In 2005, the Office of Special Programs was shifted to the purview of Academic Affairs, with the Dean of Special Programs reporting no longer to the President but to the Vice President of Academic Affairs. Given the structural change and a transition in leadership of Special Programs, this was an opportune time to study Special Programs and to consider the many implications of the shift in reporting structure; the articulation among its multiple parts; the relationship of those parts to other areas of the College; and the relationship of the whole to the core mission of the College.

One area of focus was University Without Walls (UWW), the pioneering distance-learning program Skidmore launched as an experiment in 1971. Among the questions Vice President for Student Affairs Susan Kress charged the Study Group with answering in January, 2007:

• Given the increasing number of external-degree programs now offered by other institutions, what makes UWW programs distinctive? If they are distinctive, how does that distinctiveness connect to Skidmore's core mission?
• If UWW programs are distinctive and strongly connect to the College's mission, how should the College support and improve them?
• What is the ideal relation of faculty members to the UWW program?

Chaired by Jeffrey Segrave, interim dean of special programs, the Special Programs Study Group completed its report in October, 2007, noting both strengths and weaknesses in UWW based both on their own examination and a review conducted by external consultants. Strengths identified by the Study Group included a high-level of student satisfaction with the program and the high quality of online courses. Weaknesses included the marginalization of faculty participation to "the outskirts of the institution," "trenchant problems with regard to enrollment and fiscal viability," and a failure to hone UWW's message and product in ways that "resonate effectively and productively in the marketplace of undergraduate distance learning."

On March 7, 2008, Vice President Susan Kress sent her response to the SPSG to the Skidmore community. It took the form of a recommendation that the college begin taking steps toward closing UWW for three primary reasons:

• increasing demands on Skidmore faculty to support the residential program through teaching, advising and scholarship;
• dramatic changes in the market for distance-learning programs that make it harder for liberal arts colleges like Skidmore to compete;
• steep declines in enrollment and revenues.

The recommendation is now a matter for faculty deliberation through the college's governance system. Any recommendation for closure also will need to be approved by the Board of Trustees and subsequently by the New York State Education Department.

More about the Recommendation

• UWW Student and Alumni/Administration Discussion Group
• Fact Sheet on the Vice President Susan Kress's Recommendation to the Skidmore Community
• Vice President Kress's Recommendation (March 7, 2008)

Supporting Materials

• Vice President for Academic Affairs Susan Kress's Charge to the Special Programs Study Group (January, 2007)
• Report of the Special Programs Study Group (October, 2007)
• Executive Summary