Memo from Annette Chappell to Mary-Ann Myrant, 1992

Towson State University College of Liberal Arts Date: May 18, 1992 To: Mary-Ann Myrant From: Annette Chappel, Dean, College of Liberal Arts Subject: prospectus review: WMST at UMCP We are fully supportive of UMCP's request to institute a major in Women's Studies (they currently have only a certificate program). However, two things are important in relation to our support: (1) The UMCP request to institute a major should not "jump the queue" ahead of Towson's now-in-suspense request to redesignate WMST as a major, and (2) Misstatements of fact in UMCP's document should be corrected. All the WMST programs in UMS support one another's requests to offer majors, because all of us believe that Women's Studies is among the core disciplines that institutions which have the expertise should offer. However, TSU's request has been "in the pipeline" longer than either the UMBC or the UMCP proposals, and should therefore be treated as first. The UMCP document contains several misstatements, which should be corrected before the document is sent to MHEC/Secretary Aery. They are as follows: p. 5, line 5: "... ranged from fifteen at Towson State, a new program, ..." Women's Studies at TSU is not "a new program"; ours is one of the oldest Women's Studies programs in the country, and probably the oldest in the state of Maryland, having been established in 1972. p. 13, lines 24-26: "The B.A. at Towson is offered under the thematic option of the general studies arts and sciences major." The current program at TSU is in the Interdisciplinary Studies major; there is no longer a "general studies major' at Towson. The proposal from Towson now under consideration at MHEC is for a separate major in Women's Studies. Finally, there is one matter of tone that concerns us: pp. 13-14, lines 26 (of p. 13)-3 (of 14): "The degree program proposed here requires more credit hours than the degree program at Towson and offers a more highly-structured set of foundation courses, including an advanced course in feminist theory and a senior research seminar." The proposed UMCP program requires at least 39 credits, 30 of which must be at the upper division level; the TSU program requires 30 credits, 27 of them upper-division, including an advanced course in feminist theory, and TSU's required courses appear to be just as structured as those at UMCP. We think the quoted sentence might be seen by some careless readers as casting aspersions on the WMST program at TSU -- and we think UMCP can describe their program without giving such an impression. If you need any further information from me, please don't hesitate to let me know. C\MAMUMCWS.46