MORGANTOWN – WVU’s provost office has released its Academic Transformation preliminary recommendations, proposing that 32 of 338 Morgantown campus majors be discontinued, with 169 potential faculty line reductions.
WVU sent letters to the deans and chairs on Thursday, and all affected faculty were notified by Friday afternoon.
In a Friday announcement summarizing the recommendations, WVU said the proposal includes 12 undergraduate and 20 graduate-level majors. According to Fall 2023 enrollment numbers, this will affect 147 undergraduate students and 287 graduate students, less than 2% of total student enrollment.
The potential faculty cuts represent 7% of total faculty in Morgantown.
President Gordon Gee said, “While we view these preliminary recommendations for reductions and discontinuations as necessary, we are keenly aware of the people they will affect. We do not take that lightly. These faculty are our colleagues, our neighbors and our friends. These decisions are difficult to make.
“However,” he said, “the Board of Governors charged us to focus on what will best serve the needs of our students and our state. Students have choices, and if we aim to improve our enrollment numbers and recruit students to our university, we must have the programs and majors that are most relevant to their needs and the future needs of industry.”
Gee reiterated earlier statements about higher education being at an “inflection point.”
In July, WVU announced 128 programs would undergo review, with four possible recommendations: continue at the current level of activity with no recommended changes; continue at the current level with specific action, including reduction of faculty positions; development of a cooperative program; discontinue the program, after a teach out is completed.
The process, WVU said, included student demand trends, instructional activity and efficiency, and financial data; unit self-study reports; feedback from deans and college leadership. WVU senior leadership reviewed and approved all preliminary recommendations and affirmed mission priorities.
Among the recommendations is eliminating the Department of World Languages, Literatures and Linguistics, and its seven programs. WVU said data showed student interest in the programs is very low and declining.
WVU said this trend is not unique to WVU. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the number of bachelor’s degrees awarded annually across all areas of foreign languages, literatures and linguistics has declined 25% nationally and 30% in WVU’s primary recruiting states between 2010-21.
Additionally, the university is reviewing plans to eliminate the language requirement for all majors, joining a number of peer universities in that move. But WVU said it is exploring alternative methods, such as a partnership with an online language app or online partnership with a fellow Big 12 university.
“Today’s students are open to different methods of instruction and learning,” Gee said. “To be a modern land-grant university, we must provide modern ways of delivering content that they find meaningful and relevant.”
Nicole Tracy-Ventura is a tenured faculty member in that department, teaching applied linguistics.
“I think my colleagues and I are frustrated and surprised,” she said, noting they didn’t think WVU would close the entire department. “That was a huge shock. We feel undervalued.”
She said the statement that their courses could be replaced with apps is belittling to faculty. “It’s insulting that our department would be compared in that way.”
While some people use language apps, many prefer to learn in a classroom, she said. And the department offers more than just language classes.
Many faculty members are successful researchers who publish in top journals and receive important grants, she said. Two got National Science Foundation grants last year. “We are busting our butts for this university and there’s no recognition that they value us as a department and what we contribute.”
Tracy-Ventura said the department draws students from across the university, and some classes draw large numbers. “I really hope that students will be angry. We might not have that many majors, but we have a ton of minors. These students love learning languages, and they see the value of adding it to their degree programs.”
There is an appeal process and Tracy-Ventura said the department is going to use it. But they still face having to propose a smaller department, which still means RIFs and the loss of the two master’s degree programs.
In other areas, WVU said it is seeking to modernize its curriculum to better meet the needs of today’s industry and provide stronger job pathways for students. For instance, Mining Engineering has seen a decline in enrollment but is critical to the state and the region, and there is unmet occupational demand.
Petroleum and Natural Gas is seeing similar challeges, and the preliminary recommendation is to combine the two into a single unit, trimming total faculty to five.
Faculty must appeal the preliminary recommendations by Aug. 18. Two sessions will be held Aug. 15 and Aug. 21 to share more information on that process. An information session for students and families hosted by the Division of Student Life and the Mountaineer Parents Club will be held at 6 p.m. Aug. 17.
The provost will present the preliminary recommendations to the Board of Governors on Aug. 22. Most appeal hearings will occur Aug. 21-Sept. 5. Final recommendations will go the the BOG on Sept. 11. BOG will hear public comments on Sept. 14 and vote on the final recommendations on Sept. 15.
Email: dbeard@dominionpost.com
