Preliminary Academic Modification Proposals
On This Page:
- Introduction
- Potential closures and reductions of graduate programs
- Academic unit consolidation or mergers
- Faculty workload changes
- Faculty reductions in an academic unit
- Potential libraries reductions
- Timeline
Introduction
While this preliminary proposal provides context from the libraries and each school and college, it is important to note that it includes proposed changes that fall outside the usual definition of a major academic modification. While adjustments to graduate program size or faculty workload would not normally trigger this level of review, the scale of the current reductions warrants a broader and more transparent accounting, allowing for wider consultation.
This section reports the academic modifications under consideration. It does not give a complete account of potential spending reduction actions or of revenue enhancement actions, since not all actions are academic modifications. For example, due to the sunsetting of the Tenure Reduction Program, the university has an unusually large number of tenured faculty (61) who have signed up for retirement over the next two years. This predictable set of retirements allows schools and colleges to use tenure-related faculty attrition as part of their budget reduction strategy. Simultaneously, schools and colleges will have to backfill some of these retirements through new faculty hires, so the savings are lower than one might estimate from 61 retirements.
The financial and academic rationale for modifications to academic units is that the academic footprint of the university accounts for more than half of E&G spending. Thus, the university-wide budget gap cannot be closed without impacting academic units.
Each dean has searched for ways to reduce spending without fundamentally damaging the academic and scholarly mission of their college. This resulted in proposals for program consolidations of smaller programs with commonality, doctoral program closures where this could be accomplished while preserving the scholarly mission, and other graduate program closures and reductions when the economics of managing those graduate programs are unfavorable.
Given the uncertainty about the magnitude of the reductions each college will ultimately need to make, we have taken an expansive approach, putting forward a broad range of potential actions for consideration by our community. The proposed academic modifications below, including program suspensions and departmental mergers, do not yet reflect all the feedback that has been received or will be received through the ongoing consultation processes. None of these actions have been finalized or approved, and not all will necessarily be implemented. The proposals may change based on further consultation and clarification of the required budget reductions. In particular, the academic modifications in this document were drawn from school/college preliminary plans for an average 10% reduction, but the reduction based on the table on p. 4 is expected to be approximately 7.25% on average. This lower budget reduction target means these plans will also require further review, but some of the difference between 10% and 7.25% has already been absorbed by excluding tenure-related faculty layoffs from consideration.
Potential closures and reductions of graduate programs
Most colleges have proposed reducing the number of GEs in their programs and/or reducing the number of graduate programs that are supported by GE positions (these programs are typically PhD programs). This is motivated by two factors: (1) the increasing cost of GEs as instructors, and (2) the limited number of employment opportunities requiring a PhD in some areas.
All existing formal commitments of GE support will be honored. Also, existing programs would be maintained as needed to allow for timely degree completions (teach-out programs).
In the table below, to “sunset” a program means to suspend new admissions and teach out the students currently in the program with the intention of closing the program once the last students have completed the program. To pause or suspend admission means to cease admitting students until a goal is reached, such as evaluating the strategic role of the program and the appropriate size for the program. In the case of paused or suspended admissions, existing students would continue to be served and continue to progress normally through the degree program.
Unit | Considered action and rationale |
|---|---|
CAS | Sunset PhD and MA in German and Scandinavian Studies1 |
CAS | Sunset PhD programs and MA programs in Romance Languages2 With reduced GE support, resources would be focused to sustain graduate programs with strong student demand that fulfill workforce needs and align with university research priorities. |
CAS | Sunset PhD in Theatre Arts3 With reduced GE support, resources would be focused to sustain graduate programs with strong student demand that fulfill workforce needs and align with university research priorities. |
CAS | Sunset PhD and MA in Comparative Literature4 With reduced GE support, resources would be focused to sustain graduate programs with strong student demand that fulfill workforce needs and align with university research priorities. |
CAS | Sunset PhD and MA in Folklore5 With reduced GE support, resources would be focused to sustain graduate programs with strong student demand that fulfill workforce needs and align with university research priorities. |
CAS | Sunset PhD and MA in History6 With reduced GE support, resources would be focused to sustain graduate programs with strong student demand that fulfill workforce needs and align with university research priorities. |
CAS | Sunset MA in Classics7 With reduced GE support, resources would be focused to sustain graduate programs with strong student demand that fulfill workforce needs and align with university research priorities. |
CAS |
With reduced GE support, resources would be focused to sustain graduate programs with strong student demand that fulfill workforce needs and align with university research priorities. Note that this does not affect graduate programs (PhD and MA) in East Asian Language and Literature. |
CAS | Reductions in GE support to all other graduate programs GE appointments represent a substantial recurring expenditure. A phased, differentiated reduction would bring graduate funding into alignment with available resources and concentrate support on sustainable programs that meet student demand and workforce needs and where graduate students contribute most significantly to faculty research and scholarship. Limited GE funding would be focused on doctoral training and research, where multi-year support is central to the degree model. Between program closures and other reductions, the total reductions could be as much as 40% of GEs in CAS, with differentiated reductions across departments. |
COE |
This graduate program is not directly linked to any undergraduate programs, and the master’s program it is linked to does not generate enough revenue to offset the costs of the GE funding. This program has the smallest amount of faculty research expenditures and research F&A returns of all PhD programs in the college (even after adjusting for the number of faculty associated with each PhD program). |
COE | Sunset the Educational Policy and Leadership (EPOL, coded as EPLD in the core dataset) master’s program10 The size of this program is decreasing, with no sign of recovery, and enrollment is insufficient to cover the costs of program. This program has been affected by declining international student enrollment. |
DSGN | Limit admission in MFA program to 5 students per year This action will limit costs while the college does graduate program costing review to plan strategically so that GE supported admissions align with college priorities and budget. |
DSGN |
This pause will give time to evaluate costs and benefits of these programs and plan strategically so that GE supported admissions align with college priorities and budget. |
LCB | Sunset Operations and Business Analytics PhD program.11 This is not a large program and is not critical to the college’s research or teaching mission. Historically it has relied on international students, which has made it vulnerable as that market has diminished. |
LCB | Sunset Management PhD program.12 This program is already on an admissions pause because the faculty do not feel it is serving students well. |
SOJC | Pause recruitment for Advertising and Brand Responsibility Master’s program. This is to temporarily free up teaching resources for the undergraduate advertising major. This will be coupled with a longer term evaluation of this Master’s degree program and whether/how it can be run in a fiscally sustainable way. |
SOJC |
|
SOMD |
GE positions will be reduced to minimize the number of Career Faculty impacted by the budget cuts. Reductions will be targeted to positions that are less critical to meeting the school’s instructional and teaching-capacity needs. |
SOMD | Eliminate collaborative piano degree programs (master’s and doctoral). This is less strategically critical to SOMD than other programs. This will have no effect on (NASM) accreditation. The reduction would be achieved through attrition by not replacing a retiring faculty member, thereby reducing the impact on faculty morale and avoiding the elimination of an ongoing occupied position. |
- German and Scandinavian Studies has granted an average of 1.33 doctoral degrees per year and .67 master’s degrees per year in the last three years.
- Romance Languages programs have granted an average of 4.67 doctoral degrees per year and 3.67 master’s degrees per year in the last three years.
- Theatre Arts has granted an average of .67 doctoral degrees per year and .33 master’s degree per year in the last three years.
- Comparative Literature has granted an average of 3 doctoral degrees per year and .33 master’s degree per year in the last three years.
- Folklore has granted no doctoral degrees in the last three years and an average of 12.67 master’s degrees per year.
- History has granted an average of 2 doctoral degrees per year in the last three years and 5.67 master’s degrees per year.
- Classics has granted an average of 1.33 master’s degrees per year in the last three years.
- Asian Studies has granted an average of 1.67 master’s degrees per year in the last three years.
- The Education Studies Department has granted an average of 2 PhD in the QRME program over the last three years.
- The Education Studies Department has granted an average of 10.33 master’s degree in the EPOL program over the last three years. Current enrollments will result in smaller numbers of degrees.
- The Operations and Business Analytics program has granted no PhDs in the last three years.
- The Management PhD program has awarded an average of 1.33 PhDs in the last three years.
Academic unit consolidation or mergers
These are opportunities for administrative savings. In some cases, small departments with small academic programs can better maintain critical mass through a merger. In other cases, programs with overlapping interests can gain synergies through mergers.
Unit | Considered action and rationale |
|---|---|
CAS |
Two configurations are under consideration: (a) a Modern Languages and Literatures department including East Asian Languages and Literatures (EALL), German and Scandinavian Studies, Romance Languages, and Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies; or (b) a Euro-American Languages and Literatures department excluding EALL. Either could be a step toward a more unified Schnitzer School of Global Studies and Languages. Consolidation would reduce duplicate leadership and administrative processes, distribute faculty service more broadly, and support coordinated curricula while retaining instruction in individual languages and literatures. |
CAS | Consolidate the two small and related departments: Classics and Religious Studies. A combined department would eliminate duplicate leadership responsibilities and reduce faculty service and administrative demands. The consolidation could create a more sustainable structure for two relatively small disciplines while preserving their distinct curricula and scholarly identities. |
CAS |
These are relatively small undergraduate programs. The departments have meaningful connections in environmental change, Earth systems, and spatial analysis. Combining leadership and administrative functions could lower overhead, create additional opportunities for curricular and research collaboration, and strengthen the long-term sustainability of Geography. |
COE | Consolidate Communication Disorders and Sciences (CDS), School Psychology (SPSY) and Special Education (SPED) PhD programs into one program with three specialization tracks. These three PhD programs are all in the same department, have overlap in coursework and in faculty. This consolidation reduces some administrative expenses, including GE costs, and would allow programs that might be below critical mass on their own to continue. These programs are all linked to, and share faculty and courses with, revenue-generating undergraduate and/or master’s programs in the college. After adjusting for the number of faculty associated with each PhD program, the SPSY program has the highest level of faculty research F&A returns of all PhD programs in the college. The SPED and CDS programs are the third and fourth highest in faculty research expenditures (out of seven) in the college. |
DSGN | Consolidate departments in School of Architecture and the Environment into school-based administrative structure with individual academic programs. This will streamline administrative structures so that the administration of three layers—College/School/Departments—becomes the administration of two layers—College/School. By doing this there could be some savings to help offset reductions in other areas. |
DSGN | Consolidate departments in School of Art + Design into school-based administrative structure with individual academic programs. This will streamline administrative structures so that the administration of three layers—College/School/Departments—becomes the administration of two layers—College/School. By doing this there could be some savings to help offset reductions in other areas. |
College Merger | Consolidate College of Design (DSGN) and School of Music and Dance (SOMD) into a college positioned to advance the arts, performing arts and architecture. A task force led by Executive Vice Provost for Academic Affairs is analyzing the risks and benefits of such a consolidation. Faculty and staff of both colleges have been introduced to the idea and have been part of initial conversations. In the context of academic modifications, there are two points worth emphasizing.
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Faculty workload changes
These are changes to course release policies or practices that can increase the impact of some of the university’s tenure-related faculty in the classroom. This will be a small part of managing other reductions, including tenure-track faculty attrition. Where workload changes involve unit policy changes, they will have to be realized through the policy revision process described in the CBA.
UNIT | Considered action and rationale |
|---|---|
CAS |
As graduate offerings are reduced or sunset, a larger share of instructional effort should support undergraduate education. This change would increase undergraduate teaching capacity without corresponding new faculty expenditures. |
CAS |
A common standard would reduce disparities among comparable departments and increase instructional capacity while continuing to recognize research and laboratory responsibilities. |
CAS | Adopt a consistent college-wide definition of a course for teaching-load purposes, eliminating the double-counting of large courses. Consistent workload accounting would make instructional expectations more equitable and transparent and improve the allocation of faculty teaching capacity across units. |
COE | Eliminate research-related course release (the “5th course release”) for tenure track faculty. To reduce the effect on research productivity, the college will also decrease the course buyout rate. |
LAW | Work with faculty on utilization adjustments that may include changes to degree requirements, course staffing, and teaching loads. |
Faculty reductions in an Academic unit
As noted at the top of this page, the biggest faculty reduction is not an academic modification. Due to the sunsetting of the Tenure Reduction Program, the university has an unusually large number of tenured faculty (61) who have signed up for retirement over the next two years. This predictable set of retirements allows schools and colleges to use tenure-related faculty attrition as part of their budget reduction strategy. Simultaneously, schools and colleges will have to backfill some, but far from all, of these retirements through new faculty hires.
SOMD: Reduce pro-tem FTE in the Theory and Keyboard Areas by 1.0. The critical instruction can then be accommodated through curriculum and scheduling adjustments. This would preserve instructional quality and avoid undercutting programs that are critical to accreditation.
Potential libraries reductions
Libraries are not considered an academic unit, but one of the service and administrative units in the provost's portfolio. The potential actions are being included in this report at the request of the UO Senate and in the spirit of collaboration. Given the budget reduction to the libraries in the previous round of budget cuts, and the centrality of the library to both the teaching and research mission of the university, this proposal has the cut to the library budget set at approximately 5%. Other administrative units within the office of the provost will have higher budget cuts to accomplish the average 7.25% referred to in the table on p. 4. Reductions being considered include:
- Library administrative and management reductions of up to 4 FTE. These reductions don’t have an immediate impact on services but will reduce coordination and internal support for librarians and the ability to flexibly assign effort where most needed.
- Collection subscription reductions (Campus-wide Bloomberg subscription and print commercial law subscriptions).
- Library technical and accessioning personnel reductions of up to 2 FTE. These reductions will affect the volume of new material acquired, the accuracy of materials shown in the library catalog, and the speed with which new physical and electronic materials can be accessible to users. Library curation and accessioning staff reductions of up to 2 FTE. These reductions will affect both the speed and expertise of physical and virtual additions to the collection, and the speed with which they are available to users.
Timeline
- Graduate program closures: admissions would be suspended for the cohort that would have begun Fall 2027. Existing students would be served by the appropriate colleges so they can finish their degrees, so the teach-out period will vary by program. The program will be closed after the teach-out period (the teach-out period will typically be through Spring 2028 for master’s students who entered in Fall 2026, and through Spring 2032 for PhD students who entered in Fall 2026).
- Potential department mergers within the College of Design would be expected to happen by Fall 2027. This does not assume mergers of degree programs; if pursued, they would follow a different timeline. Potential department mergers within CAS would be expected to take place by Fall 2028.
- Potential merger of College of Design with School of Music and Dance:
- Task force will make a recommendation at the end of Fall 2026.
- University leadership will review the recommendation and engage an operational workgroup to determine what steps would need to be taken.
- Transition would begin in Spring 2027 and be completed by Spring 2028.
- Potential mergers of undergraduate degree programs would be expected to happen by Fall 2028. Teach-out plans would be established that allow five years from first enrollment for bachelor’s students.
- Course release changes would be effective starting in 2027-28.