Meeting of the Board of Regents | May 2007

SUMMARY

Issue for Decision (Consent Agenda)

Should the Board of Regents authorize the Board of Trustees of The City University of New York to confer the additional degree of Doctor of Public Health (D.P.H.) at the Graduate School and University Center?

Reason(s) for Consideration

Required by State statute.

Proposed Handling

The question will come before the Higher Education and Professional Practice Committee at its May 2007 meeting where it will be voted on and action taken.  It will then come before the full Board at its May 2007 meeting for final action.

Procedural History

At its meeting on February 26, 2007, the Board of Trustees of The City University of New York adopted the following resolution: “RESOLVED, That the program in Public Health leading to the Doctoral degree to be offered by the Graduate School and University Center be approved, March 2007, subject to financial ability.”  The Department received CUNY’s proposal on February 28, 2007.

Background Information

The Board of Trustees is not authorized to confer the Doctor of Public Health (D.P.H.) degree at the Graduate School and University Center.  Subdivision (8) of §6206 of the Education Law authorizes the CUNY Trustees to:

. . . grant the certificates, diplomas and degrees which were announced in the bulletins of the existing public institutions of higher learning published for the term beginning immediately prior to April sixteenth, nineteen hundred twenty-six, and also such other degrees and honors as the regents thereafter specifically authorized or may hereafter authorize it to grant.

              At the Graduate School and University Center, the Trustees are authorized to award the degrees of Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Bachelor of Professional Studies (B.P.S.), Master of Arts (M.A.), Master of Professional Studies (M.P.S.), Doctor of Audiology (Au.D.), Doctor of Physical Therapy (D.P.T.), Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Doctor of Professional Studies (D.P.S.), Doctor of Musical Arts (D.M.A.), Doctor of Nursing Science (D.N.S.), and Doctor of Social Welfare (D.S.W.).  The Graduate School offers programs in the Biological Sciences, Business, Education, Engineering, the Fine Arts, the Health Professions, the Humanities, the Physical Sciences, and the Social Sciences.

              The Department has determined that the proposed program would meet the standards for registration set forth in the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education.

Recommendation

It is recommend that the Board of Regents authorize the Board of Trustees of The City University of New York, effective May 22, 2007, to confer the degree of Doctor of Public Health (D.P.H.) on duly qualified students successfully completing registered programs at the Graduate School and University Center. 

Timetable for Implementation

If the Board authorizes CUNY’s Trustees to award the Doctor of Public Health (D.P.H.) degree, the Department will register the program and the Graduate School will recruit and enroll students.