Weed Hall 320
3 Solomont Way, Ste. 3
Lowell, Massachusetts 01854
tel: 978.934.3291
fax. 978.934.3006
e-mail: Craig_Slatin@uml.edu
Craig Slatin, ScD., MPH
Associate Professor
Department of Community Health &
Sustainability
School of Health and Environment
To:
From:
Date:
Subject:
Provost Donald Pierson
Craig Slatin, Chair, UML Health and Social Policy Studies Task Force
September 10, 2007
Status of Task Force, Request for Future Direction to Take
Per our meeting two weeks ago I am sending a brief status summary of the Health and Social
Policy Studies Task Force which I chaired from June 2006 through Spring semester 2007. The Policy
Studies Task Force had been established to “...study the feasibility of a cross-department and
interdisciplinary graduate health and social policy studies program. The program would build on
existing master’s and doctoral degree programs that conduct health and/or social policy studies.”
The task force included fifteen (15) members and myself as chair, representing eleven (11)
departments and an administration representative. We met seven times. A working draft program
statement developed so that we could introduce our effort to others during our process. We have not
completed the process, which would require additional meetings and work in order to move to the
stage of submitting a preliminary degree program application.
The Task Force engaged in substantial discussion of its charges, critical issues related to
student recruitment and career potential, type of program (campus and classroom oriented or blended
online/classroom, regional/national/international orientation), and resource issues. Task Force
members arranged departmental meetings to engage chairs and key members in the discussion. We
believed that this input was critical in determining program feasibility at UML. Meetings were held
with the following departments: Community Health & Sustainability, (Health Management and
Policy)(CH&S); Work Environment; (DWE) Nursing (N); Regional Economic & Social
Development (RESD); Economics (Econ); Psychology (Psych); Criminal Justice & Criminology
(CJ); Graduate School of Education (GSE). Meetings are yet to be held with chairs and/or faculty of
Political Science (PS), Sociology (Soc), and Management (Mgt). A preliminary discussion was held
with some Sociology Department faculty, but a formal discussion has yet to be held.
Although strongly supported, concerns were raised about resources and the viability of a crossdepartmental program. The prospect for participation in a doctoral program was exciting to many
social sciences faculty. School of Health and Environment faculty supported expansion beyond work
environment policy studies to a broader environmental and health policy focus, but the Nursing
Department (which has a health promotion doctoral program) had reservations. Both the Nursing and
Work Environment department faculty and chairs had concerns about the potential negative impact for
resource allocation should another doctoral program be started in the SHE.
Task Force members also met with representatives of the Heller School of Social Policy and
Management at Brandeis University, the UMass Medical School’s Clinical and Population Health
Research program, and faculty in the Public Policy Studies program in the McCormack School of
Graduate Studies, UMass Boston. We have yet to meet with the Health Management and Policy
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program of the School of Public Health, UMass Amherst. A preliminary meeting with the Tufts
University Department of Urban and Environmental Planning determined that a formal meeting was
not necessary. We also decided against meeting with programs at Harvard, Boston University, and
Northeastern because they were substantially different from what we were aiming for at UML.
We need to decide whether or not to continue moving forward with this initiative. If the Task
Force determined that such a doctoral program was feasible for UML, it was to draft a preliminary
degree program application to be submitted to the faculty senate for consideration. If approved, the
next step would be to develop a full application to be sent to the President’s office. This would
require a full program needs assessment, some part of which would have been completed for the
preliminary application. Chancellor Hogan had committed minimal funding of $300,000 per year to
start the program if approved. Most Task Force members believe that moving forward without such a
commitment would not be worthwhile as it would require substantial investment of time and energy
for something that would not likely be funded and therefore would fail. Our meetings with other
schools has confirmed that a doctoral program requires student support funding. (UMass Boston
supports eleven (11) students annually in its program.)
I await review of this effort by you and Chancellor Meehan. If you decide that the Task Force
should continue we will need to discuss provision of resources to support the continued effort,
including administrative support and release time for the chair. I can provide more detailed information
if you or the Chancellor would like to see it. Thank you for your support and perspective on this effort.
Your suggestions throughout the process have been insightful and helpful.