The recent reorganization of academic programs at Tennessee State University was initiated by the downturn in the overall economy of the nation and the ensuing general reduction of higher-education support in Tennessee as well as in other states. Other state institutions-including the University of Tennessee-Knoxville-have had to reorganize and reduce program offerings.
The program actions at TSU resulted from careful study by various committees that included members of the faculty and Faculty Senate. President Shields invited the faculty to discuss proposed changes with her and to make suggestions related to the changes. Many of these suggestions were accepted and acted upon.
A budget analysis of the final program reorganization showed an annual cost savings of over $700,000. In order to protect programs and faculty positions, these savings were reallocated from non-producing areas to revenue-generating areas.
The facts are:
No faculty jobs were eliminated.
Two vice-presidential positions were eliminated.
While degree programs were cut, the revenue-generating elements of those programs were not. For example, the highly enrolled course offerings in Africana Studies were retained, and Africana Studies was re-designated as a minor. Only the major degree-the low-producing element of the program-was eliminated.
The reorganization relocated programs into units with financial support for those programs. For example, Biology was relocated to the College of Agriculture and Consumer Science, where Land Grant and other research funding is available.
External reports, as well as institutional data, have indicated that the university simply cannot support 67 degree programs with our current enrollment. Quality costs money, and underfunding all of our programs threatens the quality of those programs.
Retaining programs with few students and even fewer graduates puts the university at considerable risk under the new funding model required by the Complete College Tennessee Act.
As TBR Chancellor John Morgan has written in a letter to one of our faculty members, "Appropriate paper work was submitted from TSU and the proposed reorganization of departments and name changes of academic units were all approved by the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs in accordance with TBR policy."
Change is frequently hard. But the data-driven deliberated changes being made at TSU serve to protect the university, the students, the faculty and the staff from catastrophic change that would surely result from hasty, ill-considered, and mis-informed actions.
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