Tennessee State University Discontinues Low-Producing Degree Programs - Heidi M. Augustin, CTI

In an effort to cope with severe budget cuts, the Tennessee Board of Regents Chancellor John Morgan approved the academic restructuring of Tennessee State University, which includes eliminating six programs. According to a Tennessee Board of Regents press release, the proposed changes were made by Interim President Portia Shields. TSU will discontinue six academic programs that have been deemed "not productive or mission-essential to the university". Additionally, the university will reorganize or consolidate programs that are mission-essential but have few graduates as well as reorganize some schools and colleges. "These are some of the same types of changes many other campuses made over the past few years as funding and revenues declined," said Morgan. Indeed, the Missouri Department of Higher Education recently requested that University of Missouri reevaluate 75 low-producing programs.