‘Weak’ UI grad programs have ratings changed

IOWA CITY - A number of University of Iowa graduate programs labeled “weak” by an internal task force had those ratings changed this week.

The task force on graduate education, which conducted reviews of about 100 UI master's and doctoral programs, initially gave the “weak” ranking to 14 programs, Graduate College Dean John Keller, a task force member, said. But the task force this week changed that descriptor to “additional evaluation required.”

There are several reasons behind the change, Keller said, including requests from UI administrators and faculty to do so, and a desire to be more reflective of the context and information included in the task force's final report, to be released in February.

“Ultimately those programs and all the others will be evaluated by collegiate deans in determining how they want to move forward related to restructure or potential closure,” Keller said. “No formal, final decisions have been made.”

Weak was the lowest of the five rankings the task force assigned. Other rankings are: exemplary, high quality, good and too new to assess.

Today is the final day for faculty in the programs to submit responses to the preliminary recommendations. The task force will take that feedback into consideration in drafting the final report, Keller said.

The initial assessments have caused some anxiety on campus. Faculty in several graduate programs expressed displeasure with what they see as flaws in the assessment process. Film studies faculty and students circulated e-mails and online messages last week to gather feedback in defense of their programs, after the preliminary recommendation to eliminate the film studies doctoral program and the master's and doctoral programs in cinema and comparative literature.

Keller said the final report will provide more context and information about the process. The task force has heard from numerous upset people, mostly in the 14 programs with the lowest rankings, he said. The group was not charged with assessing faculty or undergraduate programs.

“Those 14 programs are not the only ones we made suggestions to about rethinking the way they deliver their programs,” he said.

The final report will go to Provost Wallace Loh Feb. 8. Loh has said the report will become public after that. Recommendations to close programs must come from college deans and also require eventual state Board of Regents approval.