Correction: The original version of this story contained several errors. The current version of the article reflects the accurate timeline of requests from the Academic Senate and the nature of those requests and demands. Olga Yokoyama was misattributed. As a clarification, Shoichi Iwasaki is an affiliated member of the applied linguistics department, but is a hired member of the Asian languages and cultures department.
After allegedly failing to meet requests for change from the Academic Senate, the applied linguistics department will not be allowed to accept new students for the 2012-13 school year.
The department has been met with a series of requests from the Academic Senate. A January warning letter stated the department should appoint graduate and undergraduate advisers and that the applied linguistics chair should come from within the department, said Olga Yokoyama, former department chair. A long standing request has been for the department to establish an undergraduate major. Lecturer Rosie Lowi said the senate mentioned that the department should have more full-time faculty teaching classes instead of lecturers, but it was not an official demand.
But without additional funding to hire new faculty, the program can’t meet the Academic Senate’s demands, according to department staff.
The senate also asked the department to find a consistent chair from within applied linguistics. Current chair Shoichi Iwasaki is affiliated with the applied linguistics department but is a hired member of the Asian languages and culture department.
Each department on campus undergoes an extensive review process every eight years, said Richard Weiss, vice chair of the senate’s Undergraduate Council. In 2008, at the end of the applied linguistics department’s most recent review, the Academic Senate asked the department to make these changes.
The department met nearly all of the senate’s requests despite limited resources. An undergraduate major was established in 2009 and now has 30 students, and two faculty members agreed to begin serving as advisers in fall 2012, Yokoyama said.
Yet, according to the senate, the department still does not have enough resources for its students. Without a chair and enough full-time faculty, the program likely will not be able to exist.
As far as finding a chair, none of the department’s other five faculty members can fill the void left by Yokoyama. One member is not tenured, one is retiring, two are serving as the advisers and one has already chaired the department for 16 years.
New hires have not been added to the department since 1996, though many faculty have retired or passed away, said lecturer Rosie Lowi. New faculty would create a bigger pool of potential chairs and allow for more classes to be taught by faculty instead of lecturers, thus fully satisfying the senate’s demands, she added.
The applied linguistics graduate program was ranked second in a National Research Council report, which indicates the program’s strength, Yokoyama said.
She said she believes the senate’s requests cannot be fulfilled without more faculty members.
“The university should be giving us new faculty, and why they haven’t is a mystery,” Yokoyama said. “It’s not smart to shut down a successful, growing department like ours.”
Weiss said the university does not have a responsibility to provide departments with full-time faculty, as deans may use incoming funds at their discretion.
When no one volunteered to step up as the new department chair after a warning letter in January, the Academic Senate told Iwasaki this month that admissions would be suspended for the coming school year.
It is likely the department’s undergraduate and graduate programs will be dismantled soon, Weiss said.
The senate will formally decide whether to dissolve applied linguistics within the next year. Department members will have opportunities to object to the senate’s likely decision to disband the department, Weiss said.
“Our graduate students are placing in good programs after getting degrees, and our undergraduate major is gaining popularity,” Iwasaki said. “My hope is that while the Academic Senate is deciding (about disestablishment), we can bring them new information.”
Applied linguistics graduate students held a town hall meeting last week, during which they drafted a letter asking faculty to lobby for the program’s continued existence.
Doctoral student Jeremy Kelley attended the meeting, where he said they discussed fundraising tactics to hire more faculty.
While leaders debate disbanding the department, applied linguistics students will continue to vouch for the program’s integrity, said Joanna Metoki, a graduate student.
“A low number of faculty is the only problem I see with our department,” Metoki said. “I’m not sure why our program should be disestablished; it’s top-notch.”