THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 8, 1996 TAG: 9609080052
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 143 lines
Tidewater Community College's associate's degree program in horticulture, which college officials say is meeting growing employment demands and features state-of-the-art greenhouses, may soon lie fallow.
The State Council of Higher Education has recommended discontinuing the degree program, offered at the Chesapeake campus, citing its lower-than-average number of graduates and higher-than-average cost. It would be among the first wave of casualties in the agency's new get-tough plan to winnow out academic programs that it says are unproductive.
The college, however, would be allowed to continue offering some horticulture courses.
At the state council's meeting two weeks ago at Christopher Newport University, TCC leaders mounted a vigorous appeal. They submitted more than 80 letters of support - from students, employers and other citizens. And they offered new data on rising graduation projections and on private financial support and graduates' satisfaction.
The state council says the program, which costs $108,000 a year, has averaged about five graduates annually in the 1990s. The state's target for two-year programs is at least seven. But Ken Spencer, an assistant professor of horticulture, says enrollment has risen since 1992. The program now has about 100 full- and part-time students, TCC says, and 16 are expected to graduate in the spring.
One local member of the state council, George G. Phillips Jr., sympathized with TCC at the meeting. ``I simply have not seen an outpouring of reaction like this in the community,'' said Phillips, a Norfolk insurance executive.
``We need to realize we're in business to serve the citizens of the state. If they want a program, we have an obligation to give them a program, assuming it can be done efficiently. The decision should go beyond mere numbers.''
Margaret A. Miller, associate director for the state agency, said officials would review the new information this month. They will either stick with their original recommendation or propose a reprieve by putting the program on probation for two years, she said.
The final recommendation will be issued - and voted on - at the council's next meeting, on Oct. 7, at Clinch Valley College in western Virginia.
Miller said: ``This is not a process that anyone likes. It's a matter of deciding what good things not to do. It's very painful to close a program, and every program, productive or not, has a constituency. But unless we do that, we can't make room for the new things we're doing.''
The program - formally known as agricultural business technology - is the only two-year degree program in horticulture within 100 miles, supporters argue. The next-closest program is at the Goochland campus of J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College, Miller said.
In South Hampton Roads, George Washington University this summer began offering horticulture courses in conjunction with the Norfolk Botanical Garden. But the classes are not for credit and don't lead to a degree.
TCC offers nearly two dozen horticulture classes at its Chesapeake campus, including Plant Pest Management, Theory of Landscape Design, Professional Turf Care and Advanced Floral Design. Graduates have gone on to jobs at public agencies and at private nurseries and landscaping businesses, said Spencer, the assistant professor.
The demand for graduates in the region is bound to keep growing, with cities expanding their landscaping staffs and proposing new golf courses, Spencer said.
Peter G. Frederick, executive director of the Norfolk Botanical Garden, agreed. ``Historically,'' he said, ``people have the attitude that to be a gardener, you buy a pickup truck, put a sign on it and do some gardening for people. Today it is a very, very high-tech business. You can identify somebody interested in the field through the fact that they have gone to a two-year program to learn about the subject.''
The TCC program, he said, ``sounds like a pretty good investment to me, in contrast to other handout programs I have seen.''
A key question in the debate is whether the boom in the horticulture business requires a full-fledged degree.
``It's very clear they're providing an important service,'' the state council's Miller said of TCC. ``The question is, do students need a degree to work in the field of horticulture? The evidence suggests that is not the case.''
Under the agency's current recommendation, the college would be able to offer a ``certificate'' in horticulture. A certificate requires 37 credit hours and eight horticulture courses, compared with 65 hours and 12 classes for a degree.
Bill Fleming, a 21-year-old Virginia Beach student who hopes to get his associate's degree next year, said a certificate wouldn't help him go on to a four-year degree: ``They'd have to go to other colleges, if they're serious about it, and the money would leave the area.''
Spencer added that if the state is looking to save money, dropping the degree won't help much since TCC would still be offering many of the courses. The program's $108,000 annual budget goes primarily for salaries and benefits for Spencer and another full-time faculty member.
Yet the other local appointed member of the state council, Norfolk lawyer John D. Padgett, said, ``If there's a great need for the degree, why haven't the numbers been higher? There's a cry in the community for this type of education, but I don't know if it's a cry that `we want a degree.' '' Like Phillips, Padgett said he is not sure how he will vote next month.
Spencer said the state's proposal also ignores the fact that the program, once housed in trailers, moved into the campus' new building earlier this year. The new amenities include four greenhouses, with computerized controls for lighting and temperature. ``For years,'' he said, ``we languished in substandard facilities. Now we have the best facilities in the state. To pull the plug now - it's shortsighted.''
Susan Ochsenbein, president of Design Landscapes Inc. in Chesapeake, said: ``The timing (of the recommendation) seems really bad to me. The facilities they have brought on line are the types of things that would attract more people to classes.''
The state council's recommendation reflects the pressure on the agency itself to become more disciplined.
In a 1994 review of the higher-education agency, the state's Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission generally offered praise. But the panel said the state council was delinquent in policing academic programs with low enrollment.
Miller says that even though the council rarely ordered programs shut down, it had been successful in persuading colleges to close dozens on their own. But she acknowledged that sometimes programs were left on the probation list for up to a decade.
The council's new system rates programs on a 100-point grading system based on factors such as annual numbers of graduates, the satisfaction level of graduates, and private funding.
In July, the agency recommended closing six programs in Virginia and placing 16 more on probation. The only other area program on the closure list was TCC's parks and recreation management program, which the college did not appeal.
The only other school that issued an appeal last month was John Tyler Community College in Chester, for its vehicle repair program.
Spencer is hoping for a stay of execution for TCC's program. ``I wouldn't have a problem with them putting us on probation,'' he said. ``We can tear those numbers up.
``We're a viable program. There's a need in this community for people trained in horticulture. And there's no place you can get this degree unless you drive 120 miles.''
The final recommendation will be made, and voted on, Oct. 7. Even if the associate's program is axed, some courses still will be offered. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
GARY C. KNAPP
Ken Spencer, who teaches horticulture at TCC in Chesapeake, shows
Cheryl Belinsky and others how to plant poinsettias.
Photo
GARY C. KNAPP
Ken Spencer, assistant professor of horticulture at TCC: ``There's a
need in this community for people trained in horticulture. And
there's no place you can get this degree unless you drive 120
miles.''
KEYWORDS: TIDEWATER COMMUNITY COLLEGE by CNB