Bradley University will consider eliminating majors and merging departments as part of a broader program prioritization effort.
In an e-mail to Bradley employees obtained by WCBU, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Walter Zakahi outlined his initial recommendations to university President Gary Roberts and the Bradley University Board of Trustees.
Zakahi's recommendations to the University Senate will include elimination of the theatre, physics, retail merchandising, FCS Teacher Education, and family and consumer sciences degrees. Bradley core curriculum courses will continue to be offered in physics and theatre.
The provost said he would also ask the university's deans to work towards the development of a School of Mechanical Engineering that would include manufacturing engineering, as well as a merger of the political science department and Institute of International Studies and a single undergraduate program for philosophy and religious studies.
The Industrial and Mechanical Engineering Department will work on possible elimination of the MSIE Financial Engineering Concentration, the MS Industrial Engineering-System Engineering concentration, and the B.S. in Manufacturing Engineering, process engineering concentration.
Zakahi said Bradley has been trying to implement a program prioritization process for nearly a decade in an effort to identify competitive programs for investment and place the university on "a more positive financial trajectory."
"This news is difficult to deliver and I know it is difficult to hear. I believe, however, that this process is an important part of Bradley’s path to sustainability. The cuts we make will allow us to reinvest resources in our top performing programs or possibly in new areas that have real promise for growth," he wrote.
Program prioritizations aren't uncommon among both public and private institutions. Both Northern Illinois University and Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville have gone through similar processes in recent years.
Zakahi said the process will be iterative, rather than one-time in nature. Only graduate and undergraduate programs are under consideration this year.
If approved, the changes wouldn't be immediate. The provost wrote the programs would be "taught-out" to give current students time to earn their degree before the phase-out. Tenured faculty in the programs would continue to teach core curriculum classes or other courses.
The university's 169 programs were sorted into five quintiles of 33 or 34 each, using criteria developed through a series of closed campus forums with employees held last fall to address the university's $8 million budget deficit. Some of the criteria included student demand, revenue generation, program expenses, and impact of the university's core curriculum. Programs targeted for elimination or consolidation were in the fifth quintile.
Zakahi said remaining fifth quintile programs will be monitored and won't receive new investments this year. If faculty in those areas resign or retire, Zakahi said those funds will be shifted to other units. Programs in the fourth quintile will also be monitored, and filling vacancies in those areas will be "carefully" considered.
The strongest programs included nursing, interactive media, mechanical engineering, counseling, biology, chemistry, biochemistry, psychology, and education. Zakahi said Bradley will work to provide more funding to those and other first-quintile programs.
Zakahi wrote it will likely take several years for Bradley University to begin realizing savings from the program prioritization. Two additional closed forums for university employees are scheduled.
The university declined to do an interview Tuesday.
Editor's note: A previous version of this story mispelled Walter Zakahi's surname. We regret the error.
Copyright 2021 WCBU. To see more, visit WCBU. 9(MDIwMjIxMDA0MDE0Mzk4NDIzNjA0OGQ5Yg001))