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Post by bevans22 on May 10, 2007 13:01:36 GMT -5
Another professor to mention is Dr. Neil Terry. He is an outstanding economics professor and you would be hard pressed to find anyone who did not get more than than what the paid for from his class. He has been acting as interim Dean of the College of Business...but this morning he accepted the position as full-time effective August 1st.
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Post by horribilis on May 13, 2007 8:09:48 GMT -5
When I read the article, the one thing that came glaring through was - money.
I think that their contemplated move into Amarillo is a result of compensating for the loss of Picken's financial support. Population wise, there has to be a larger pool of potential big donors in Amarillo than Canyon.
Someone mentioned transferability of credits - wouldn't credits earned at WT be transferrable to Texas A&M? What exactly is that relationship?
If WT is in a low tier of regional institutions, at least one thing it has going for it is a name associated with a nationally prominent institution.
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Post by westtexan on May 13, 2007 22:08:38 GMT -5
When I read the article, the one thing that came glaring through was - money. I think that their contemplated move into Amarillo is a result of compensating for the loss of Picken's financial support. Population wise, there has to be a larger pool of potential big donors in Amarillo than Canyon. Someone mentioned transferability of credits - wouldn't credits earned at WT be transferrable to Texas A&M? What exactly is that relationship? If WT is in a low tier of regional institutions, at least one thing it has going for it is a name associated with a nationally prominent institution. Since I got out...a few years before the merger...I'm really not sure on the transfer credits. But...it is known that the previous WT administrations did not take full advantage of the A&M affiliation to foster enrollment and academic growth...as well as could have been done...but I have high hopes the new WT president will get things back on track. |
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Post by petiepanzer on May 22, 2007 9:21:21 GMT -5
In regards to WT offering more advanced degrees, I can only assume that we are talking about WT starting up some form of Ph.D. program. To be perfectly honest, WT is a little slow getting into the Doctorate game. If they were to start up a Ph.D. program today, they would need a lot of money to hire qualified faculty for the endeavor and they would also need a lot of new facilities that were geared for research, not classroom instruction. WT obviously doesn't have the money in their coffers, so funding would have to come from some other source. Maybe there is some sugar daddy out there ready to give them 20-30 million, but I just don't see it happening. Perhaps they could generate money from their athletic department, but no D2 athletic departments out there make a net profit and half of the D1 programs in the country lose money for their respective universities. They could hope that the Texas legislature would throw them a bone, but I don't really see that happening, either. Texas Tech has enough lobbyists and other assorted politicians paid off that they would never allow the school 100 miles north of them to develop a program that could some day possibly compete with them for both grad students and possibly research grants. In addition, they would most likely have some competition from schools like UTEP and UNT. I think the Texas legislature already decided a few years ago to turn UNT into one of their flag ship schools, didn't they? Honestly, it would be a David vs. Goliath contest. Also, take into consideration that the Texas panhandle is facing a decline in the number of college aged students and it seems likely that no additional funds for such an upstart program would come from Austin. I guess there is always the possibility of getting money from some corporation or a philanthropic trust, but there is a problem in that arena as well. Usually, that money goes to universities that have the ability to perform some type of research, like with Genetics, alternative energy, or for Cancer treatment, among many other worthwhile causes. Now, why would any organization shell out a lot of money for a university to start up research when that money could be funnelled much more effectively into a research department of another university that is already up and running? Honestly, I think the only way they could realistically expect to develop a wide scale doctoral program would be to have a long range plan and expect for it to take at least 15-20 years before they could even entertain the idea of starting such a program.
Why does WTAMU not have a college of Engineering and Applied Science? Establishing something like that needs to be done long before talk should even take place concerning advanced graduate degrees. Now that they are part of the TAMU system, it would behoove them to take advantage of this fact and seize upon their strengths. One of the things the Aggies are known for is their strong engineering program. It would also probably improve WTAMU's academic standing, as the Engineering majors are usually the brains on campus.
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Post by buffbabe1 on May 22, 2007 12:41:37 GMT -5
In regards to WT offering more advanced degrees, I can only assume that we are talking about WT starting up some form of Ph.D. program. To be perfectly honest, WT is a little slow getting into the Doctorate game. If they were to start up a Ph.D. program today, they would need a lot of money to hire qualified faculty for the endeavor and they would also need a lot of new facilities that were geared for research, not classroom instruction. WT obviously doesn't have the money in their coffers, so funding would have to come from some other source. Maybe there is some sugar daddy out there ready to give them 20-30 million, but I just don't see it happening. Perhaps they could generate money from their athletic department, but no D2 athletic departments out there make a net profit and half of the D1 programs in the country lose money for their respective universities. They could hope that the Texas legislature would throw them a bone, but I don't really see that happening, either. Texas Tech has enough lobbyists and other assorted politicians paid off that they would never allow the school 100 miles north of them to develop a program that could some day possibly compete with them for both grad students and possibly research grants. In addition, they would most likely have some competition from schools like UTEP and UNT. I think the Texas legislature already decided a few years ago to turn UNT into one of their flag ship schools, didn't they? Honestly, it would be a David vs. Goliath contest. Also, take into consideration that the Texas panhandle is facing a decline in the number of college aged students and it seems likely that no additional funds for such an upstart program would come from Austin. I guess there is always the possibility of getting money from some corporation or a philanthropic trust, but there is a problem in that arena as well. Usually, that money goes to universities that have the ability to perform some type of research, like with Genetics, alternative energy, or for Cancer treatment, among many other worthwhile causes. Now, why would any organization shell out a lot of money for a university to start up research when that money could be funnelled much more effectively into a research department of another university that is already up and running? Honestly, I think the only way they could realistically expect to develop a wide scale doctoral program would be to have a long range plan and expect for it to take at least 15-20 years before they could even entertain the idea of starting such a program. Why does WTAMU not have a college of Engineering and Applied Science? Establishing something like that needs to be done long before talk should even take place concerning advanced graduate degrees. Now that they are part of the TAMU system, it would behoove them to take advantage of this fact and seize upon their strengths. One of the things the Aggies are known for is their strong engineering program. It would also probably improve WTAMU's academic standing, as the Engineering majors are usually the brains on campus. Hi all! Just wanted to let ya'll know that WTAMU does have an engineering program. They are working on getting some Master's Programs right now, but they don't have the faculty right now. Also, I believe that WTAMU offers a doctoral program in Agriculture..... |
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Post by petiepanzer on May 22, 2007 20:37:50 GMT -5
That's nice to know, buffbabe. At most schools, though, they have Engineering as a separate college, not lumped in with Agriculture and Mathematics. Also, they offer many more degree choices than just Mechanical Engineering. I guess it is a start, though, so I will give them credit for that.
I remember reading something about them now offering a doctoral degree in Agriculture. Does WT have the facilities to compete with the likes of renowned Ag schools in the area like OSU and Colorado State? If you have ever been to either Ft. Collins or Stillwater, they have some huge facilities for all kinds of different research projects. They have separate barns for just about every different type of livestock and poultry imaginable, and they have a lot of acreage for experimental crops.
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Post by buffbabe1 on May 22, 2007 23:34:58 GMT -5
Yeah, they rearranged some of the depts. this past year. The ones I know about that change are:
The College of Agriculture, Science, and Engineering
The College of Nursing and Health Sciences
I think WT has some real potential, but if you don't have the faculty, you can't teach! I don't know about the ag facilities....not really my major, I'm a nursing major right now and I don't think we have the facilities large enough to suit the amount of kids in the program.
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Post by traveler on May 27, 2007 17:02:24 GMT -5
I remember reading something about them now offering a doctoral degree in Agriculture. Does WT have the facilities to compete with the likes of renowned Ag schools in the area like OSU and Colorado State? Of course they don't have the facilities to compete with the big dogs. But they aren't too shabby either. And if you're serious about getting a PhD in Agriculture with an academic career in mind, you'd go to College Station, not Canyon. That said, Agriculture happens to be a relative strength of WT, and it should be cultivated (pun intended.) Many or most of the PhD candidates in the Ag department at WT are from outside the country, for example India. I agree that the undergraduate Engineering department should be cultivated/expanded as well, and that, in general, the focus should be on strengthening undergraduate programs over PhD programs. |
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Post by agbuffalo on May 28, 2007 0:42:14 GMT -5
Pickens was going to give and raise a lot of money for WT. Alas, media and teachers unions screwed that deal. Always question what the media tells you. One of the greatest misrepresentations I have ever read or heard was concerning the Presidents home at WT. I would argue that Amarillo College and WT are apples and oranges. Growth for WT will be by taking WT to Amarillo or do the things necessary to bring the students to campus. I vote to do the latter. Besides, if you were to build a college in Amarillo you would have to move outside of town to allow for growth. Whats the difference in having a school in Canyon or having one at Bushland. The one in Canyon already exists.
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