(Photo from Delta State)
- Modifications to degree paths are also part of DSU’s efforts to remain competitive amid declining enrollment and budget cuts.
Requests by Delta State University to modify existing programs were approved by the Board of Trustees for the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning last week. It is part of the university’s effort to keep tuition rates level as declining enrollment has forced budget cuts.
Reorganization Underway
The requests focused on the reorganization of some programs while others were renamed or consolidated. The changes were presented to the Board by Dr. Casey Prestwood, Associate Commissioner of Academic and Student Affairs.
Here is a look at some of the changes:
- A request to reorganize the College of Business and aviation will result in seven faculty and four staff being moved to that unit. Under the reorganization, the Division of Accountancy, Computer Information Systems and Finance will be renamed to Division of Accountancy, Computer Information Systems and Geospatial Information Technologies. Two faculty will be moved to the new division in the area of Geospatial Information Technologies, but no staff will be displaced.
- The College of Education and Human Sciences has been renamed to the College of Education, Arts, and Humanities. A reorganization will entail moving 29 faculty and two staff to that unit.
- The Division of Teacher Education Leadership and Research will now be called the School of Teacher Education. Reorganization of that unit will move 14 faculty from the areas of health, physical education, and recreation and leadership, and research to other units. Three staff are expected to be relocated.
- The Department of Counselor Education and Psychology will now be known as the School of Leadership, Research and Psychology. The reorganization will move five faculty and three staff from that division to another area of the university.
- The Robert E. Smith School of Nursing will now be known as the College of Nursing, Health and Sciences. As the unit is reorganized, 16 faculty will be relocated to this unit.
Additional staff or faculty will not be required for any of the reorganizations, Prestwood told the IHL Board.
New Academic Programs
Delta State also requested the creation of new academic units or programs.
Under the College of Education, Arts and Humanities, DSU will now offer the School of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, which will house 21 faculty and 1 staff member.
With the renaming of the Robert E. Smith School of Nursing to the College of Nursing, Health and Sciences, DSU will use the namesake on the newly created Robert E. Smith School of Nursing and Health Sciences. Under that new program, 21 faculty and one staff member will be housed.
DSU also requested the creation of the Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education, which combined five existing programs and creates a 120-hour degree path for those who wish to earn a degree to become licensed to teach secondary and K-12 students. Only Mississippi College has a similar degree path. Prestwood said the change will help fill the current 2,775 teaching vacancies that exist in Mississippi’s public schools, an increase of 182 from the previous school year.
“This new degree is needed to both address the shortage and to provide a pathway for students seeking a degree and licensure in physical education, music, social studies, science with a biology specialist, mathematics and English education due to the closure of the previous individual secondary and K-12 education prep programs,” Prestwood said.
She added that the new program will offer a more streamlined path for students interested in an education degree and eliminate the need for multiple program coordinators.
All of those requests were approved by the IHL Board.
The Need for Change
Earlier this year, Delta State President Daniel Ennis expressed his intent to keep the tuition at DSU level in hopes that the institution will remain competitive with other public universities in the region.
To do so amid declining enrollment, Dr. Ennis said budget cuts and reorganization were needed at the university. He explained then that the programs most likely to be affected were those with single-digit enrollment and those that struggle to produce graduates.
However, as part of the university’s teach-out program, students with 60 or more credit hours toward a degree path slated for cancelation will be able to complete it.
READ MORE: Declining enrollment forces budget cuts at Delta State
An enrollment cliff across the country, and especially within Mississippi, is making it harder for colleges to reach previous enrollment numbers. It’s estimated that since the 2019-2020 school year, K-12 classrooms in Mississippi saw about 30,000 less students. Less high school graduates equate to less young people seeking a higher education degree.
