Having been approved by the UH System Board of Regents in an August meeting, three colleges are waiting for several new academic degrees to be approved by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
The College of Pharmacy, the College of Technology and the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics successfully petitioned the University to implement new degree programs and are now awaiting THECB approval.
The College of Pharmacy petitioned the University successfully for two new degrees – a bachelor’s of Pharmaceutical Sciences. and a Pharmacy Administration doctoral degree.
If Pharmacy Administration is approved, the college will be the only one at UH to offer degrees at the undergraduate, graduate and professional levels in one place, Pharmacy Associate Dean for Administration Shara Zatopek said.
Pharmaceutical Sciences was petitioned so that students who are not accepted into the pharmacy school can still pursue a pharmacy-related career, clinical assistant professor of pharmacy Catherine Hatfield said.
The college expects to start the program next fall if approved.
"We’re optimistic that we’ll make the January agenda for the coordinating board," Hatfield said.†"The curriculum is already developed. We already have faculty assignments done. We’re just waiting for the green light."
The Department of Geosciences in the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics also petitioned for programs to enable students to receive a doctoral degree in Atmospheric Science.
Because of the heightened interest in air quality and the UH Institute for Multidimensional Air Quality Program, the geosciences department felt that the addition of these academic programs would help expand UH, Department Chairman John Casey said.
"As Houston’s air quality problem has grown over the years, the department and the University felt that it was a good thing to start an air quality program here," Casey said.
The IMAQ program and the newly approved academic degrees in atmospheric science give students the knowledge and foundation for a number of different careers, Casey said.
"If somebody wanted to be a meteorologist…or wanted to work for the (Environmental Protection Agency) on air quality, they could go through these programs," Casey said. "They could also become a professor or a basic researcher with an industry lab."
The board took a year to approve the master’s degree and doctoral degree. in Atmospheric Science, and it will take another year for the THECB to approve the implementation of the program, Casey said.
The Human Development and Consumer Sciences Department from the College of Technology is also attempting to transfer a Future Studies in Commerce course from UH-Clear Lake, where it has been available to students for nearly 30 years.
Future Studies consists of forecasting potential outcomes and active planning toward a preferred future result. If approved, the program will be among 10 other similar programs offered worldwide, associate professor Peter Bishop said.
Bishop also said UHCL is a technological community, but it does not offer students diverse career opportunities.
"Right now we are using an inter-disciplinary program to admit students and teach them," Bishop said. "But they can’t graduate with futures studies in their degree until futures studies exist as an approved program."
The process to approve an academic degree requires many steps before it is made available at the University, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs David Bell said.
"The programs basically originate with the academic department or college," Bell said. "Then they go through a number of steps for approval both within the department and the college … Then it goes through a couple of more steps, ultimately to the board of regents and then to the coordinating board."
The degrees awaiting THECB approval can take anywhere between a couple of months to a whole year depending on the cost, quality and need of a program’s implementation, Bell said.
"One of the great factors that weigh in to whether the proposal gets approved is need," Bell said. "You have to be able to show that there is sustained need, that there are jobs for people after they finish the program.†There are really two kinds of need: students that want it and a society that wants it."
