On Oct. 14, Longwood University’s College of Graduate and Professional Studies announced in an email to English graduate students that, “After long discussion, the English department has come to the difficult decision to close their graduate program.”
According to Dr. Wade Edwards, chair of the Department of English and Modern Languages, “This decision does not affect the graduate student’s degree program or the scheduling of combined seminar classes. The English department, as well as the University, are committed to offering this degree program to its full completion for all currently enrolled students.”
Dr. Jeannine Perry, dean of Graduate Studies, and Assistant Dean Ms. Kathy Charleston, explained that the decision is not finalized. As Charleston had previously said in a different email, “All curriculum matters go through a process that includes multiple committees. The time frame will extend into January to accommodate the regular meeting schedule of each committee as this curriculum matter must have approval at each level to move on.”
According to Charleston and Perry, “The department’s graduate curriculum committee is responsible to the Graduate Council composed of elected faculty from all our graduate majors which is responsible to the Committee on Educational Policy. Because this decision involves closure, it has to go through not only the Faculty Senate but also the Board of Visitors before finalization.”
Although the process is ongoing, students were notified as the English department’s graduate programs page has already been updated to state, “We are not taking applications for this program [English 6-12 Initial Licensure] because we are in the process of discontinuing it.”
For a program to be considered viable and productive, The State Council for Higher Education in Virginia (SCHEV) requires an average of 35 masters graduates over a five year period, according to Perry.
Questions about the English department’s graduate programs viability were vigorously debated over several years. According to Dr. Robin Smith, the department’s coordinator for graduate studies and a past graduate of the department’s MA program, “After a few classes failed to make because of enrollment last fall, an informal interview of all 21 graduate faculty in the department was conducted before an ad hoc committee was assembled last spring to address the central issue of enrollment and marketing a competitive niche.”
Dr. Steven Faulkner, the concentration coordinator for creative writing, said for example that, “Competition in the last six years has been staggering with the proliferation of more competitive Masters in Fine Arts programs that can be completed as a terminal degree, some in less time or with less credit hours than our MA program in English. Currently, we have only five graduate students concentrating in creative writing across multiple genres.”
As a member of the internal ad hoc committee tasked with assembling a revision to the program and the chair of the Graduate Council, Dr. Larissa Tracy stated, “Our first concern is always our students, making sure they are getting the best graduate education, without detracting from our equal commitment to undergraduates.”
Speaking to the role of the Graduate Council, Tracy stated, “The Graduate Council is an elected body to represent the interests of graduate faculty and students in the seven programs on campus. We don’t have independent authority for making curriculum changes; all of those must go through Faculty Senate.”
“The Graduate Council had discussed the process for years partly due to Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) compliancy – making sure our classes are fully rigorous and that all our faculty have graduate level status in all departments.”
Addressing the ad hoc committee’s proposal to revise the graduate program, Tracy stated that the proposal included “streamlining the four concentrations of the MA to two tracks to meet student needs and enrollment. The revised proposal also requested grants to increase our resources for advertising as well as potential fellowships for students, and to compensate faculty for thesis committee work and direction.”
When asked about the department’s decision, Amanda Thompson and Leta Bressin, both first-year, returning graduate students, the decision came as “a shock.” Thompson said, “I was really sad because I wasn’t anticipating it despite some of the departmental concerns.”
Bressin added, “It’s a little hard to feel confident in [a program] that was just shelved, but I feel absolutely confident in the fact that there are people here who support me and helping me get my degree.”
For Jessica Stanley, a second-year student, the news also came as a surprise: “I came back here because I’ve had such a good rapport with the faculty here and learned so much from them as an undergrad. I actually just heard from a friend today – another student who graduated from Longwood– asking about the literature program.”
Assistantships to help with funding and “opportunities to venture into the academic world, to engage in scholarship outside of Longwood” were also key factors in Stanley’s decision to come back to Longwood.
Both faculty and administrative personnel regret the program’s discontinuation.
“I will miss my graduate students because I’ve always felt they enhanced my undergraduate teaching. We want to make sure they will have all the support they need to finish their program,” said Tracy.
Semein Washington, another second-year student, stated, “I want Longwood in all of its changes and reconfiguring to retain what draws students to it: the fact that we are a small university that gives people very close, focused attention, for Longwood to continue to be a place where the dreams of a career for students are harbored and where the careers of professors who care flourish.”
