IUP prepares for academic overhaul with proposed college name changes

Indiana University of Pennsylvania is poised to undergo an academic restructuring that would include name changes for three of its five colleges, discontinuing low-enrolled programs and identifying areas for future growth.

Those moves and others will be reviewed by the State System of Higher Education in Harrisburg in the coming weeks. If approved, they take effect in July.

IUP’s Council of Trustees signed off on the current plan Thursday after months of campus discussions between administrators including President Michael Driscoll, the faculty union and others.

State System member universities, including IUP, are trying to rebuild enrollment after sharp losses that led to university mergers, six consecutive tuition freezes and austerity measures including faculty and staff cuts.

At IUP, enrollment of 15,126 students in 2010 fell to 8,832 by 2022. It has since rebounded to 9,254.

Unlike a 2020 restructuring at IUP accompanied by controversial workforce reductions and protests, officials say they do not anticipate anyone will lose their jobs.

“While the number of positions may be reduced in certain areas, any personnel reductions will be made through attrition or not filling vacancies,” spokeswoman Michelle Fryling said.

Still, its programmatic effects will be felt across campus in scores of academic programs.

Leadership of IUP’s chapter of the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties could not immediately be reached Monday or Tuesday for comment on the moves.

IUP would retain its five colleges, but three would be renamed to reflect departmental shifts within those colleges.

The College of Arts and Humanities will become the College of Arts, Humanities, Media, and Public Affairs; the College of Education and Communications will become the College of Education and Human Services; and the College of Health and Human Services will become the College of Health Sciences.

The Eberly College of Business and the Dr. John J. and Char Kopchick College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics will retain their current names.

“These name changes reflect a new configuration of departments within the Colleges — all of this designed to create better synergies and stronger relationships between departments to advantage our students with more cross-departmental opportunities,” IUP said in a statement.

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The number of academic departments across campus would be reduced from 35 to 25 through consolidations, Fryling said Tuesday.

The degree program review that calls for mergers, redesign and discontinuation in some cases is intended to better target resources, said Provost Lara Luetkehans.

“This work will allow IUP to reorder resources to focus on a more tightly aligned, narrower set of relevant and in-demand programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels while identifying strategic areas of growth,” she said.

Initially, 26 undergraduate major areas and 30 graduate programs were reviewed based on criteria from enrollment to number of degrees awarded to return on student investment.

As a result, eight programs will continue as they are and nine will be modified; 29 others would be reduced to 17 by combining programs; another three are being paused for redesign, and seven others are being placed in moratorium and are expected to be discontinued.

They include International Business; Music/Music Industry Track, BA; Media and Communications Studies, PhD; Criminology, PhD. and Applied Math, MS. In addition, Special Education, bachelor’s and master’s, will be discontinued but offered respectively as Early Childhood and Special Education and as a specialization within the Master of Education.

Plans will be devised for programs discontinued or paused to ensure current students can finish, Fryling said.

Other programs will face additional study or are candidates to share with other State System universities.

Meanwhile, IUP has identified 14 areas for potential program growth within Art, Humanities and Media, business, health sciences, natural sciences and mathematics; Education and Human Services.

IUP also is working on a proposed College of Osteopathic Medicine.

In addition to IUP, the State System universities include Cheyney University, Commonwealth University (Bloomsburg, Lock Haven, Mansfield), East Stroudsburg University, Kutztown University, Millersville University, PennWest University (California, Clarion, Edinboro), Shippensburg University, Slippery Rock University and West Chester University.