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 ne phase of dietetics instruction at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point was
recommended for discontinuation Thursday by the Faculty Senate.
It was the first action of its kind ever by the Senate but it may not be the last, as academic programs throughout the
UW System now are required by Board of Regents decree, to undergo periodic review.
If Chancellor Phillip R. Marshall accepts the Senate vote - which had few dissenters - the Coordinated Undergraduate
Program (CUP) in dietetics will be eliminated in 1981 after the current junior class graduates. Currently, 11 seniors
and 12 juniors are enrolled.
The general dietetics major, which has a substantially larger enrollment, and the major in food and nutrition with
options in general food and nutrition, and food services management, would continue unaffected.
CUP was established here with federal financial assistance about seven years ago, with a stipulation that there be a
ratio of one faculty member for about every 10 students. Subsequently, the university received about one third of a
million dollars to support the operation with the understanding that the subsidy would eventually end and UW-SP would
pick up the tab to continue it.
Vice Chancellor John B. Ellery said Thursday that he has been recommending discontinuation for several years in view
of tight fiscal constraints on UWSP.
Professor John Moore, chairman of the academic affairs committee said the issue came to a head this fall when
Marshall sought Senate input on the question. As a result, a review committee and the academic affairs committee
both recommended discontinuation. Also, he said, the faculty in the school of Home Economics took similar action,
but Professor Blanche Wise, director of CUP during the past year and one-half, noted that action by her colleagues
followed two previous votes for continuation.
Professor Wise and Instructor Elizabeth Kaercher, who teaches CUP courses, were joined by Professor Agnes Jones,
head of the School of Home Economics, in defending the program's quality, economic efficiency, popularity and value
to the university in recruiting students.
CUP is different from the general dietetics program because it has and internship built into its four-year
curriculum. The CUP staff members said dietetics majors are required by most employers to be certified by the
American Dietetics Association, which comes after successful completion of internships. To earn the same
certification, students in the general dietetics program must compete for a limited number of internships
available in this country at such places as hospitals and government installations. To achieve that level of
training, an extra year after graduation is involved.
However, Professor Jones said about 50 percent of the UW-SP general dietetics majors are chosen for internships
compared with a national average of little more than 25 percent.
The only program that has been phased out on campus in recent years was one in deaf education in the School of
Communicative Disorders. Its demise was quiet, having been initiated by communicative disorders professors who
said in the mid 1970's that there would be little demand in the foreseeable future for teachers of the deaf.
The local administration and UW- System Board of Regents accepted the recommendation without input from the Faculty
Senate.
There is general acceptance on campuses across the UW System that in view of projected enrollment declines
nationwide, some programs may have to be altered significantly, others may be consolidated and still others
discontinued.
Observes Moore during Thursday's deliberations: "We may be faced with other questions like this in the future."
*1/25/80
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