THE STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT / THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK / ALBANY, NY 12234

 

TO:	The Honorable the Members of the Board of Regents
FROM:	Johanna Duncan-Poitier
COMMITTEE:	Higher Education and Professional Practice
TITLE OF ITEM:	Master Plan Amendment:  Touro College, Branch Campus in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens County
DATE OF SUBMISSION:	July 30, 2004
PROPOSED HANDLING:	Approval (Consent Agenda)
RATIONALE FOR ITEM:	Touro College needs Regents approval of a master plan amendment to authorize a new branch campus and its academic mission
STRATEGIC GOAL:	Goals 2 and 4
AUTHORIZATION(S):

 

SUMMARY:

Touro College, New York, seeks approval of an amendment to its master plan to authorize it to establish a branch campus in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens, and to authorize its academic mission. Master plan amendment is needed for the establishment of a new branch campus.

Touro has its main campus in Manhattan and branch campuses in Bay Shore, Flatbush, and Huntington. In the fall of 2003, it had a total enrollment, across all campuses, of about 10,780 students. Touro seeks to convert its extension center in Kew Gardens Hills to a branch campus. That location is about 12 miles from its main campus. The Department has determined that the proposed programs for the branch campus would meet the standards for registration set forth in the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education.

Recommendation: I recommend that the Regents take the following actions:

VOTED, that Touro College be authorized, effective September 10, 2004, to establish a branch campus in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens County, at which it offers Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) programs in Judaic Studies, Psychology, Economics, and Political Science, and Bachelor of Science (B.S.) programs in Biology, Accounting, Finance, Management, Management: Marketing, Computer Science, Management Information Systems: Programming, and Management Information Systems: Data Communications. This amendment will be effective until September 30, 2005, unless the Department registers the programs prior to that date, in which case master plan amendment shall be without term.

Touro College

Kew Gardens Hills Branch Campus

Baccalaureate Programs in the Disciplinary Areas of the Biological Sciences, Business, the Humanities, the Physical Sciences, and the Social Sciences

Academic Review

A. Institutional Information. Since April 2000, the Commissioner has authorized Touro College to operate an extension center at 75-31 150th Street, Kew Gardens Hills, Queens. The College now seeks authorization to convert the extension center to a branch campus where it would offer baccalaureate programs in the Biological Sciences, Business, the Humanities, the Physical Sciences, and the Social Sciences. The new branch would become the home of Touro's Lander College for Men. It is about 12 miles from the College's main campus in Manhattan.

B. Curricula. Touro proposes to offer the following B.A. and B.S. programs at Kew Gardens Hills:

                                                                                 

Degree         Program Title                               

 

B.A.              Economics                                                                         

B.A.              Judaic Studies                                                

B.A.              Political Science                         

B.A.              Psychology                                

B.S.              Biology                                      

B.S.              Accounting                                 

B.S.              Computer Science                      

B.S.              Finance

B.S.              Management

B.S.              Management Information

Systems: Data Communications

B.S.              Management Information

Systems:  Programming

B.S.              Management: Marketing

 

         

With three exceptions, Touro offers these programs at either its main campus or its Flatbush branch campus. The three programs that would be new at the Kew Gardens Hills location are the B.S. programs in Management: Marketing, Management Information Systems: Programming, and Management Information Systems: Data Communications.

C. Students.  A student admitted to study in Lander College for Men must meet at least the same admission requirements as a student entering Touro College at the main campus or the Flatbush branch campus. Typically, enrolled students are graduates of Hebrew Day Schools and Yeshivas which stress rigorous adherence to the morals and values associated with a traditional Jewish lifestyle.

The anticipated fall 2004 enrollment at Kew Gardens Hills is 210 students. Enrollments are expected to rise to about 280 students over the next three years, based on the growing population of students who seek both rigorous study in Jewish texts and professional career preparation.  However, enrollment is expected to remain below 500 for the foreseeable future.

 

D. Faculty. The 23 full-time faculty, who are assigned to Kew Gardens Hills, also teach at a second Touro campus which is consistent with Touro's "one-faculty" concept.  Qualified adjunct faculty supplement the full-time instructional staff.  The faculty is adequate in number, advanced training and academic experience and scholarship to provide sustained leadership for the Lander College for Men, based on peer review team interviews, observation and examination of faculty folders.  The College has the capacity to draw on well-qualified faculty in other academic units as needed.  Touro has satisfactorily documented, through model schedules and transcript reviews of students enrolled in the proposed programs that students can regularly complete their programs in a timely way. 

A Dean, who reports to the Dean of Faculties of Touro College, administers Lander College for Men. Professional staff assigned to Lander College for Men include a director of admissions, a student counselor, a librarian with staff, an academic coordinator for evening instruction, and financial aid, registration, and bursar officers.

E. Resources. The Kew Gardens Hills facility, constructed in 2000-01 for the College, includes a four-story academic building of 73,000 square feet on a seven-acre parcel. The building is intended to accommodate over 600 students. It has 11 classrooms, five seminar rooms, a study hall, three computer laboratories, and biology, chemistry and physics laboratories, as well as faculty offices and a library. The facility also has a dining hall and student activity spaces. There is ample space for student services, including admissions, registrar, financial aid and bursar. The campus also contains dormitory facilities capable of housing up to 150 students. Athletic facilities include baseball and soccer fields and basketball and tennis courts.

The facility is in excellent condition. Laboratories are well equipped. The library is spacious and provides satisfactory access to print and virtual texts. In addition, across all campuses, Touro College's 14 libraries have a total collection of more than 300,000 items and subscribe to 5,800 periodicals. These holdings are available to students and faculty at the proposed branch campus.

F. Program Registration. The Department conducted a peer-based review of the academic programs and services. The review included interviews with students and faculty, observation of classes, examination of course materials and student records, and inspection of library and laboratory resources. Based on this review, the Department concluded that the proposed academic programs would meet the registration standards set forth in the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education.

Planning Review

G. Need. The purpose of the Kew Gardens Hills branch campus is to provide educational opportunities to male students, primarily Orthodox Jews, who wish to combine intensive undergraduate study in both Judaic Studies and traditional college disciplines in a campus setting.

H. Effect on Other Institutions. Four institutions in Queens offer B.A. or B.S. programs in some of the subjects proposed for Touro's Kew Gardens Hills branch campus: Queens College, CUNY; York College, CUNY; the College of Aeronautics (only in Management); and St. John's University. No institution in Queens offers a B.A. program in Judaic Studies or a B.S. program in Management Information Systems: Programming.

 

Eight colleges responded to a canvass of all degree-granting institutions in New York City. Six respondents stated that they had no objections to the proposed branch campus at Kew Gardens Hills. The College of Aeronautics and Queens College indicated that one or more of the proposed baccalaureate programs would be duplicative of their programs and thus possibly unneeded. Queens College offers B.A. programs in Economics, Political Science, and Psychology, and B.S. programs in Biology and Computer Science. The College of Aeronautics offers a B.S. program in Management. In the judgment of staff, however, it is unlikely that the population of Orthodox Jewish young men that Touro seeks to serve at Kew Gardens Hills would attend institutions outside the Jewish tradition.