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Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2009

Wesleyan College changing lineup of majors

Wesleyan College and Brewton-Parker College are scrapping unpopular majors.

Wesleyan said some of the majors it’s shedding had fewer than three graduates a year, while Brewton-Parker is beginning layoffs as it cuts half of its majors that serve one-tenth of its student population.

Wesleyan said it is phasing out five majors and launching three new programs. The environmental science major is being replaced with a more policy-focused environmental studies major. The middle grades education major will be replaced with educational studies. The computer information systems major and computer science minor will be slashed, while a digital humanities major is started. History and political science majors will continue, but a combined history/political science major will be eliminated. The physics major will be cut, but the college said it would continue offering the classes.

In a statement, Dean Vivia Lawton Fowler said, “This plan adds some majors and faculty, deletes some majors and faculty and revised many academic initiatives, enabling us to serve our students even better in the future.”

The college’s spokeswoman, Susan Welsh, said current students will be able to receive their degrees on schedule.

“Students will not be negatively impacted by these changes,” she said Monday. All told, the majors getting cut have 14 students, all but five of whom are graduating next spring. Students will be told of the changes this morning.

Brewton-Parker’s board approved sweeping changes there Thursday, ending two satellite campuses and more than a dozen majors. College President David R. Smith said the Mount Vernon school needs to become stronger to face an upcoming 10-year accreditation review and a battered endowment. The financial pressures are lower than they were 10 or 15 years ago, Smith said.

“The college is 105 years old, has withstood many challenges like this before and will survive this one,” Smith said.

Brewton-Parker already has laid off a number of people, though the college won’t close any programs until the end of this semester. Smith said even though about half of the majors are being shuttered, the changes will affect just 10 percent of the students.

The 1,000-student school will keep 18 majors, he said. The college did not identify Monday the majors that will be eliminated.

The college said trustees mandated a student-to-faculty ratio increase and will close the Norman Park and Liberty County campuses. Only the home campus in Montgomery County and a satellite in Newnan will remain.

To contact writer Mike Stucka, call 744-4251.