Ag and Home Ec Big Loser in Strategic Plan
Date: Oct. 7, 1997
Editor: D'Lyn Ford (505) 646-6528, dlford@nmsu.edu
LAS CRUCES -- As part of the only college recommended to export programs under the draft NMSU strategic plan, College of Agriculture and Home Economics faculty feel targeted. Transfer of programs representing 37 percent of undergraduate enrollment and a quarter of graduate students in the College of Agriculture and Home Economics to other NMSU colleges is part of the strategic plan unveiled Oct. 1.
The plan calls for transfer of the Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management, and much of the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences to the College of Business Administration and Economics.
The new combined marketing and management department in the business college would have close to 1,000 students said Pat Moreo, head of the hotel, restaurant and tourism management department. That is more than the number of undergraduates that would be left in the agriculture and home economics college under the plan.
Jerry Schickedanz, interim dean and chief administrative officer of the College of Agriculture and Home Economics noted that the subcommittee that prepared recommendations for the academic program revisions included no faculty representation from departments slated for transfer, mergers or other modifications.
"The obvious bias in these recommendations causes me to question the credibility of the process to this point," Schickedanz said.
Schickedanz said breaking up the college would result in long-term, adverse effects on the Cooperative Extension Service and Agricultural Experiment Station. "The family and consumer sciences department is tied into our Extension and Experiment Station programs, allowing us to have programs addressing family needs," he said. "And we have worked very hard to develop a program that goes from the farm gate to the restaurant plate by developing the hotel, restaurant and tourism management department."
He said the impression of the health of academic programs in the college always affects funding for Extension and Experiment Station programs and breaking up the college would diminish its stature.
The family and consumer sciences department, one of the few on campus with a majority of female tenured and tenure-track faculty, would be broken into three pieces under the plan. The family and child sciences program, with 101 undergraduates and 50 graduate students, would be transferred to the Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology in the College of Education. The family and consumer sciences education program with 22 students would be moved to the agricultural and Extension education department, with the remaining programs representing an additional 130 students, going to a combined marketing and management department in the business college.
Those programs include the human nutrition and food science program, which trains dietitians and food scientists. " We teach labortory-based science and do bench research that would not be possible if we were combined with a management and marketing program," said Ann Bock, professor of human nutrition and food science. "Our program is approved by the American Dietetic Association and the Commission on Dietetic Registration, and feedback from employers indicates students are getting what they need academically."
Bock said she volunteered to be part of the strategic planning committee, but was never contacted by organizers. "I do not see any evidence that some of the major recommendations are based on in-depth gathering of data, especially relating to movement of departments."
Robert Del Campo, professor of family and child sciences, said his program was lauded in external reviews and the popularity of the growing program indicates student needs are being met.
"I went through this same process at Eastern Michigan University," Del Campo said. "The program in Michigan went through a similar merger after I left and the program there has suffered for it."
Del Campo said the family and consumer sciences department's faculty offered in a July 31 letter to meet with the strategic planning committee, but received no reply.