UI Graduate Faculty will consider program changes

IOWA CITY - The University of Iowa Graduate Faculty will consider several graduate program changes Thursday, including a proposal to establish a Master of Fine Arts in Spanish Creative Writing.

The three proposals that include program changes that will be voted on by the Graduate Faculty at that group's meeting Thursday have already been approved in recent months by the Graduate Council. If the Graduate Faculty approves the changes, they go on to the UI provost and eventually to the state Board of Regents.

Of the three proposals the Graduate Faculty will consider, the most notable is the plan to launch an MFA in Spanish Creative Writing, Graduate College Dean John Keller said.

“That's one that's really had a lot of interest and a lot of traction here,” Keller said. “This would be just one more component into the strengths of all the writing programs we have.”

Demographic changes fuel the rapid expansion of Spanish language publications in print and online, according to the degree proposal. The degree would draw Hispanic students who want to pursue a creative writing opportunites  in their first language, according to the proposal.

New expenses to launch the degree program would be about $128,000, according to the plan, and would be covered by the department of Spanish and Portuguese and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

It's expected that eight to 12 students per year would enroll, Keller said.

The Graduate Faculty on Thursday also will consider a proposal to establish a graduate certificate in biostatistics, in the College of Public Health, and a proposal to suspend admissions with intent to close the science education graduate degree major, which will become a subtrack in the department of Teaching and Learning rather than its own degree program.