Utah State University announced the discontinuation of 14 total programs, degrees and certificates, as the university continues to work toward finalizing its strategic reinvestment plan, as required by H.B. 265.
The Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services stands to be the most affected, with the following 10 programs being discontinued:
- The American Sign Language (ASL) Interpretation emphasis
- The ASL/Deaf Education Teacher Prep Program, a bachelor’s degree
- The Community and Public Health emphasis within the Health Education program
- The Deaf and Elementary Education bachelor’s degree
- The Family Finance emphasis within the Human Development and Family Studies program
- The Family Life Studies bachelor’s degree
- The Applied Kinesiology Fitness Promotion master’s degree
- The Physical Education emphasis within the Kinesiology program
- The Rehabilitation Transition graduate certificate
- The Psychology Data Science and Research Methodology Ph.D. specialization
Other discontinuations include:
- The Agriculture Communication bachelor’s degree within the College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences
- The Environmental Engineering bachelor’s degree within the College of Engineering
- The National Environmental Policy Act graduate certificate within the S.J. & Jessie E. Quinney College of Natural Resources
- USU Eastern’s Theatre Program within the Caine College of Arts
In a message sent to all USU employees Friday, USU Interim President Alan L. Smith reiterated the university’s consistently relayed message of making context-based decisions and reminded employees these discontinuations are only part of a plan yet to be finalized.
“Acknowledging that there are future decisions to be made on department configurations, initial decisions have been made for our forthcoming proposal based on guidance from deans and others in our academic community,” Smith said. “Some of these will consist of rightsizing workload distributions and personnel in departments. Others involved consolidating, moving or disbanding units.”
Facing an “accelerated timeline” for when its strategic reinvestment plan must first be submitted to the Utah Board of Higher Education May 9, USU announced the proposed merger of five colleges into two, new colleges last week.
The plan proposed includes merging the Caine College of Arts, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, and the College of Science into one college. The second merger would see the S.J. & Jessie E. Quinney College of Natural Resources combining forces with the College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences.
“It is important to note that while certain departments or academic activities may be discontinued, this does not necessarily mean that all faculty or staff positions within those areas will be affected,” Smith said in his April 18 message. “Nonetheless, positions across the institution may have role statement changes, job description adjustments, or otherwise be impacted or vacated.”
Smith’s messages to employees have consistently reminded employees of USU’s Voluntary Separation Incentive Program — a tiered program based on years of service, among other things — since his first message on March 7, and his April 18 message continued the trend.
Smith said the university will continue to update its website with any additional program, certificate or degree discontinuations as its administration continues to finalize a strategic reinvestment plan.
“Thank you for expressing stamina, grit, and compassion for one another that we need to navigate toward a stronger USU,” Smith concluded.
For more information on USU’s strategic reinvestment plan or the legislation guiding the process, read The Herald Journal’s previous coverage of the topic or visit USU’s website.