University of Iowa Graduate College to see leadership shake-up

IOWA CITY - The University of Iowa Graduate College is changing its leadership structure - replacing its three associate deans with just one - as part of a renewed vision for its future and efforts to maximize efficiency.

'We are moving in a different direction and have new roles to play on the campus,” said John Keller, associate provost for graduate education and dean of the UI Graduate College. 'We wanted a different vision of where the Graduate College was headed.”

Keller in recent months discussed the shifting landscape of graduate and professional education and research and the ways in which that's driving change. He's been open about financial and enrollment concerns and said flagging state support and declining student interest could force institutions to rethink 'the number of doctoral research programs we have and the size of those programs.”

'You can't sustain the number of programs we have and keep up the quality with a reduced budget,” Keller told The Gazette in October.

Keller said he plans to notify the campus this week of changes in the Graduate College's leadership and vision, but he declined to discuss details before issuing the broader communication. He did confirm the college is getting smaller and managing its resources differently.

'We are trying to be as efficient as possible, and yet maintain effectiveness in a fiscally stringent time with new expectations on our college and its role on the university campus in terms of promoting student success,” he said.

The Graduate College's three associate deans are leaving their posts Wednesday but continuing in roles with their respective departments and colleges, according to Keller.

Daniel Berkowitz, associate dean of students and administrative affairs for the Graduate College since 2007, now will serve as director of graduate studies for the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Keller said.

Dale Eric Wurster, senior associate dean of academic affairs for the Graduate College, will serve as a representative from the College of Pharmacy to the UI Graduate Counsel. He has served as either associate dean or senior associate dean for the Graduate College since 2002.

And Minnetta Gardinier, associate dean for graduate recruitment and professional development for nine years, will resume her work in the UI Carver College of Medicine as associate professor of pharmacology.

The Graduate College is not filling each associate dean vacancy but instead appointing one new associate dean - Sarah Larsen, professor and chair of the UI Department of Chemistry - to fill the void. Keller said the college also will see other personnel changes and departures due to early retirements in the coming days, some of which are related to reductions in resources.

For fall 2014, the UI Graduate College enrolled 4,610 students - 133 fewer than in 2013, 421 fewer than in 2012, and 713 fewer than in 2009. That decrease resulted in an 8-percent hit to the college's financial aid budget during the school year that just ended and exacerbates funding concerns at the state level - allocations for higher education in Iowa have plummeted since the 1980s and even 2000s.

State appropriations made up 77.4 percent of university revenues in 1981, 63.7 percent in 2001, and just 35 percent in the 2014 budget year.

Iowa's public universities still are waiting to find out funding levels for the new budget year beginning this week, but lawmakers passed a

long-negotiated deal that includes a $5.1 million boost to the budget base for University of Northern Iowa, a $1.2 million increase to base

funding for Iowa State University, and status quo funding for UI.

Under the proposal, each university also would get one-time funds - $2.9 million for UI, $2.3 million for ISU, and $1.1 million for UNI. Gov. Terry Branstad has until July 6 to review the budgets, and he could use line-item veto power to strike some of the funding.

The Board of Regents, heading into this year's budget debate, asked lawmakers to institute a new 'performance based funding model.” If passed, the model could have pulled millions from UI and redistributed it between ISU and UNI - although regents asked legislators to backfill any losses to UI this first year to give the institution time to adjust to the new funding metrics.

Critics of the funding model - including former regent Bob Downer - said they believed it devalued graduate education and the cost it takes to provide such opportunities, and lawmakers in the end rejected the proposal.

Outgoing Associate Dean Berkowitz said - despite the challenges - he thinks the graduate college is headed in exciting directions aimed at student success, specifically related to external funding and career and professional development.

'We have been building on this for the past three years, and I think it's really starting to connect,” he said.

Berkowitz said his departure from the graduate college was by choice, as it 'felt like a good time to be back” at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. And, he stressed, he's continuing his work with graduate students and programming.

'I will still be involved,” he said. 'I will be advising four graduate students in addition to the overall program.”