2009 Performance Accountability Report Vol. 2 - Maryland Higher ...

The Towson University Tiger Marching Band will march and perform in the 2009 Macy’s
Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City
RESPONSE TO QUESTIONS/ISSUES RAISED BY THE COMMISSION
Objective 1.3 – Increase the number of graduates of IT programs employed in Maryland from 82
in Survey year 2002 to 100 in Survey year 2008.
“Information Technology,” as operationally defined for Towson in the MFR process, is no
longer a critical workforce shortage area in Maryland. In 1998, the Maryland Applied
Information Technology Initiative (MAITI) designated a number of information technology
fields as critical workforce shortage areas in the state. Some of the areas of preparation listed in
MAITI, such as Computer Engineering, Software Engineering, Systems Engineering, Decision
and Information Technology, and Nursing Informatics are in short supply and high demand in
the state. However, job opportunities in others, such as Computer Science and Computer
Information Systems - the only two offered by Towson - have diminished in the last decade. As
a result, enrollment in those programs, after peaking in fall 2002, declined each year until
showing increases in fall 2007 and fall 2008.
Although the enrollment in the TU IT programs has increased, the estimated number of IT
graduates employed in Maryland dropped to 38 as of the 2008 survey. This estimate is
inconsistent with trends as the number increased in each of the four previous surveys, from 30 in
1998 to 96 in 2005. Because the number of Towson IT graduates is no longer declining and
because enrollments in our IT programs have increased in the last two years, we believe that the
2008 estimate is an anomaly, possibly reflecting the deteriorating economy in Maryland or
problems with small sample size.
Objective 1.4 – Increase the estimated number of TU graduates of nursing programs employed
in Maryland from 51 in Survey year 2002 to 100 in Survey Year 2008.
MFR estimates of the number of graduates employed in Maryland are calculated by applying the
percentage of survey respondents who indicate employment in Maryland to the total number of
graduates. The alumni survey data show fluctuating numbers of respondents reporting
employment as nurses in other states. For instance, in the graduating class of 2004, twenty-five
Nursing graduates responded to the alumni survey; twenty-three indicated that they were
employed in Maryland and two were employed in other states. Of twenty-eight Nursing
graduates who responded to the survey of the class of 2007, 18 were employed in Maryland and
10 were employed in other states. This fluctuation is inconsistent with the percentage of Towson
Nursing students who are Maryland Residents (89% to 90%) and with the percentage of Towson
graduates taking the NCLEX exam in Maryland (90% to 95%), both of which have remained
constant for the last several years. We believe that the relatively small numbers of nursing
graduates who respond to the alumni survey render that survey data less reliable. In the future,
the university will conduct telephone surveys to verify the employment estimates for nursing
graduates.
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