Byline: PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Old Dominion University won approval from the state Tuesday to offer two new degrees.
The programs will be a master's in public health, offered jointly with Eastern Virginia Medical School, and a bachelor's in environmental engineering.
Both programs will begin next year. Neither will require state funding, ODU officials say.
The master's program is ``a real model of cooperation between a public and private institution,'' said Donna Brodd, senior academic affairs coordinator of the State Council of Higher Education, which approved both programs. Students in the health program would take classes at both ODU and EVMS.
``Public health services cut across all disciplines, and all disciplines are represented at both institutions,'' said Don Combs, vice president for planning at EVMS.
The health program will primarily attract health professionals who want to expand their skills, said ODU Health Sciences Dean Lindsay L. Rettie. Most of the courses will be at night or on the weekends.
Graduates will be able to design disease prevention and health promotion programs, and conduct public health research, according to an ODU description of the program.
Old Dominion already offers environmental engineering courses in its civil engineering department. ``Our program is adequate, but it isn't the best we can do,'' said David R. Hagger, associate vice president for academic affairs.
ODU officials say the demand for environmental engineers is growing faster than the supply.
``The field has grown dramatically in the last 20 years, from the traditional element of sanitation engineering into addressing all sorts of air pollution and groundwater problems,'' said Gary C. Schafran, associate professor of civil engineering.
Fifty students are expected to be enrolled in the public health program, and 100 in the engineering program, by the year 2000.
The environmental degree would be the first of its kind in Virginia, the council said, but Virginia Commonwealth University already offers a master's in public health.
The state is usually reluctant to approve ``duplicate'' degree programs. However, Combs said, the program was for Hampton Roads health professionals who are unable to travel to VCU in Richmond.
The state council met at the University of Virginia Rotunda. In other action, the council:
Did not endorse a request by Tidewater Community College for an additional $3 million from the state next year for its Norfolk campus, expected to open in January.
The State Board for Community Colleges endorsed the recommendation last week.
TCC has said the money is needed for faculty salaries and supplies. But the state council said the community college system can reallocate money from other campuses.
The council does not have the last word. Gov. George F. Allen and the General Assembly will approve the state's 1997-98 budget early next year, and local legislators have been vocal advocates for the Norfolk campus.
Praised ODU ``as one of the leaders in restructuring'' in Virginia.
Since 1994, colleges have had to submit annual reports listing their ``restructuring'' efforts to cut costs and improve education. On Tuesday, the council approved all of the schools' reports for 1996.
The council's review of ODU's plan highlighted the university's Career Advantage Program, which gives every interested student a chance to get a one-semester internship, and its new Weekend College, which offers nine degree programs during the weekends.
Other schools that received strong praise included U.Va., VCU, James Madison University and Virginia Tech.
A council report said that Norfolk State University ``has accomplished or has ongoing activities in the majority of its restructuring goals,'' but that Christopher Newport University ``needs to regain its momentum.''
Christopher Newport was faulted for, among other things, not developing an economic development plan and failing to demonstrate that faculty would be trained for new technology.
