Graduate conducting assistant Matthew Barbre leads an ensemble at Radford University, which is seeing millions in funding cuts.

Photos by ALAN KIM The Roanoke Times

Radford University's wind ensemble takes a bow at the Covington Center for Visual and Performing Arts. The music program could be cut.

RADFORD -- Radford University has marked 29 programs for expedited review. That means they were given about two weeks to construct an argument explaining why they shouldn't be shut down.

Directors of two of those programs -- professional development in library media and teaching English to speakers of other languages -- chose to close them without going through the review process.

Debra Templeton, Radford's director of institutional research, planning and assessment, said program reviews are routine. They're required every five years. The university completed 14 of them last year.

But reviews generally take months, and some of the 14 reviewed last year are among those under review now.

Stephen Owen, president of the faculty senate, said the current round of program reviews is different.

"In many ways, it's a different animal," he said. The timeline is much shorter, he said, but "the questions that are being asked this time are being cast a bit differently."

There are four questions, according to Owen: How does the program contribute to the university's mission and strategic plan? How does it contribute to the new core curriculum, interdisciplinary teaching, service or research? What's the plan to make the program more viable? How does the program benefit the community, region, commonwealth and society?

There's also an open-ended invitation for additional information.

These reviews are part of what Provost Wil Stanton describes as "separate but related strategies" aimed at meeting the $4.85 million cut in state contributions to the university's academic budget and "creating a solid foundation for a university 50 years into the future."

"There is no predisposition about what recommendation is going to be made as these progress," Vice Provost Rick Slavings said.

Some faculty say they are skeptical of that, given that anthropology is listed among the 29 in Owen's report to the faculty senate. The Radford University Board of Visitors voted last month to stop accepting students into the anthropology program. Some faculty members said this week they're afraid to speak about their concerns publicly for fear they'll lose their jobs. The administration has told at least some faculty members not to talk about the process outside the university community.

The board of visitors approved a number of changes at its February meeting -- merging departments, creating new schools, shifting programs among schools -- with little faculty involvement.

"We've certainly heard concerns from faculty that consultation was lacking," Owen said. "We've received assurances that in the future, lines of communication will be there."

The faculty senate passed a resolution reinforcing that idea. The senators requested access to all data "involved, however peripherally" in the deliberations that put programs on or off the review list.

That list doesn't include an undisclosed number of concentrations and courses within majors that are already being eliminated or programs, such as medical technology, that were voluntarily discontinued before the current round of reviews began.

The programs being reviewed will be judged on the four questions and whether they are cost effective. Graduate programs and undergraduate majors were judged against State Council of Higher Education standards for productivity. Programs that didn't make 150 percent of the SCHEV goals are on the list.

Minors are being judged primarily on the basis of how much do they cost the university and how much they bring in. All of Radford's active graduate certificate programs are up for review, in part on the same basis. There's also a question -- apparently caused by a lack of clarity on SCHEV's part -- about exactly what qualifies as a certificate program.

Officially, there are three potential outcomes for the programs under review: continue, restructure or discontinue. Templeton added another. Some programs may decide to combine.

After program directors submit their documents, deans will review and comment on them. The Academic Review Program Committee -- Templeton, Owen, the deans, one faculty member from each undergraduate college and one undergraduate student -- will make recommendations by March 31. The faculty senate will review and comment on those recommendations, but Stanton will decide what recommendations go to the board of visitors.

The board is expected to vote on the recommendations April 23.