THE STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT / THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK / ALBANY, NY 12234

 

TO:

The Honorable the Members of the Board of Regents

FROM:

Johanna Duncan-Poitier

COMMITTEE:

Higher Education and Professional Practice

TITLE OF ITEM:

Amended Item:  Master Plan Amendment: Touro College, Branch Campus in Bay Shore, Suffolk County

DATE OF SUBMISSION:

May 28, 2004

PROPOSED HANDLING:

Approval (Consent Agenda)

RATIONALE FOR ITEM:

Touro College needs the Regents approval of a master plan amendment to authorize a new branch campus and its academic mission.

STRATEGIC GOAL:

Goals 2 and 4

AUTHORIZATION(S):

 

 

SUMMARY:

 

          Touro College, New York, seeks approval of an amendment to its master plan to authorize it to establish a branch campus in Bay Shore, Suffolk County, and to authorize its academic mission.  Master plan amendment is needed for the establishment of a new branch campus. 

 

At the May 2004 meeting of the Regents Committee on Higher and Professional Education, the Committee postponed action on authorizing a new branch campus for Touro College until additional information could be provided. The amended item includes the information requested:

 

Ø     A listing of the active programs offered at the branch campus

Ø     The number of full-time faculty for each program offered at the branch campus.

Ø     A listing of the library resources at the branch campus

 

          Touro has its main campus in Manhattan and branch campuses in Flatbush and Huntington.  In the fall of 2003, it had a total enrollment, across all campuses, of about 10,780 students.  The Huntington campus is the site of the College’s School of Law and its School of Health Sciences.  The College proposes to relocate the School of Health Sciences, including all its programs of study, to a new branch campus in Bay Shore, about 15 miles from the Huntington campus.  That location is about 47 miles from its main campus. 

 

The Department utilizes the expertise of peer reviewers to assess the adequacy of an institution’s resources (including library resources and the facility), faculty, curricula, student services, admissions, administration, and policies. In reviewing programs leading to professional licensure, the Department also considers the standards of the professional associations.  The Department has determined that the programs proposed below for the branch campus meet the standards for registration set forth in the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education. 

 

          Recommendation:  I recommend that the Regents take the following action:

 

VOTED, that Touro College be authorized, effective June 22, 2004, to establish a branch campus at Bay Shore, Suffolk County, at which it offers Bachelor of Science (B.S.) programs in Health Science, Health Care Administration, and Physician Assistant, Master of Science (M.S.) programs in Occupational Therapy, Orthopedic Physical Therapy, Physical Therapy, Public Health, Forensic Examination, and Interdisciplinary Studies in the Biological and Physical Sciences, and a Doctor of Physical Therapy (D.P.T.) program in Physical Therapy and that the master plan authority for Touro College to offer such programs at its Huntington branch campus be terminated.  This amendment will be effective only until June 30, 2005, unless the Department registers the programs prior to that date, in which case master plan amendment shall be without term.

 

Touro College

Bay Shore Branch Campus

Baccalaureate, Master’s Degree, and First-Professional Degree Programs in the discipline areas of the Health Professions and the Physical Sciences.

 

Academic Review

 

          A. Institutional Information.  In 1984, the Regents authorized Touro College to establish a branch campus in Huntington, Suffolk County.  Programs of the School of Health Sciences, as well as those of the School of Law, have been registered at that campus.  While the College intends to continue the programs of the law school at the Huntington branch campus, it seeks to relocate the School of Health Sciences and its programs to a new branch campus at 1700 Union Boulevard, Bay Shore, Suffolk County.  The proposed branch campus is 47 miles from the College’s main campus on West 23rd Street, Manhattan, and 15 miles from the Huntington campus.

 

B. Curricula.  The purpose of the Bay Shore branch campus is to provide educational opportunities to students who wish to pursue undergraduate and graduate studies, primarily in the disciplinary areas of the Health Professions and the Physical Sciences.  Programs to be transferred from Huntington are:

 

Degree

Program Title

HEGIS Code

B.S.

Health Care Administration

1202.00

B.S.

Physician Assistant

1299.10

B.S./M.S.

Health Science/Occupational Therapy

1201.00/1208.00

B.S./M.S.

Health Science/Physical Therapy

1201.00/1212.00

B.S./D.P.T.

Health Science/Physical Therapy

1201.00/1212.00

M.S.

Orthopedic Physical Therapy

1212.00

M.S.

Public Health

1214.00

M.S.

Forensic Examination

1999.20

M.S.

Interdisciplinary Studies in the Biological and Physical Sciences

 

4902.00

 

The amended item removes from consideration the following inactive programs: an Associate in Applied Science program in Occupational Therapy Assistant; Master of Science programs in Clinical Engineering and Biomedical Technology; Gerontology; Trans-Disciplinary Early Intervention Program; and Clinical Vocational Rehabilitation Neuropsychology.  Touro College will review these registered programs for deactivation of registration.

 

          C. Students.  There are 380 students in the programs to be transferred.  Students admitted to the College at Bay Shore will meet the same admission requirements as those entering at either the main campus or wherever parallel programs exist. 

 

          D. Faculty.  Touro’s full-time and part-time faculty, some of whom also teach at other Touro locations, will teach at the branch campus.  The School of Health Sciences has 30 full-time and 60 part-time faculty.  The numbers of full-time faculty teaching in each program at the proposed branch campus are as follows:

 

Degree

Program Title

No. of Full-time Faculty

B.S.

Health Care Administration

4

B.S.

Physician Assistant

4

B.S./M.S.

Health Science/Occupational Therapy

5

B.S./M.S.

Health Science/Physical Therapy

8*

B.S./D.P.T.

Health Science/Physical Therapy

8*

M.S.

Orthopedic Physical Therapy

8*

M.S.

Public Health

3

M.S.

Forensic Examination

4

M.S.

Interdisciplinary Studies in the Biological and Physical Sciences

 

2

 

*Faculty are shared among the Physical Therapy programs that have a considerable number of common courses.

 

The Dean of the School of Health Sciences, who reports to the College’s Dean of Facilities, administers the location.  Professional staff provide library, financial aid, registration, and bursar services to students. 

 

          E. Resources.  The Bay Shore facility has approximately 58,000 square feet suitable for academic use in an 86,000 square foot four-story building on five acres of land; the remainder of the building is leased to Suffolk County.  The College’s space has eleven classrooms, one seminar/assembly room, two computer laboratories with 41 stations, one gross anatomy laboratory, and biology, chemistry, and research laboratories, as well as administrative and faculty offices and a library.  The facility also provides a vending cafeteria and student activities space.  It can accommodate over 600 students; the current enrollment of the programs to be transferred is about 380 students.

 

          Across all campuses, the 14 Touro College libraries have a total collection in excess of 300,000 items and subscribe to 5,800 periodicals.  Their holdings are available to Bay Shore students and faculty.  The library at Bay Shore has a collection of over 11,400 items and 102 print subscriptions that focuses on the social sciences, pre-clinical and clinical medicine, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and physician assistants.  It is staffed by two full-time and one part-time professional librarians, supported by two assistants.

 

Library resources specific to each program are as follows:

 

Degree

Program Title

No. of Periodicals

Print/Electronic

No. of Books

Print/Electronic

No. of

Proprietary

Databases

B.S.

Health Care Administration

3/200

230/55

7

B.S.

Physician Assistant

33/490

3,680/600

9

B.S./M.S.

Health Science/

Occupational Therapy

80/280

620/0

9

B.S./M.S.

Health Science/

Physical Therapy

84/240

380/0

7

B.S./D.P.T.

Health Science/

Physical Therapy

45/150

380/0

6

M.S.

Orthopedic Physical Therapy

37/250

380/0

7

M.S.

Public Health

0/70

110/25

7

M.S.

Forensic Examination

10/270

75/90

5

M.S.

Interdisciplinary Studies in the Biological and Physical Sciences

18/415

110/85

 

4

 

The library collection also lists 5,200 print books and 690 electronic books; 39 print periodicals and 430 electronic periodicals; and 8 proprietary databases related to Health Science.

 

          Touro College possesses the financial resources necessary to accomplish its mission.  The College has experienced an improved financial condition over the past few years.  However, there is some concern with its level of debt, and it may not be in a position to incur additional long-term debt.

 

          F. Program Registration.  The Department has determined that the proposed programs meet the standards for registration set forth in the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education.

 

Planning Review

 

          G. Need.  Touro College has proposed this branch campus at the Department’s request.  In 1984, the College established the Huntington branch campus to be the home of its School of Law.  Subsequently, it decided to make Huntington the location of the School of Health Sciences as well.  The Department agreed that additional facilities at a reasonable distance from the original building would be regarded as part of that campus.  Touro now has determined that the School of Health Sciences needs its own facility.  Because of the 15-mile distance of the Bay Shore facility from the Huntington campus, the Department declined to accept it as part of that campus and asked the College to apply for approval of a separate branch campus.

 

          Touro has not proposed any new degree programs for the Bay Shore branch campus.  As noted above, the initial programs offered at Bay Shore will be the School of Health Science programs now registered at Huntington.  If the branch campus is approved, there will be no School of Health Science programs remaining at Huntington.

  

          H. Effect on Other Institutions.  Three of the programs to be transferred to the Bay Shore branch campus are the only such M.S. programs on Long Island:

 

          One other college on the Island offers an A.A.S. program in Occupational Therapy Assistant: Suffolk County Community College (Western Campus).  Two others offer B.S. programs in Health Care Administration: the C. W. Post Campus of Long Island University and Saint Joseph’s College (Suffolk Campus).  In addition to Touro, SUNY Stony Brook and New York Institute of Technology offer combined B.S./M.S. programs in Occupational Therapy and in Physical Therapy.  Stony Brook also offers a D.P.T. program in Physical Therapy and NYIT offers a combined B.S./D.P.T. Physical Therapy program.  Three institutions offer B.S. Physician Assistant programs: SUNY Stony Brook, Hofstra University, and NYIT.

 

          A canvass was conducted of all other colleges and universities on Long Island.  No institution raised concerns about or objections to the proposed branch campus and its programs.