Posted on 08/12/2023 6:19:32 PM PDT by CFW
West Virginia University leaders have recommended discontinuing 32 of its majors at its Morgantown campus as the school is feverishly working to make up for a multi-million budget shortfall.
The preliminary recommendations, released Friday afternoon, said 12 of those programs are undergraduate majors and 20 are graduate-level majors. Other programs were told to reduce their faculty size — 169 faculty jobs are on the line for cuts.
Programs marked for discontinuation included: master’s and doctorate in Mathematics; master’s and doctorate in Higher Education Administration; master’s of Public Administration; master’s of fine arts in Creative Writing; and a bachelor’s in Recreation, Parks and Tourism Resources.
The Department of World Languages, Literatures and Linguistics, which includes Spanish, Russian and Chinese studies, was marked to be completely dissolved.
“My colleagues and I are still in shock; it’s inconceivable that our state flagship, R1, land-grant university, the place where we’ve all built our homes, careers and lives is completely eliminating the teaching of languages,” said Lisa Di Bartolomeo, a teaching professor of Russian Studies.
(Excerpt) Read more at westvirginiawatch.com ...
Matrix theory
Fluid dynamics
Elasticity
Computational methods
Some Basic Problems of the Mathematical Theory of Elasticity N.I. Muskhelishvili....weighs in at 732 pages.
For the numerical analysis I borrowed the Marchant 10 digit mechanical calculator from the company accounting office.
The nation’s second-largest coal producer, West Virginia has lost 56% of its mining jobs since 2009 as power plants turn toward renewable energy sources.
Go Woke go Broke.
DEI and social justice moved up to the top of the list
Cuts due to Biden inflation, less student enrollment, dependence on what I might call, “point of need” education by computer, universities producing inept graduates. WVU probably leading the trend of downsizing.
I would assume some of the administrators for canceled programs would be canned also.
Hate to see anyone lose their jobs but that's always been a way of life for many auto workers and their suppliers here in Detroit, a career filled with temporary layoffs and permanent layoffs.
Regarding the math classes, Friday I stopped at a produce stand and purchased some sweet corn and fresh tomatoes which totaled $8.15. I gave the teenager $9.00 and without a calculator at his fingertips, he couldn't figure out how much change to give me. I had to tell him 85 cents......
English is spoken in the Mountain State. Kids will have to go elsewhere for Jazz Pedagogy.
>I wonder whether the Masters and Doctorate was in real math or (ptui-ptui) math eddikashun? <
I know a guy who got his masters in mathematics and was seeking his doctorate. He quit school and is building boat docks for a living.
EC
Lets see. 1000s of railroad employees get laid off from companies like CSX and Norfolk Southern, causing disruptions to the supply chain that actually has negative effects on the lives of every day Americans. And Lisa chuckles knowing, at the time, that her tenured position was safe and sound.
Weekends, holidays, Christmas breaks, summers off. Probably teaching one or two classes a week for a grand total of 4-6 hours a week.
Grad assistants and TAs doing a substantial amount of her work, if not most of it.
Now she just might have to go out and actually earn a living. Poor girl.
I’m on the WV border. Coal trains come through here constantly on the way to Norfolk. More natural gas cars as well
Teaching requires a LOT more time put in than just the class room time. If you are a good teacher, that is.
I had teachers who basically just showed up to give the lectures and they were universally crap (as teachers). Dumping everything else off on the grad assistants doesn’t work worth a damn. At least not in substantive classes.
(Spoken as both an EE student and my Dad was a Forestry Prof.)
That said, I do agree with your comments on reducing Administrative costs. And I wonder how much the coaches are paid. The latter worth it, I suppose, if the programs are profitable.
Maintenance work is surely unionized. My Dad found that he was barred from so much as replacing an easily accessible burned out light bulb in his office. And to replace it, the “Physical Plant” (also in charge of maintenance) could and would like a caricature send over 3 guys. That was 40 years ago. These days they may have to add a Diversity, Justice, and Equality Officer... :-(
“...WV is a creepy place...”
Remember the two 16 year old lesbians that killed their friend Skylar Neese, because they didn’t want to be friends anymore. That was in Morgantown WV.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Skylar_Neese
I bet they’ll hold on to Angry Lesbian Women of Color Studies though.
Maybe only international (e.g., Chinese?) doctoral students?
Oh, no—not the “MM Collaborative Piano”!
First thing to be cut should have been the university president’s salalary,quickly followed by cuts to other administrative positions,then elimination of all programs whose graduates don’t/won’t/can’t make a positive contribution to civilization.
Only a college for idiots drops its Math major.
Mathematics graduate programs. IDK how good they are, but certainly the worse math degree is better than the best Women’s Studies degree.
“You don’t cut advanced degrees in mathematics. That waters down all the hard sciences degrees you have because advanced mathematics is required for hard sciences, particularly physics, chem, and bio chem.”
Excellent post.
They should have more math courses, not less—or they are failing to prepare their students for the modern world.
From the posts here it sounds like they have plenty of toxic waste courses to cut.
Since last census WV decreased from 1.8M to 1.4 M.
It will reduce the quality to the STEM disciplines!
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