Questionable Cuts At University Of Akron

The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is protesting program cuts at the University of Akron.

The Board of Trustees at the university recommends cutting: history; sociology; marriage counseling; Counselor Education and Supervision; and Adult Development and Aging (joint with CSU). The Board also recommends phasing out: Nursing‐PhD (a joint program with Kent State); Engineering Applied Mathematics; Biomedical Engineering; Computer Engineering and Electrical Engineering.

The rationale for doing so is about the same for all these disparate majors–low enrollment, although there are some interesting variations:

~For history, “faculty evaluators cited a low marketplace demand for PhD degrees”

~For Counselor Education “faculty evaluators expressed concerns about redundancy with counseling PhD in Psychology (BCAS)

Yet and still, in the nursing program, the trustees determined that “It has higher enrollment and fits better with practice profession focus and market demand.” (By the way, anyone who has spent quality time in a hospital knows how in demand nurses are.) Perhaps that it why the trustees suggested that neighboring Kent State could handle the overflow if the UA program closed.

Nevertheless, on August 17, 2018, Amanda Garrett reported in the Akron Beacon Journal that “The president of a group that represents about 6,000 Ohio professors sent a scathing letter Friday to the University of Akron president and its board of trustees, questioning their push into competitive video gaming while eliminating academic programs.”

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