The Iowa Board of Regents gave initial approval Wednesday to close multiple academic programs at Iowa’s public universities due to low enrollment and declining student interest, with more programs set to land on the chopping block in future meetings.
The University of Iowa and University of Northern Iowa brought to the board during its Academic Affairs Committee meeting requests to eliminate programs identified to have low enrollment — another step taken by the institutions following a review and recommendations from the board relating to workforce alignment and increasing efficiencies.
Seven UI programs and three UNI programs saw initial approval from the committee Wednesday, with a full board vote scheduled for Thursday.
“I appreciate your work on this. I feel like the universities are doing what we asked you to do,” Board of Regents President Robert Cramer said. “You’re looking for efficiencies in these majors and classes that (have) low enrollment.”
Tanya Uden-Holman, UI associate provost for undergraduate education and dean of the University College, told the board the six undergraduate programs and one graduate degree the university is requesting to be terminated were identified from a review of low-enrollment programs “to ensure they align with student demand and workforce needs.”
Programs possibly leaving the UI include bachelor’s degrees in applied physics; classical languages; gender, women’s and sexuality studies; Italian and Russian, Uden-Holman said. Both the bachelor’s and master’s degrees in African American Studies are also slated for termination, with the university further requesting board approval to close the full African American studies program and the department of gender, women’s and sexuality studies.
Faculty and staff in both African American studies and gender, women’s and sexuality studies have duties in other units that they will take on full-time with the closures, Uden-Holman said, resulting in no loss of employee positions. She added recurring savings from the closure will amount to between $45,000-$55,000 from Departmental Executive Officer (DEO) stipends and budgets for adjunct and visiting faculty.
Each of the UNI termination requests were for graduate programs, including a professional science master’s in industrial mathematics, psychology master’s degree and master in teaching English in secondary schools. The teaching degree will turn into an emphasis within the English master’s program, José Herrera, UNI provost and executive vice president for academic affairs said, and there are currently around 18 students in the program.
The industrial math and psychology programs had previously suspended enrollment, according to board documents, and Herrera said no students are completing coursework in either program beyond five students in psychology who have not completed their thesis requirement.
“The closing of these programs has resulted in instructional efficiencies and cost savings totaling a bit over a quarter-million dollars,” Herrera said.
UNI also saw initial approval to merge its departments of sociology and geography to create a new School of Community and Geographic Innovation.
While Iowa State University didn’t bring any programs forward for elimination at the board’s April meeting, Provost Jason Keith told the body to expect to see at least one undergraduate or graduate program elimination request on the June meeting agenda.
After the Ames university announced the impending closure or merger of 23 undergraduate and graduate academic programs in early April, Provost Jason Keith told the board proposed program closures are currently going through ISU’s internal processes.
“These closures and consolidations will follow established university processes, including action from department, college, and faculty senate committees, and will ultimately require board of regents approval,” Keith said. “Indeed, this process has been ongoing for many of these programs, and we expect the first one to arrive on the board docket in June.”
Other programs have received a two-year extension before another review for various reasons, Keith said, including to see if they can keep enrollment numbers up and to assess student and workforce demands. It is important to remember that “marketing and resources are limited,” however, Keith said, and he expects to see program closures delayed for review to come up in front of the board eventually, due to low enrollment or the necessity to fold the programs into larger areas of study.
New, expanded programs see initial approval
Each university also introduced program expansions and additions to the board Wednesday, each of which saw preliminary approval by the Academic Affairs Committee.
UNI requested approval to expand its cybersecurity and system bachelor’s degree program with an online option, with no additional resources necessary to launch the pathway and plans to support it with tuition revenue going back into the program, Herrera said. If approved by the full board, the online program would launch in August.
“The online modality will maintain the same curriculum, same standards and learning outcomes as the on-campus program, while expanding access to place-bound students, working professionals and community college transfer students,” Herrera said.
The UI is also looking to change its current offerings, with Uden-Holman requesting board approval for the university to take the computer track within its engineering degree and create a new computer engineering major.
Uden-Holman said the change will provide greater clarity to students and reflect curriculum and learning outcomes. More and more students have requested a standalone computer engineering major, she said, and artificial intelligence has only made demand grow. The university expects 20 enrollments in the first year and growth to as many as 200 students by year five.
“Although computer science enrollments have declined nationwide, driven in part by concerns that AI may automate certain software development roles, computer engineering enrollments have remained steady, and that’s because computer engineers design the hardware, firmware, embedded systems and architectures that make AI possible,” Uden-Holman said.
ISU was the only university to propose a new graduate degree, asking the board to approve a master of arts in user experience design within the university’s college of design. Associate Provost for Academic Programs Ann Marie VanDerZanden told the board the program would prepare students for careers in areas of design, business, technology and communications.
Expected degree enrollments start with 12 students and grow to 60 by year five, VanDerZanden said, and they expect tuition revenues in the fifth year to reach $3.3 million.