Editor’s note: This is the seventh in a series of stories looking at 34 University programs under scrutiny. The Board of Regents, the body that oversees the state’s higher education system, labeled those programs “under-performing” on Jan. 26.
The master’s and doctorate programs of the Department of Petroleum Engineering are appealing to continue after being recommended for closure or consolidation by the state’s higher education governing board.
“The program is critical and a great benefit to the state and the University,” said Stephen Sears, chair of the Department of Petroleum Engineering. “You can’t argue with the numbers. They are what they are. But we have things in place to improve our graduation rates.”
The programs are two among 34 labeled as under-performing at the University in the Board of Regents’ review of curriculum across Louisiana higher education. The University must submit to the Regents either its plans to consolidate or cut the programs or its appeal to keep the program funded by Feb. 28.
Sears cited the program’s relation to the state’s economy as one of the reasons to continue it.
“The oil and gas is one of the largest, if not the largest, industry in the state,” Sears said. “If we want to have Louisiana students participating in the higher technology part of this industry, we have to continue these programs.”
Sears also said the programs have helped build the University’s close relationship with the large oil corporations in the state.
To be considered a low completer, a master’s program must have, on average, graduated fewer than five students annually in the past three academic years. Doctorate programs are considered low completer if they graduate fewer than two students annually in the past three academic years.
The department graduated four master’s students in December and expects to graduate two more in the spring, according to Sears. The department expects to have one doctorate candidate graduate in March and two others complete their doctorate before the end of the year.
The program currently has 46 graduate students enrolled, Sears said.
Sears blamed the lull in graduates on faculty turnover about five years ago in the already small department.
“We never had a very large graduate program, so the numbers have never been two or three times the minimum number that is being required,” Sears said. “We had some turnover in the department and we hired new assistant professors to replace them, but it takes several years for these assistant professors to train a Ph.D. student.”
Sears said losing the programs would seriously strain the department because the graduate students help train the undergraduate program of 451 students.
Sears said the program also benefited the University as a whole by raising $9.5 million in the Forever LSU campaign.
 
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Contact Xerxes A. Wilson at [email protected]