Major offerings at Ohio University may soon look different. The university announced Aug. 26 that several majors will be suspended or consolidated under new state guidelines.
The Advance Ohio Higher Education Act, also referred to as Senate Bill 1, has impacted public universities across the state, and OU is no exception.
Dan Pittman, a university spokesperson, said plans for overhauling majors were submitted to the Ohio Department of Education after SB1 went into effect. These plans state if an undergraduate program did not see at least five annual conferrals in a span of three years, it would be marked for suspension.
So far, 11 majors are being suspended. These majors include Bachelor of Arts in chemistry, geological sciences, mathematics and physics. Admissions into the Bachelor of Science in Education in Family and Consumer Sciences Education in Teaching and the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Interdisciplinary Arts are also being suspended.
Several associate’s degree programs were suspended, including the Associate of Applied Science in Electronic Media, Associate of Applied Science in Equine Studies and Associate of Applied Science in Aviation Flight Technology.
Although the Bachelor's of Arts in chemistry, geological sciences, mathematics and physics are being suspended, the Bachelor’s of Science for each program remains.
Eighteen programs have also been approved for mergers, including seven Bachelor of Arts majors, five Bachelor of Science majors and six Bachelor of Music majors.
Programs currently approved for mergers are the Bachelor of Arts in African American Studies, Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies, Bachelor of Arts in French, Bachelor of Science in Education in Spanish Education, Bachelor of Arts in Art History and Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art.
The three different geography majors students could pick from will now become one major with several tracks. The Bachelor of Science in Geography, Bachelor of Science in Geography Environmental Pre-Law, Bachelor of Science in Geography in Geographic Information Science, Bachelor of Science in Geography in Meteorology and Bachelor of Arts will now be under one Bachelor of Science in Geography.
The music majors, which previously were Instrumental Performance, Instrumental Performance in Contemporary Music and Digital Instruments, Music Composition, Organ, Piano and Voice, are to be merged into one program with a variety of concentrations.
On top of the suspensions and mergers, waivers have been submitted for seven different majors. The waivers keep the programs from being either suspended or merged with similar programs. The reasons for the waiver submissions are cited as the “unique nature of the program, recent curricular adjustments, or alignment with workforce needs.”
The programs with submitted waivers are: the Bachelor of Science in Economics, Associate of Applied Science in Engineering, Bachelor of Arts in Dance, Bachelor of Music in Music Therapy, Bachelor of Science in Nutrition Science, Bachelor of Applied Science in Hospitality Management and Associate of Technical Studies.
Pittman said no immediate impacts are expected for full-time educators within the suspended or merged programs.
Students currently enrolled at OU in the aforementioned programs will be able to complete their degree. However, incoming students will not be able to major in these programs.
“Students who have declared any of the programs planned for suspension will be able to complete the program’s requirements and will receive more information from their college during academic advising,” the Aug. 26 news release stated.
Students are also able to contact their academic advisors if they have any questions or concerns.
Emma Topnick, a sophomore studying psychology and sociology, is pursuing a minor in French. Many of her classes for her minor are the same as for the French major, which will soon be merged into the Department of Modern Languages at OU.
Topnick said she does not expect the major cuts and mergers to impact her career at OU too much, but she worries about how it might affect future enrollment and staffing. To her, one of the main selling points for OU was it offers a wide variety of different majors and provides jobs for the people who work within the programs.
“I look at it from a sociological standpoint, where those are jobs too. People are losing those jobs because the university can’t keep them,” Topnick said.
At the current moment, there is no estimate of how much money the university will save by cutting majors.
“It would be premature to discuss any potential financial outcomes until after ODHE has completed its review and the University has had an opportunity to fully implement the state's final recommendations,” Pittman said.
Pittman said new information will be posted as ODHE completes its review of the merger and waiver applications.
