UPDATED 5:40 P.M.
PEORIA, Ill. – The month-long wait to find out officially which programs were being eliminated at Bradley University is over.
The university announced Monday that 20 programs and 38 faculty positions would be cut, as part of an effort to try and close a $13 million budget gap. Another 23 faculty jobs would be eliminated through attrition.
The eliminated programs include:
PROGRAMS BEING CUT
- Actuarial Science (Mathematics) (A degree will still be offered in the Foster College of Business)
- Apparel Production and Merchandising
- Business Law
- Ceramics
- Entrepreneurship (Entrepreneurship opportunities still available through the Turner School of Entrepreneurship and Innovation)
- Family Consumer Science Education
- Family Life Science
- Hospitality Leadership
- International Studies
- Math Education
- Pre-K – 12 Administration and Leadership
- Printmaking
- Professional Sales
- Religious Studies
- Statistics
NO LONGER MAJORS OR CONCENTRATIONS, BUT CLASSES STILL OFFERED IN:
- Economics
- French
- Mathematics
- Philosophy
- Physics
Originally, 22 programs and 47 faculty positions were proposed for elimination.
Bradley President Stephen Standifird says the biggest factor in determining what was eliminated was how a program served the needs of today’s students.
“For example, five-year enrollment trends, and one of the things that we were very careful about is making sure we really understood what those enrollment trends looked like. And the programs we’re discontinuing are just not in demand by today’s students,” Standifird said.
The two programs that survived the chopping block were Public Health Education and Manufacturing Engineering Technology. Standifird says both programs can still serve a purpose in Bradley’s curriculum.
“A good example, for example, is in our public health space. We know that our nursing students, when they decide to not be a nursing student, public health is a program they may actually consider. So that’s something that was a factor in our decision making,” Standifird said.
Standifird says the changes were challenging, which is why he wanted to be as thorough and fast with the process as possible.
“One of the things that I know has been a concern for a number of individuals was the pace of which these changes happen,” Standifird said. “But I thought it was really important that we finalize these decisions as appropriate as possible so that we can release that veil of uncertainty.”
The university says less than 3% of students will be directly impacted, which is a number students at protests in the past month have disagreed with.
With the cuts announced, Standifird says the next steps include a timeline on implementing the ending of programs. That’s due to university allowing students currently enrolled in the programs to finish their degrees at Bradley.
Standifird says no other cuts to programs and faculty are currently planned, but the university may start annual assessments to see how each program is serving the needs of students.
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UPDATED 2:25 P.M.
PEORIA, Ill. – Some 20 programs are now officially being cut at Bradley University, while at least one will be offered, but in another way.
According to an e-mail sent to students and staff at Bradley Monday, later confirmed through a university news release, President Stephen Standifird reiterated that the cuts affect less than three percent of the student population, and students will be able to finish their degrees in the programs being cut – meaning, they will be phased out over time.
The university says it realizes the process has caused uncertainty and anxiety within the campus community since they were announced last month and suggested in the months before that.
But Standifird’s e-mail says everyone can work together to “assure the long-term viability and success of our university.”
38 faculty positions are being cut, and another 23 will be eliminated through attrition.
The cuts are being made as part of efforts to shore up a $13 million budget deficit.
PROGRAMS BEING CUT:
- Actuarial Science (Mathematics) (A degree will still be offered in the Foster College of Business)
- Apparel Production and Merchandising
- Business Law
- Ceramics
- Entrepreneurship (Entrepreneurship opportunities still available through the Turner School of Entrepreneurship and Innovation)
- Family Consumer Science Education
- Family Life Science
- Hospitality Leadership
- International Studies
- Math Education
- Pre-K – 12 Administration and Leadership
- Printmaking
- Professional Sales
- Religious Studies
- Statistics
NO LONGER MAJORS OR CONCENTRATIONS, BUT CLASSES STILL OFFERED IN:
- Economics
- French
- Mathematics
- Philosophy
- Physics
WMBD Radio News will interview Standifird later Monday, and this story will be updated when that happens.
