In an effort to alleviate financial concerns, East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, has decided to cut six academic degree programs, according to a report from WITN. One of these programs is the bachelor of arts degree in African and African American studies.
The university recently announced it was working to make $25 million in cuts and savings – about 2 percent of its total budget. Earlier this year, a committee was formed to review academic programs in the bottom 10 percent of program productivity. The group examined each program’s number of degrees granted over the past five years, the number of students enrolled in the program over the past five years, and the number of student credit hours generated per full-time faculty member.
According to the university, the bachelor’s degree in African and African American studies program has awarded 11 degrees in recent years: six in 2020-2021, three in 2021-2022, and one each in 2022-2023 and 2023-2024.
Although the university will no longer accept new students to its discontinued programs, leaders have developed teach-out plans and timelines to ensure current students can complete their course of study.
In addition to African and African American studies, bachelor’s degrees in economics, geographic information science and technology, theatre arts, biomedical engineering, and mechanical engineering have also been eliminated. University administrators have identified an additional 11 programs for further review.
