5/15/15
To:
Dr. Sam Gingergich, Provost, UAA
From: Rashmi Prasad, Dean, CBPP
Re:
Program Prioritization Outcomes: Summary for CBPP
Suspension of Admissions/Deletion:
No CBPP programs rated in the 4th and 5th quintiles were recommended for suspension or deletion. In
each case faculty champions came forward with viable plans for program transformation.
Transformation:
1. Logistics OEC and AAS: The main elements of a transformation plan are (a) online delivery mode (b)
the development of a marketing plan including student population target identification and promotion.
I believe the plan is realistic and robust as three online courses for the OEC have already been
developed, with two more scheduled for next academic year. Additionally, due to industry support,
Logistics programming is supported by an endowment that can be used to underwrite some marketing
expenses. Another favorable aspect of the transformation plan is its targeting of young (mostly) men
working in operations in industries such as transportation, who often forego participation in higher
education. A target of 25 annual awards of OECs should be attainable in the next three years,
representing significant growth over the one-year high-level of 16, attained in 2013.
2. Small Business Administration AAS: The principal element of the transformation plan is to change the
Small Business Administration AAS to a Small Business Entrepreneurship AAS, which would be UAA’s
first degree in Entrepreneurship. The program change plan will incorporate CBPP’s sequence of 1-credit
courses (‘Business Foundation Series’) which are being developed to improve advising and professional
success. The program’s transformation will also benefit from creating an advisory board consisting of
members of ‘TEAM’, The Entrepreneurs and Mentors Network which supports entrepreneurship in the
city of Anchorage and beyond. Prof. Rubin has targeted 5% annual growth in enrollments and awards as
an achievable goal.
3. Business Computer Information Systems AAS: The principle idea guiding the transformation of this
degree is to no longer treat it as a ‘feeder’ to the BBA in MIS, but rather to create professional pathways
for the AAS graduates, through close collaboration with the departmental advisory board and the area
Chief Information Officer’s forum, which is keenly focused on the issue of a dearth of MIS talent entering
the labor market. By utilizing Computer Science coursework, AAS candidates will be required to take
fewer MIS upper-division courses.
4. Masters of Public Administration: The transformation plan for the MPA program rests on the faculty
champions’ capacity to create a distinctive niche for the program, building on the advantage of being
located in Anchorage, the site of much government activity for the state. The intention to diversify
delivery modes and increase collaboration with other UAA programs should increase credit hour
production. Students in the UAS MPA program may opt for online electives offered through our
program. The program transformation plan also involves building a high-powered advisory board (a task
already well underway) that will ultimately help in accumulating endowment resources to support the
program. Program coordinators regard 15 master’s awards annually as a healthy number, whereas I
have asked them to raise their sights in terms of awards and credit hour production. I have requested
the faculty to target an increase of 100 credit hours per year within the next three years. This would
represent increased revenue of over $120,000 per year, in effect paying for one faculty line.
5. Master of Science in Global Supply Chain Management: The program admits students into cohorts,
and has admitted three successful cohorts of between 12-20 students. The program also charges a
tuition premium above standard graduate tuition. The program benefits from considerable support
from the area logistics-related industries, having a significant endowment. The principle goal for the
program coordinator is to manage the admission of cohorts (both size and frequency) with the effect of
not over-saturating the market and exhausting demand, which comes mostly from employees currently
working in related industries. Admitting 12-18 students per cohort is considered optimal.
6. Minors in Accounting, MIS and Economics: Transformation plans for the aforementioned minors are
largely a defense of the fact that these credentials have few resource implications, and therefore do not
impede optimal resource allocation. While this point is valid, I have initiated an alternative approach to
thinking about minors at CBPP. The essence of this thinking is that business education is an ideal
complement to most other forms of education: business is the ‘universal minor’. Thus, we are initiating
a new suite of minors which are dedicated to serving non-business majors (i.e. they should not require a
student to take 36 credits in order to receive an 18-credit minor), and minors that address gaps in our
current curriculum. In the coming academic years we will develop a minor in International Business (a
popular area of study with no credential currently available at CBPP and one which our Aviation
Management students are likely to opt for) and a minor in General Business. We project that after three
years we will attain 35 minors in International Business awarded per year.
Still Under Consideration:
1. Undergraduate Certificate in Logistics: It is not clear whether this step in the sequence of stacked
Logistics credentials is necessary or redundant. A stronger rationale will need to be put forth by
program faculty.