Office of Graduate Studies reorganized

by Christopher Sanchez

Daily Lobo

UNM's Office of Graduate Studies may undergo spring cleaning this semester.

The recommendations were presented at the Feb. 14 Board of Regents meeting by a task force Interim Provost Reed Dasenbrock formed in November.

Some students, staff and faculty said they are unhappy with the way the office is being run, Dasenbrock said.

Dasenbrock said the task force was concerned about the office losing paperwork and a decline in graduate students for the 2005-2006 school year, which was more than 5 percent from the previous year.

Hiring an assistant or associate dean for the office is among items on the to-do list, along with consolidating the graduate admissions and records offices with the undergraduate offices.

At the meeting, Regent Sandra Begay-Campbell urged Dasenbrock to "move past the task force because it's starting to cost us money."

She said graduate students are important to the University because they provide more state funding for UNM.

"We need to pay attention to what we need to do, not only to get our students into graduate school and get them through, but hopefully in the end we will help place them into jobs," she said.

The task force was created after graduate students signed a petition in the summer asking Dasenbrock and regents President Jamie Koch to make improvements to the Office of Graduate Studies.

Graduate student Hugh Smith said he has never had problems with the application process at the Office of Graduate Studies.

"I was admitted a few years ago, and all the paperwork I submitted came back in a timely matter," he said. "It looks like all has gone well. I really have no complaints."

Dasenbrock said the task force was not formed to address the decline in graduate students because the University was not aware of it at the time.

Dasenbrock said last year's enrollment set a record with 4,548 students during the spring semester. There were 4,306 students this semester.

"It's only a one-year decline," he said. "It would be good if it doesn't happen again."

Dasenbrock said because the dean of Graduate Studies left during the summer, it was a good time to convene a task force and work out the possible flaws before a new dean was named.

"It didn't make sense to do the search until we had a task force," he said.

Amy Wohlert is the interim dean of Graduate Studies and associate provost of the University.

Buckner Creel, president of the Graduate and Professional Student Association, is co-chairman of the task force. Creel said graduate education will not progress without a strong office of administration.

When Creel was a teacher's assistant, he was disenrolled three times and did not receive a paycheck a couple of times, he said.

He said an assistant dean is needed in the Office of Graduate Studies because the dean has to work in business and planning strategy.

"The task force felt by having one person to work on business and one person to work on University graduate planning coordination would be beneficial," Creel said, adding that many schools have an assistant dean for their graduate program.

Dasenbrock said it might cost the University money to undergo reform, or it might save money.

"Until we know what the plan is, then we really don't know what it will cost," he said.

He said the University could save money if the associate provost does the job of dean of Graduate Studies, too.

Begay-Campbell said the graduate students in the task force have given plenty of feedback to the regents, and the next step is following through with their recommendations.

"I think administrative changes made to support graduate students are something the administration needs to make a decision on," she said.

Dasenbrock said most of the recommendations will be decided by the end of the semester.

"Everything is a proposal, and we're still figuring this stuff out," he said.