14 UI grad programs get no recruitment fellowships for one year

IOWA CITY -- The 14 University of Iowa graduate programs tagged as needing additional review by a task force won't get fellowship funding to recruit new students for next year.

Graduate College Dean John Keller, during an open forum last night with graduate students, said graduate college officials decided to withhold the recruitment fellowship funding from those 14 programs on a one-year basis, until their futures are decided.

That could mean some of them won't admit new doctoral students in the fall, Keller said.

"We don't know the outcome of those 14 programs," he said. "We wanted to make sure those funds went to programs we know had long-term viability."

Funding is being withheld for recruitment fellowships in those 14 programs, but all programs remain eligible for fellowship money for current graduate students, Keller said.

Elimination is one option for the 14 programs identified as needed additional review. Other options are admitting fewer students and merging with other programs, Provost Wallace Loh said.

Proposals for program elimination or mergers would require eventual state Board of Regents approval, likely next fall.