Chancellor expected to OK Ph.D. for YSU


By Denise Dick | August 17, 2010 at 12:01a.m.

SEE ALSO: Anderson: Top goal must be to meet needs of all students

By Denise Dick

denise_dick@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

The Ohio Board of Regents chancellor is expected this week to approve Youngstown State University’s doctor of philosophy degree in materials science and engineering.

Eric Fingerhut will visit YSU on Thursday and make an announcement with Cynthia Anderson, YSU president.

“He is expected to approve the program,” said Rob Evans, press secretary for the Ohio Board of Regents.

Anderson, in her State of the University address Monday, also mentioned that an announcement from Fingerhut pertaining to the proposed Ph.D. program in materials science and engineering is expected soon.

If Fingerhut does approve it, the next step is for the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools to evaluate the plan.

But Evans said that Fingerhut’s visit to YSU this week stems from the chancellor’s 10-year strategic plan for higher education for 2008-2017 and the goals for YSU included in it. The plan was presented to Gov. Ted Strickland and the Ohio General Assembly and details strategies to meet the governor’s goal of enrolling 230,000 more students statewide while keeping more graduates in Ohio and attracting more talent to the state.

“Youngstown State University must provide the Youngstown area with the talent and research base for the growth of new companies and industries to replace those that have been lost to a changing economy,” the plan says.

“Past practices in the state have discouraged the university from playing this vital role by restricting the growth of undergraduate and graduate programs that are an important component of a university’s skill base.”

The university’s board of trustees approved a resolution in June approving the offering of the research doctorate — YSU’s first Ph. D. The program has been under consideration since late 2008.

Strickland has said that YSU is an “emerging” center of excellence in materials science and engineering, and the university needs this degree to advance beyond the “emerging” stage.