North Carolina Central University
May 3,1991
NCCU Requests Ph.D Programs
From Campus Clips
North Carolina Cen
tral University, with four new
academic programs in formal
planning stages, hopes to request
permission from the University
of North Carolina system to add
another six undergraduate pro
grams and 15 graduate programs
before the end of the 20th cen
tury.
Those programs are
listed in a Review of the Institu
tional Mission submitted to UNC
President C.D. Spangler, Jr.,
earlier this year. Before they are
formally requested, they will be
reviewed by a team of consult
ants employed by the system.
Included in the list of
programs NCCU wants to offo-
in the next century are six doc
toral degree programs. If one of
more of those programs win
approval, NCCU would offer its
first doctoral programs since the
early 1960’s, when a short-lived
Ph.D. program in education was
discontinued.
All 16 of the constitu
ent institutions of the UNC sys
tem were asked to submit a mis
sion review by President Span
gler. The document does not
constitute a formal request for
the programs, but is intended to
show the direction in which eadi
university intends to move over
the next decade.
The consultants will re
view all 16 plans.
The review submitted
to Presidait Spangler in January
by NCCU Chancellor T.R.
Richmond includes four pro
grams which reflect NCCU’s
character as a historically black
university. It is proposed that
the NCCU School of Law offer
the Master of Laws degree
(LL.M.) in tf>e area of civil rights,
and that the departn^nt of his
tory and social science develop
a Ph.D. docUxal program in Afro-
American and African History.
Baccalaureate and master’s
degree programs in ethnomusi-
cology are suggested for the
department of music.
Proposed programs also
include a baccalaureate program
in hospitality services admini
stration to be housed in the de
partment of home economics and
a Ph.D. program in biophysics,
which would be housed in the
department of biology.
Other proposed pro
grams lead to bachelor’s degrees
in public administration and in
individual and family develop
ment, master ’ s degree programs
in art education, computer sci
ence, nursing, theatre arts, and
decision sciences, and doctoral
programs in information man
agement, information sciences,
special education, and counselor
education.
The university also lists
plans to establish program trades
within othCT disciplines. Pro
gram tracks are located within
largo- departments and are gen
erally described as fields of con
centration rather than academic
majors.
Proposed baccalaureate
program tracks for NCCU are
jazz education and security man
agement. A master’s level pro
gram track in security manage
ment is also proposed, as i§ a
learning disabilities track lead
ing to a master ’ s degree from the
School of Education.
The mission review re
port pinpoints the years in which
NCCU expects to request for
mal peimission to plan the indi
vidual programs. Permission to
plan, which must be requested
from the UNC Board of Gover
nors entails the expoiditure of
university funds for planning. A
detailed plan must be prepared
and approved before the Board of
Governors permits an institution
to begin to offer a degree.
Requests to plan the new
programs will be forwarded to the
UNC General Administration over
the next six years.
Planning permission may
be requested during this calendar
year for eight of the programs and
program tracks.
Plarming permission will
be requested in 1993 for three pro
grams.
The university will ask
for planning permission in 1995
for six programs.
NCCU will seek planning
permissiem in 1997 for the remain
ing programs it hopes to establish
before the beginning of the 21st
century.
NCCU has completed the
^dtorized planning (s-ocedures fen-
two new programs, which are cur
rently under review by the Univa-
sity of North Carolina General
Administration. They are {x-ograms
leading to the bachelor of social
work degree and the master of sci
ence degree in earth sciences.
State budget {m}blans are
expected to delay permission to
establish those p-ograms, howevCT,
universities in the system have been
asked not to establish new pro
grams unless they are funded by
external sources or replace exist
ing programs at no increased cost.
Planning permission has
already been received for two ad
ditional programs, and planning is
proceeding for a bachelor of sci
ence program in environmental
science and a bachelor of arts
pogram in interdisciplinary studie
Also in progress is a plan to estab
lish a CentCT for Biomedical Re
search and Technology, for which
planning permission was requested
in 1989.
Pomission to plan a
Cento- for International Studies
will soon be requested.
NCCU Students Form
African -American Future
Teachers of America
From Campus Clips
NCCU student Harry Lucas, Jr. helps youngsters with their
lomework.
fames Ham, Lamar McQueen,
and Ronald L. Travis have
established the African Ameri
can Future Educators of Ameri
can, Assoc, out of concern for
the future of young black
students.
"Our children are losing
ground on the SAT scores," said
Travis. "They're the most likely
to drop out of school, and the
east likely to graduate."
The three founders
lave addresed many issues such
as having recently sent a letter
to the Chief of Police of Los
Angeles protesting the beating
of Rodney King by a crowd of
police officers.
However, the organiza
tion's main puropose is to better
the education of younger
students. It established a tutorial
program serving elementary and
secondary school students which
offers four sessions a week.
Weekend sessions are held
Saturday mornings and Sunday
afternoons at the Campus Hills
Recreation Center. Several of
the NCCU volunteer tutors
irovide in-home tutoring to
students who can't
TT12KBTn^B5SI0n?^TCI3ITipH^
Hills and NCCU.
Fliers distributed at
churches and schools throughout
Durham have brought 75 or
more students to the tutorial
sessions, and some 45 NCCU
students have volunteered to
offer assistance with lessons
ranging from reading and
arithmetic through social studies
and advanced math courses.
Area radio stations and newpa-
pers have also publicized the
program. A recent letter to the
editor of the Durham Herald-
Sun has also given unsolicited
tribute.
What the founders and
the volunteer tutors want to do,
Travis said, is to restore hope in
these young children.
"We want to say even though
your teachers and parents may
not have time for you, we do
have time for you, " said Travis
"In the long run, we
want to have an impact on die
children's lives. When a kid
graduates from college ten or 15
years from now, we hope he'll
look back and say the African
American Future Educators gave
him his start."