FGCU adds two science degree programs

Florida Gulf Coast University will become the first institution in the state to offer a Bachelor of Science degree program in long-term care administration.

The program, approved by the university’s governing board on Tuesday, is expected to fill a critical need for Southwest Florida nursing homes and long-term care facilities.

“We do not have near enough workers to meet our current demand,” said Leigh Wade, executive director of the Area Agency on Aging for Southwest Florida.

“Not to mention the demand that’s going to be put on the community when the Baby Boomers come down here to retire,” said Wade, whose agency serves seniors in seven Florida counties, including Lee and Collier.

The degree is one of two the university Board of Trustees approved Tuesday and falls in line with the university’s trend of targeting programs considered to be lacking in the region.

FGCU introduced a long-awaited engineering program last year, and the board approved a bachelor’s degree in chemistry for this fall.

Universities throughout the state offer courses or concentrations in long-term care administration, but none offer a free-standing degree program in the field of elderly care, Provost Bonnie Yegidis said.

“The other thing that is significant is that the degree can also be done online,” Yegidis said.

The board also approved a Bachelor of Science degree in biology, a degree program that will allow students to continue their education at the University of South Florida Medical School.

While FGCU has carried out research partnerships with USF, this will be the first academic relationship between the two universities, Yegidis said. The biology degree program will be submitted to state lawmakers later this year for approval.

Both the biology and long-term care degree programs will be introduced to the south Lee County campus in August as part of the fall semester lineup.

The board has approved 11 new degree programs within the past two years and seven during the past six months, including the two approved this week.

The board approved a master’s degree in criminal forensics in January and gave the go-ahead for a music program the following month. A Bachelor of Arts in sociology and philosophy, and a Bachelor of Science in chemistry were approved in April.

Degrees in engineering management and dietetics are under development, including a graduate program in environmental studies and history.

Strong degree programs have played a pivotal role in attracting students and drawing qualified faculty to a campus that does not offer them the security of tenure, said university President Bill Merwin.

“We used to think that was something that would hinder our hiring,” Merwin said. “But we have always found a ready supply of applicants.”

FGCU is the youngest public university in the statewide system and opened less than a decade ago with approximately 25 degree programs. The university will open in the fall with nearly 70 undergraduate and graduate degrees.

But the growth has not come without drawbacks.

The degree boom that has led to massive hiring and a record influx of students has left university officials to grapple with shrinking classroom spaces and a campus rapidly running out of space.

The board also approved plans this week to take out $25 million in bonds to build a five-story housing complex on the south Lee County campus, where more than 2,000 students live in on-campus housing.

The university expects to enroll more than 8,000 students in the fall. FGCU officials are already drafting a list of requests that will be submitted to the state Legislature next year, including $55 million worth of parking, classroom and lab expansions.

The university also plans to ask for nearly $4 million in enrollment growth funding from state lawmakers, money that would allow FGCU to bring 50 new faculty members on board.

According to a report submitted to the board by Joe Shepard, vice president for administrative services, the hires would allow the university to implement 15 additional new degree programs within the next two years.

While the $4 million in growth funding would be ideal, it doesn’t seem likely given the state’s track record of allocating only 50 to 60 percent of the university’s requests for enrollment growth funding, said university spokeswoman Susan Evans.

The university received more than $46 million for expansions in the state budget released by Gov. Jeb Bush last month. FGCU received only $2.2 million of the $3.2 million in growth funding it requested from Florida lawmakers.

With that historical perspective in mind, the university will realistically plan on bringing on only 23 new faculty members next year, said Evans, who pointed out the figures were only estimates and don’t have to be submitted to the Board of Governors until August.

“We would be able to do a lot more with 50 faculty,” Evans said. “But who knows?”

In other action, the Board of Trustees:

-- Unanimously voted to extend university President Bill Merwin’s contract through June 2009, with a base salary of $298,000 from July 1, 2006, to June 30, 2007. That amount will increase by up to 5 percent each year, based on an annual review.

-- Increased tuition and fees for in-state undergraduate students by 3 percent, bringing the cost of tuition and fees for undergraduate residents from $108.67 per credit hour to $118.67 per credit hour. For a student taking 15 credit hours, tuition and fees would increase from $1,630.05 to $1,779.90.

-- Promoted eight faculty members to associate professor status with a 3 percent salary increase. Three instructors were promoted to the status of full professor with a salary increase of 9 percent.