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:	Master Plan Amendment: Touro College, Branch Campus in Bay Shore, Suffolk County
DATE OF SUBMISSION:	April 23, 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. 

 

            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 has determined that the programs proposed for the branch campus would 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 May 18, 2004, to establish a branch campus at Bay Shore, Suffolk County, at which it will offer an Associate in Applied Science (A.A.S.) program in Occupational Therapy Assistant; Bachelor of Science (B.S.) programs in Health Science, Health Care Administration, and Physician Assistant; Master of Science (M.S.) programs in Clinical Engineering and Biomedical Technology, Gerontology, Trans-Disciplinary Early Intervention, Occupational Therapy, Orthopedic Physical Therapy, Physical Therapy, Public Health, Forensic Examination, Clinical Vocational Rehabilitation Neuropsychology, 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 May 31, 2005, unless the Department registers the programs prior to that date, in which case master plan amendment shall be without term.

 

Attachment
Touro College

Bay Shore Branch Campus

Associate Degree, Baccalaureate, Master’s Degree, and First-Professional Degree Programs in the discipline areas of Engineering, the Health Professions, the Physical Sciences, and the Social 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 23^rd 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 Engineering, the Health Professions, the Physical Sciences, and the Social Sciences.  Programs to be transferred from Huntington are:

 

Degree	Program Title	HEGIS Code
A.A.S.	Occupational Therapy Assistant	5210.00
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.	Clinical Engineering and Biomedical Technology	0925.00
M.S.	Gerontology	1201.00
M.S.	Trans-Disciplinary Early Intervention Program	1208.00
M.S.	Orthopedic Physical Therapy	1212.00
M.S.	Public Health	1214.00
M.S.	Forensic Examination	1999.20
M.S.	Clinical Vocational Rehabilitation Neuropsychology	2099.00
M.S.	Interdisciplinary Studies in the Biological and Physical Sciences	4902.00

 

            C. Students.  There are 410 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 32 full-time and 60 part-time faculty.  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.

 

            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 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.

 

            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 would 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.  Six of the programs offered by Touro College’s School of Health Sciences are the only such M.S. programs on Long Island:

 

 

 

• Public Health;
• Forensic Examination;
• Clinical Vocational Rehabilitation Neuropsychology;
• Interdisciplinary Studies in the Biological and Physical Sciences;
• Clinical Engineering and Biomedical Technology; and
• Gerontology 

 

            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.