West Virginia University departments under review include law, engineering and mineral resources, education, art, music, agriculture, English, math, communications, chemistry, pharmacy and public health.
University officials this week have been clear to say the review process doesn’t necessarily mean the academic programs are likely to be shut down. But it means they’ll be examined for potential shutdown, retention or scaling back.
And while WVU will be examining measurable qualities like faculty-to-student ratios or enrollment trends, university leaders acknowledged that broader societal contributions will be part of decision-making too.
For example, the WVU College of Law is under review but is also the only law school in the state. WVU’s School of Public Health prepares students for careers in a state that ranks lowest for life expectancy, highest for rate of drug-related deaths, highest for percentage of minors in foster care, second highest for food insecurity and 35th for access to care.
“You know, it’s no surprise that the College of Law and the School of Public Health are incredibly important to the university and the state. And being on the list of units that are identified for further review is not meant to indicate otherwise,” Mark Gavin, WVU associate provost, said Tuesday in response to a MetroNews question.
“What we saw in the metrics though, simply by way of potentially enrollment trends, or some financial performance metrics, some opportunities to see some efficiencies and improvement.”
About half of West Virginia University’s academic programs are up for review as a financial crunch has pushed the school to size up what it can and can’t afford.
University officials on Monday announced the specific programs and units singled out for further review over the coming weeks.
“I want to be really clear being on that list does not presume a certain outcome. I know there’s been a lot of swirl around ‘If I’m on the list, they’re gonna cut our unit, we’re on a chopping block; we’re not going to be engaged in training lawyers or public health professionals anymore.’ That is simply not true,” Gavin said.
“We’re simply looking at ways to do that perhaps more efficiently. So we don’t have any presumed outcomes here. We want to work with those units to see how can we continue to serve the university and the state in those areas while doing it in a responsible and efficient manner?”
WVU has been working to resolve a multi-million dollar financial crunch. Last month, the board of governors approved a budget for the coming year that raises tuition by 3 percent, trims expenses by about $10 million — mostly through reduced staffing — and bridges a remaining gap through use of financial reserves.
Over the next few months, WVU officials will be assessing staffing and programs, moving toward cutting back.
University officials described the process as an “accelerated approach due to the challenging financial environment that we are now facing.”
In a letter to the university community this week, President Gordon Gee described the challenges of a declining student population, a declining college-going rate and a more competitive market.
“But perhaps, even more disconcerting is that we fight a pervasive narrative that a college education no longer holds the same value in today’s society,” Gee wrote.
As WVU moves through the transformation, he said, “we will be a system that meets the needs of the students – providing degrees and experiences that will lead to meaningful careers and productive lives. We will be a system that invests in initiatives changing the trajectory of our region and its people.”
Some of the university leaders involved with the review process were available for West Virginia media questions on Tuesday.
Gavin, the associate provost, responded to a MetroNews question about how to consider broad benefits of some academic programs that might be difficult to quantify.
“I’m not sure there’s a way to measure it, but there’s a way to incorporate it and we are,” Gavin said.
He cited the recently-implemented state funding formula for higher education, listing programs identified to serve state needs into the future.
“If we’ve got a state priority program that’s underperforming on our metrics, that tells us where we need to focus some attention,” Gavin said. “That would be not a good program for cutting but one that we need to think about ‘How do we bolster that program so it can deliver on state needs?’
“So those additional lenses and more non-quantifiables are really important, and I will tell you our top leadership team is really aware of that and took that into consideration. We’re very committed to our state mission.”
Lou Slimak, WVU associate provost for curriculum and assessment, noted that an aspect of self-study for programs under review is “context on a programs mission and its contribution to the mission of the institution, its college and what its additional specific mission is. So that’s additional information we take into consideration in making these decisions.”
Louise Veselicky, WVU associate vice president for Health Sciences Center academic affairs, said that if “underperforming” is occurring in terms of expense or enrollment then the university needs to consider how to improve.
“What are the specific workforce needs?” she asked. “How can we motivate a high school student to want to leave high school and and enter public health or any of these other fields? What what can make our programs sustainable? In the long term? Those are all things we’re looking at.”