Board of Regents makes decision about “lower completer” degrees

Students in 33 programs at ULM will see major changes in their de­gree programs after the Louisiana Board of Regents released their decisions about “low completer” programs from across the state.

Some programs will be dis­solved into other de­grees, but oth­er programs will disappear en­tirely from the campus.

Education stu­dents will face the brunt of the changes.

Five of the 10 pro­grams scheduled for termi­nation, which means the com­plete elimination of the program from the university, are in the ed­ucation field.

Sweeping changes in 17 addi­tional programs affecting educa­tion are also scheduled.

The five education programs terminated are: EDD Education­al Leadership, BME Music Ed. – Vocal/Instru­mental Grades K-12, BS Family and Consum­er Science Ed. grades 6-12, BS Health and Physical Edu­cation Grades K-12 and BS Speech Education Grades 6-12.

Most of the changes to educa­tion degrees will be in the form of consolidations, or the merger of degree programs.

BS Math Education grades 6-12 will merge with BS of Mathematics, which will be consolidated with Math Education.

Music Education and BM of Music will consolidate and ab­sorb BME Music Education

Instrumental grades K-12 and BME Music Edu­cation Vocals grades K-12 into the same degree program.

Secondary Education and Teaching will absorb several de­gree programs including: BS Earth Sciences, BS Social Studies Edu­cation grades 6-12, BS Biology Ed. grades 6-12, BS Chemistry Educa­tion grades 6-12, BA French Ed­ucation grades K-12, BA Spanish Education grades K-12 and MA English Education grades 6-12.

BA Art Education grades K-12 will fall into BFA Art.

Non-education terminations include: BS Fashion Design and Merchandising, BS Chemistry, AA Criminal Justice, MA Substance Abuse Counseling and MS Phar­maceutical Sciences.

Students currently enrolled in a program scheduled to be terminated will be allowed to com­plete t h e i r degree, a c c o r d ­ing to the Board of Re­gents’ website.

BA French and BA Span­ish will consolidate into BA Modern Lan­guages

Hannah Clifton of Jonesboro, La., graduated from ULM in December of 2010 with a degree in English and will attend ULM as a grad­uate student in the fall.

She has strong concerns about the message the university could be sending to potential students with the cuts and apparent effort to streamline the education de­grees.

“No one is going to want to come here if they can’t get into the program they want,” she said.

“I wouldn’t pick a school that had my field of study as a con­centration; I w o u l d w a n t to go where my field is impor­tant to that school.”

Outgoing ULM Stu­dent Government Asso­ciation President Brook Sebren has been working with the administration in dealing with the cuts. Accord­ing to him, the damage could have been much worse.

“Any measure that is passed by the UL System or Board of Re­gents is the final authority. ULM doesn’t have a choice on the decision,” said Sebren in an email.

“I’m confident you will find ULM had few losses and many victories in comparison to other universities across the state. This is due to ULM’s outstanding ad­ministration, and their commit­ment to efficient and effective pro­grams,” he said also via emai.

In total, the Board of Regents terminated or consolidated a total of 456 degree programs through­out the state.