Proposed expansion of master's degrees provokes facultydebate

Aimed to provide students with more knowledge and clinical experience in various areas of medicinebefore they choose to go further in their medical or scientific education, some questioned whetherthe degree might become a sort of expensive gap year for students who were not admitted tomedical school on their first attempts.

Andolsek noted that, although "near-miss" medical school applicants were one group of studentswhom the degree would benefit, the program would offer them and others the opportunity to furtherexplore medicine in a way that would greatly strengthen their chances of admission on a secondapplication.

In other business:

The Council voted unanimously to approve a proposal that will upgrade the division of neurosurgeryto a department.

. The proposal will be presented to the Duke University Health System Board of Directors for finalapproval in April 2015. Since the debate last year, administrators have taken steps to address thesefaculty concerns.

"There was much concern about the trend [last year]," said Academic Council chair Joshua Socolar,professor of physics. Dr. "Since then, Dean [of the Graduate School] Paula McClain and others havepaid close attention to this issue, and it appears that the pace has slowed a bit."

A report on the impact of additional master's degree is upcoming, Socolar noted.

Both proposals were met by faculty with questions--on the academic necessity of the new programs,the types of students they might attract and their financial impact, among other factors.

Much of the conversation about the quantitative finance degree centered on whether or not theprogram would be too similar to existing degrees offered through the economics department andthrough the Fuqua School of Business. The conversation is not a new one, part of an ongoingdialogue that was particularly apparent at the Council's November 2013 meeting.

A proposal for a master's in quantitative finance was presented by Emma Rasiel, associate professorof the practice of economics, and Tim Bollerslev, the Juanita and Clifton Kreps distinguishedprofessor of economics. Some faculty questioned whether the program should be made an optionaltrack in the current economics master's degree, rather than its own degree entirely.

"It's increasingly hard to tell where student specialization ends and where the need for a newmaster's degree begins," said Thomas Pfau, the Alice Mary Baldwin professor of English.

Rasiel noted that the current economics master's degree is a master's of arts, whereas thequantitative finance degree would be a master's of science.

Conversely, many of the questions about the biomedical sciences degree focused on how beneficialthe degree would be to its students.

The proliferation of master's degrees continues to be a hot topic among faculty.

The Academic Council discussed proposals for two new master's degree programs at its monthlymeeting Thursday--prompting debate on the value of expanding the University's graduate offeringsand the motivations for doing so. Kathryn Andolsek, assistant dean for premedical education, and Dr.Edward Buckley, vice dean for education for the School of Medicine.

The two proposals are a decrease from the flurry of action seen last Fall, when the Council heardproposals for five master's degree programs--raising questions of whether the infrastructure foradding new programs is appropriate, and whether the proliferation of master's programs is drivenby financial or academic factors. A proposal for a master's in biomedical science was presented byDr. Ted Pappas, professor of surgery and vice dean for medical affairs, presented the proposal to theCouncil at their October meeting, noting that the transition will allow neurosurgery to be morecompetitive in terms of recruiting faculty and securing funding