Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1990 [PAGE 297]

EXTRACTED TEXT FROM PAGE:

1991]

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

285

Originally created as the Black Studies Program, this unit has grown and attracted strong, research-oriented faculty members. T h e size of the unit and the quality of its faculty, coupled with a need for greater administrative efficiency, call for departmental autonomy. Departmental status is significant in many ways, implying permanence and credibility. For example, applicants for positions often perceive that departmental status insures greater continuity and job permanence. Likewise, departmental status is likely to enhance the program's ability to attract more undergraduate majors. T h e University of Minnesota, Ohio State University, University of Wisconsin at Madison, University of California at Los Angeles, Cornell University, Syracuse University, and Indiana University, among others, have departments of African-American studies. T h e name change underscores the specific nature of the unit, disciplinary study focusing on the geographical, historical, and cultural traits of people of African descent. As at most universities in the United States, the field of African-American studies is multidisciplinary. It encompasses the comprehensive study of the experiences of people of African ancestry and incorporates perspectives, knowledge, and research from the social sciences, the humanities, and the arts. Course offerings examine historical and cultural conditions as well as social problems of the people of African descent in the U.S. and other parts of the New World. Lansine Kaba was appointed director of the Black Studies Program in January 1986 and when the new department is approved by the IBHE he will become head. T h e vice president for academic affairs concurs in this recommendation. I recommend approval, pending possible further action by the Board of Higher Education.

On motion of Ms. Reese, this recommendation was approved.

Establishment of the Department of Urology, College of Medicine, Chicago

(10) T h e chancellor at Chicago, upon recommendation of the Chicago Senate, the dean of the College of Medicine, the College Executive Committee, the College Advisory Committee, and the Department of Surgery, has recommended the establishment of the Department of Urology in the College of Medicine. T h e College of Medicine now seeks to reorganize the present Division of Urology within the Department of Surgery as an autonomous Department of Urology. T h e discipline emerged as a separate surgical specialty early in the twentieth century mostly as a result of developments in instrumentation, chemotherapy, and endocrinology. T h e American Board of Urology was approved in 1935. Urology is the branch of medical science that embraces the study, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases of the genitourinary tract. T h e Residency Review Committee for Urology and the Accrediting Council for Graduate Medical Education have very specific requirements for certifying training programs in the discipline. T h e residency training program in urology is accredited by the Residency Review Committee for Urology of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. T h e medical specialty of urology is well-defined, has an academic base, and has a pool of potential candidates for residency and fellowship training. In recognition of this advancement of the discipline, more schools are reorganizing urology as an autonomous department rather than as a section, generally, of the Department of Surgery. Currently, there are 113 U.S. training programs in urology, of which 60 have status as a department. T h e vice president for academic affairs concurs. I recommend approval, pending possible further action of the Board of Higher Education.

On motion of Ms. Reese, this recommendation was approved.