University to end some degrees

By CLIFF PEALE

Cut funding will mean elimination of some degrees.

Miami University of Ohio will phase out several master’s and doctoral programs as it reorganizes how it spends money for graduate assistantships.

The university is no longer taking applications for the master’s programs in communications, Spanish and Portuguese, said Bruce Coch- rane, dean of Miami’s graduate program. It also will stop spending on the doctoral programs in history and political science, meaning those programs eventually will be eliminated.

In art education and environmental studies, Miami has cut funding for graduate assistants but will continue to accept tuition-paying students, Provost Jeff Herbst wrote to the campus community Friday morning.

Only several dozen graduate assistants are in the affected programs, and their funding will remain in place, Cochrane said.

Though Miami will save about $100,000, cost savings is not the primary reason for the move, Coch- rane said.

Miami wants to shift the funding for the graduate assistants to faster-growing programs such as international gerontology, cell biology and environmental biology, as well as increasing the annual stipend.

The assistants are the core of many graduate programs, and cutting funding often has the effect of ending the program. They generally teach or do research in exchange for tuition waivers and a stipend of $5,000 to $19,000 per year.

Overall, Miami is reallocating about 82 assistantships out of 739 total, Herbst wrote. He said the allocations haven’t changed in years.

“Miami risked not being responsive enough to changes in scholarship,” he wrote.

Adopted after a review of all graduate programs, the decision squares with Miami’s strategic goal of picking specific graduate programs where it can be outstanding. It has about 1,800 graduate students now.

“We are not an Ohio State or a Cincinnati that has 100-plus doctoral programs, but what we do have we absolutely want to do well,” Cochrane said.