to the department, representing the three major divisions of the field in cultural, physical and archaeological anthropology, "so students in our program get course work in every one of the major areas of anthropology," he said.
International economics
A year from now, the department of economics will offer its first-ever master's degree, through a new program in international economics.
Department Chairman Abdul Turay said the faculty felt it was time to move the department up to the master's level.
Students may begin applying this fall for the program, which is to begin in the fall of 1994. Turay said students already have expressed interest.
The new program will concentrate on international trade and international finance. Within the latter category, Turay said the focus will be on international monetary policy as it applies to commerce between nations.
by CNB