The Steering Committee of the General Faculty discussed proposals for two new Masters of Science Degree Programs in the Computer Science and Physics Departments during its annual meeting at the Hanover Inn yesterday.
According to the written proposal by the Department of Computer Sciences, the department already has an M.S. program as part of their Ph.D. program, but now would like to see the addition of a separate M.S. program.
"When the Ph.D. program in Computer Science started, a conscious decision was made not to admit M.S. students because it was felt that the effort to establish a good Ph.D. precluded the simultaneous planning of a Master of Science program," the proposal said.
"Since that time, our department has grown and matured to the point where it can benefit from M.S. students," according to the proposal.
The proposal cites the steady growth in recent years of the number of CS master's degrees, the "national need for more software engineers and computer science professionals at the Masters level" and the "strong students interested in earning an M.S. degree in CS who are not interested in a Ph.D."
The proposal was approved last May by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
The Council on Graduate Studies also updated the committee on the status of the proposal for an M.S. program in physics.
The initial proposal for a master's program was made to the Council in Spring term, and was approved in principle at that time, the Council report said.
Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy Robert Fesen said the Physics department originally only offered the Ph.D. program because it was designed to produce academics and researchers.
Today a majority of students head into industry or business positions after completing a program, many of which do not require doctorates, Fesen said.
"There are lots of good students out there who just want to spend two years and get their Masters," he said. "They don't want to spend five years" getting a doctorate.
The Council report stated that the proposal will be further discussed, and forwarded to the Committee on Organization and Policy this term.
In addition to discussing the creation of the two M.S. programs, the Committee members also voted on the addition of the Director of Academic Computing as a non-voting member of the Council on the Libraries. This was proposed "in order to promote better policy making and communication between the Library and Computing Councils," according to the Council's report.
The report indicated that the Computing Council has included a member of the library staff, the Director of Library User Services, as a non-voting member since 1987.
Other councils that gave reports were the Benefits and Sponsored Activities councils.
The Council on Benefits outlined their submission of proposal to the Board of Trustees on a redesign of the pension plan for Staff and Service Employees.
Also, the Council reported on proposals for changes in the Medical Insurance Contributions Policy that were submitted to the Office of Human Resources.
The Council on Sponsored Activities reported on the alterations made in the fringe benefits policy as pertained to research associates. The Council also formulated a Data Retention Policy for data generated while individuals do research as faculty, staff or students at Dartmouth. The new policy requires all data to be saved for three years.
