PERSIGUIENDO UNA IDENTIDAD

With a long history of educating safety professionals at the bachelor‟s and master‟s degree levels, the Department of Safety Sciences at Indiana University of Pennsylvania is proposing a Ph.D. in Safety Sciences degree. The Department of Safety Sciences is recognized nationally as one of the leading safety sciences programs in the United States and has been producing top quality students in the field since 1971. Graduates from the Safety Sciences degree programs are hired by employers from a variety of fields including manufacturing, construction, the oil

industry, government, and insurance. In 2005, the Department of Safety Sciences became the first program in the United States to begin offering its Master of Science degree in a distance education/summer course format.

In a needs assessment conducted for this program proposal, 51 schools that offer safety degrees or coursework within a degree were surveyed. Results found that there is currently only one Ph.D. degree identified with the title Ph.D. in Occupational Safety and Health in the United States which is in West Virginia University‟s College of Engineering and Mineral Resources. This degree is in an engineering program which requires applicants to have an undergraduate and graduate degree in engineering. Three Ph.D. programs with safety coursework found at other institutions were also found in engineering schools.

Today, there is a large need for people holding doctorates in the safety profession which is evidenced by a large number of schools conducting faculty searches over the next five years. Approximately 21 percent of the schools surveyed stated they are currently conducting a search for faculty positions in a safety or safety-related program while approximately 77 percent of the programs indicated they saw a need to conduct a faculty search in the next five years. Results also indicate a projected need for approximately 71 positions to be filled over the next five years. Adding to this demand for safety professionals with doctorates is the number of faculty expected to retire over the next ten years to 2013. Approximately 85 percent of the programs surveyed expected to have one or more faculty members retire. Approximately 62 positions would become available over the next 10 years due to these retirements.

Of the programs surveyed, approximately 63 percent see a need for doctoral degree programs in safety and safety-related fields. This need would help in alleviating one of the biggest hurdles in hiring qualified individuals to teach in safety and safety-related degree programs.

Approximately 83 percent of the schools surveyed require a doctorate in safety or a safety- related field and possessing a doctorate was the most frequently identified difficulty for institutions in finding qualified candidates for faculty positions.

Interest in pursuing a doctorate in safety sciences is extremely high in the profession as long as the doctorate is in the field and provided in format that lends itself to safety professionals working in the field. Approximately 86 percent of the respondents indicated they approved or strongly approved of online delivery for some of the degree program courses and approximately 78 percent indicated they approved or strongly approved of one week summer courses.

Safety Sciences PhD Proposal 9/29/2010

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Because there are so few doctorate programs specifically in safety sciences and because the programs that do exist tend to be focused on engineering approaches, there is a nationwide shortage of safety professionals with terminal degrees in the field. The field is in desperate need of safety professionals with doctorates that can apply the principles of the field, conduct

research, and teach at the university level. Demands for safety professionals with doctorates are present especially in higher education as professors and in industry and government as

researchers.

The proposed Doctor of Philosophy in Safety Sciences will prepare safety professionals with advanced skills in the anticipation, recognition, evaluation, control, and prevention of safety, health, and environmental hazards in the work environment. Graduates from this degree program will be able to conduct independent research, understand state and federal policy that involves safety, health, and environmental issues, be knowledgeable of and involved in

appropriate professional associations and graduates will be able to teach safety, health, and environmental content to adult audiences (industry or collegiate).

The degree program would consist of 54 hours of coursework including dissertation supervision. Students entering the degree program would have an earned master‟s degree in safety sciences or a closely related field. Utilizing a format similar to the master‟s degree in safety sciences, the Ph.D. program will be comprised of distance education coursework and summer courses. This format is most appealing, as evidenced by the overwhelming success of the master‟s degree program, to working safety professionals from whom the department expects to draw the most students from. Twenty students would be admitted to a cohort every two years and the time to complete the degree would be four years.

The Department of Safety Sciences utilizes a variety of methodologies to determine if student learning has been achieved in its existing degree programs. For the Ph.D. program, courses have been carefully selected and developed to ensure adequate coverage of material to meet the stated student outcomes. Each course has specific student learning outcomes that are written in terms of what the student will be able to do at the end of the course. These course outcomes reflect the knowledge and skills that the student will be held accountable for. A variety of outcome

indicators will be used to determine if each student outcome has been met in a particular course. The Department of Safety Sciences plans to utilize a continuous improvement process to ensure the student educational objectives are being met. This process involves the collection and evaluation of the outcomes indicator data on an annual basis.

This proposed program will not duplicate unnecessarily existing programs at other PASSHE or area universities. Indiana University of Pennsylvania will be the only SSHE institution that offers a Ph.D. in Safety Sciences, therefore, the proposed degree will not duplicate any other existing SSHE program. The Ph.D. in Safety Sciences being proposed by the Department of Safety Sciences would be the only one of its kind in the United States designed to prepare the students for work as university professors and researchers in industry and government. The few other Ph.D. programs in industrial safety in the United States are typically found in engineering schools with an entirely different focus for student outcomes. These programs in engineering schools typically focus on safety engineering applications and approaches in industry and not the broad application of safety sciences and research skills this program intends to meet.

Because of the presence of the existing bachelor‟s degree and master‟s degree programs in the Department of Safety Sciences, many of the resources and much of the infrastructure needed to implement this degree program are in place. Faculty members have extensive experience in course development and delivery necessary for this degree program. They have the educational backgrounds, skills, certifications, and research experience to deliver a quality degree program. The Ph.D. program would require two additional faculty members in order to deliver the courses, coordinate the degree program, and serve on dissertation committees.

Laboratory space and class room space needed for the on campus portion of the program are adequate. To offer a Ph.D. however, additional library resources will have to be available for students to meet their research needs and avail faculty to the most current literature in the field. The department strives to recruit, retain and graduate minority students and recruits

underrepresented faculty for vacated positions. IUP affirmative action policies are followed for the recruitment of faculty for replacement positions. The Department of Safety Sciences also actively recruits students from under-represented groups for its degree programs and will continue to do so with the doctoral degree program. Examples of activities the department is engaged in include acquiring funding through foundations to develop recruiting programs and disseminating scholarships specifically for students in under-represented groups. Of the eight faculty members currently involved in the proposed program delivery, there are two women. In the classroom, faculty members are encouraged to incorporate scholarship from

underrepresented groups into the curriculum.

In summary, there is a need for safety professionals that possess doctorates and the demand continues to grow. Of all programs in the United States, Indiana University‟s Department of Safety Sciences is in the best position to offer a quality Ph.D. in a format that is most appealing to those seeking an advanced degree. The Department has the well qualified, dedicated faculty to deliver this program. With an emphasis on further expanding the safety sciences skills as well as building research skills, this proposed Ph.D. in Safety Sciences is designed to meet an ever growing demand in the field.

10. Catalog Description of Program