May 02, 2022

Faculty and staff group imagines new academic programs through cross-campus collaboration

Over 60 faculty and staff from all SIU Carbondale colleges and several units (see list below) participated in a two-day workshop to identify potential new academic programs and existing programs that may merit more focus and investment, a project that aligns with the research and innovation pillar of the Imagine 2030 strategic plan.

In early April, the cross-campus team collaborated with Gray Associates, a leading data, software and analytics consultant for higher education. Gray Associates presented comprehensive data on academic programs that included the numbers of current students interested in programs, growth opportunities nationally and within Illinois, career and income growth for graduates of certain programs, programs’ distinctiveness and competitiveness, and estimated costs to establish and market programs. Teams were trained on how to use the data and conducted exercises to design and define the potential of new programs.

“As someone who has been frankly mystified in recent years about how exactly decisions on promoting new and existing programs are made on this campus and whether these decisions bear any relationship to hard data, I was impressed with the deep analytical tools that Gray Associates seems to be providing the university,” said Joseph Sramek, associate professor and program coordinator in the School of History and Philosophy.

The discussion spurred a lot of productive discussion among the colleges on developing interdisciplinary programming as well. Each college and school will have access to the data in order to drive specific recommendations.

Look for announcements on new programs and revitalization of existing program when faculty are back this fall semester.

Attending the workshop were:

  • Alicia G. Jones
  • Andrew K. Balkansky
  • Andrew J. Wood
  • Austin A. Lane
  • Bridgette L. Sargent
  • Camille M. Davidson
  • M Cecil Smith
  • Christopher W. Behan
  • Christie C. McIntyre
  • Christopher W. Mullins
  • Chun-Hsi Huang
  • Craig L. Engstrom
  • Elaine Jurkowski
  • Eric C. Brevik
  • Xiaoqing Liu
  • Grant R. Miller
  • Haibo Wang
  • HD Motyl
  • Joseph M. Sramek
  • Jonathan J. Bean
  • Juliane P. Wallace
  • Julie K. Dunston
  • Justin T. Schoof
  • Kanchan Mondal
  • Kevin Sylwester
  • Laura Morthland
  • Lizette R. Chevalier
  • Marcus D. Odom
  • Matthew J. Gorzalski
  • Meera Komarraju
  • Melissa J. Marlow
  • Olusegun A. Ojewuyi
  • Richard C. McKinnies
  • Robert D. Morgan
  • Robert J. Spahr
  • Saikat Talapatra
  • Sandra K. Collins
  • Sandy Pensoneau-Conway
  • Stacy D. Thompson
  • Terry Clark
  • Thomas E. Becker
  • Thomas A. Shaw
  • Joseph T. Grant
  • Walter C. Metz
  • Wendell Williams
  • Wil A. Clark
  • Yueh-Ting Lee
  • Liliana Lefticariu
  • Christine W. Blackburn
  • Jacqualine T. Felton
  • Jennifer Phillips
  • John Janecek
  • Wayne E. Kessinger
  • Christina M. Rowell
  • Andrew R. Walker
  • Anne Fletcher
  • Marc E. Morris
  • Philip M. Anton
  • Jim B. Potter
  • Steve Probst
  • Joseph Jensen