ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 31, 1996 TAG: 9604010049
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE
SOURCE: PHILIP WALZER LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA administrators say the lower number of graduate students reflects a dedication to get more professors to teach, but academics are concerned about the school's reputation.
Kristine LaLonde is among an increasingly select group at the University of Virginia: She is a graduate student.
When she began her doctoral studies in history in 1993, she was among an entering class of about 60 students. Now the history department brings in about 25 graduate students a year.
LaLonde sees some advantages: less competition for fellowships, more interaction with professors.
But there are disadvantages. With fewer graduate students to run ``discussion groups'' in freshman history courses, those classes have increased from 15 to 20 students, she said, and it's harder to teach them.
``They can't all speak in 50 minutes' time,'' she said. ``If you have 15 students, you have more leverage. I've really seen the difference.''
In the past two years, the number of graduate students in arts and sciences at UVa has dropped by 150 - or nearly 9 percent - to 1,616. The number of entering students has fallen even more sharply - a 20 percent drop, to 385.
The University of Virginia is responding to political pressure to place more emphasis on undergraduate education and to the economic realities of college life: There are far fewer faculty openings these days, so why train people for jobs that may not exist?
But the reductions may trigger unintended results.
For instance, the cutbacks could actually be a boon for the remaining graduate students. Many, especially in the English department, have complained that their fellowships and stipends for teaching undergraduate classes are too low. With fewer students to support, UVa hopes, the size of the awards could grow.
On the other hand, the changes might not work to the advantage of undergraduates. English administrators are trying to figure out who will teach freshman composition sections as their graduate-student population dwindles, and it's not certain that full-time professors will take up the slack.
And though the move is intended to enhance the reputation of the state's flagship university among Virginia taxpayers, it may tarnish its image within academia, where the quality and size of graduate programs count for a lot.
A team of academics recently visited UVa to determine whether its accreditation should be renewed by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, the major accrediting agency for Southeastern colleges. One of the group's major concerns was the reduction in graduate programs.
In an open forum at the end of the visit, Duke University's graduate school dean, Lewis Siegel, warned that the cutbacks could force UVa to ``lose its distinction.'' Siegel refused further comment, referring questions to the chairman of the team, Edward Foote, president of the University of Miami.
Foote said in an interview that the team was worried about the effect on undergraduate education. ``You potentially decrease the support of graduate programs for undergraduate programs if there are fewer teaching assistants,'' he said. The group's report, which is expected to endorse UVa's accreditation, has not been released.
At UVa, professional schools such as law and medicine have not been subject to the cutbacks. Even within the college that has been targeted - Arts and Sciences - many of the science departments have kept their graduate-student enrollments steady, partly because the students play a crucial part in faculty research.
Some of the departments that have faced the biggest drops are English, government and history. In English, the number of doctoral students who join UVa annually has dropped from 30 to 20 in the past few years, and the faculty is considering a further cut, to 15 a year. In government, the number of graduate students admitted each year has dropped from 100 to 40, partly because the university eliminated a master's degree program in public administration.
Overall, UVa has about 12,000 undergraduates and 6,000 graduate and professional students.
The goal, UVa Provost Peter W. Low says, is to free faculty members to teach more undergraduates. Nationally, top schools have been criticized for allowing professors to spend too much time on research and on teaching graduate students, and not enough on teaching undergraduates.
Many undergraduates welcome the change. ``It'll probably be better to cut back on graduate students and do a better job with undergraduates,'' said William Eckerson, a junior from Harrisonburg. ``When you think of UVa, you think of the undergraduate side of it. Two-thirds of us are undergraduates.''
Already, some departments have rearranged faculty schedules to benefit undergrads. In English, professors used to teach two undergraduate courses and two graduate courses each year. Now, it's three and one. Faculty members in government are teaching one additional undergraduate course every two years.
But it's unclear whether faculty members will fill the gap in freshman courses, which in departments such as English are taught predominantly by graduate students.
Heather Gottlieb, a junior majoring in English from Long Island, N.Y., worries that the university's answer might be to cut the number of undergraduate classes. ``If we reduce the number of discussion sections in lecture classes, that would be detrimental to our experience,'' she said.
Many departments say their main motive for enrolling fewer graduate students is to spare them the pain of futile job searches after graduation. The job market in academia has grown tight with nationwide budget cuts and the elimination of mandatory retirement. In English, which awards about 19 doctorates a year, UVa has a backlog of about 50 recipients who still haven't found academic jobs, said Peter Baker, director of graduate studies in English.
``We feel it's a matter of conscience more than anything else,'' Baker said. ``We would rather have a smaller number of Ph.D.s who are more competitive than a larger number going unemployed.''
Not all universities see it that way. At Virginia Tech, ``our position is that there is more to receiving a doctoral degree than having employment at the end of it,'' Associate Provost John L. Eaton said.
Tech, like Old Dominion and Norfolk State universities, has not tried to reduce its graduate student body.
At UVa, graduate students are hard-pressed to come down for or against the reductions. ``We're trained to see things in nuances, so it's kind of tough to say it's good or bad, one way or another,'' said Jon Talotta, a doctoral student in government.
On the plus side, they expect to see increases in financial aid and teaching stipends.
English graduate students have been particularly vocal this semester in demanding more money. Marcia Pentz, a doctoral student in English, said the average stipend for teaching one class is $2,875 - less than comparable schools offer. Many students opt for waitressing jobs instead.
And hardly any students get fellowships in their first or second year of study. ``To attract graduate students who are the best, you need to offer competitive packages, and UVa is not doing that,'' Pentz said.
Another down side, Pentz said, is that the cutbacks have ``made it more difficult to fulfill your requirements and flesh out your education.''
Margaret A. Miller, associate director of the State Council of Higher Education, said the cuts could hurt UVa's reputation in academic circles, where graduate programs are evaluated, at least in part, by their size. But, she added, there are more important things to consider than your reputation in your field.
``In the final analysis, they have to put the welfare of the students first,'' she said. ``A student who spends nine years in a graduate program and cannot find a job in the field for which he thought he was training himself is not a happy camper. Nor are undergraduates when faculty attention is disproportionately focused on graduate programs.
``It's a good and responsible thing that they're doing.''
Campus correspondent Adam Bernstein contributed to this story.
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