Lessons in survival

Southeast Missouri State University may map out an academic future without geography ... or philosophy, physics and other programs that attract few majors.

Faculty and administrators are scrutinizing 18 academic programs this fall, with department chairmen being asked to explain why their programs should be kept in a time of state budget cuts.

At the same time, university officials promise to look at cutting nonacademic spending and outline possible moves in that area later this month to save money. University officials expect to hold one or two forums on possible nonacademic moves, but no meeting dates have been set.

The whole process, expected to be completed in six weeks, has faculty wondering what the future holds for their jobs and students worrying whether they can still get the degree they want. School officials have said any academic program cuts won't take effect until summer 2005.

With only one student major over the past three years -- the fewest number of majors of any academic program at the Cape Girardeau school -- geography heads up a list of 18 academic programs that the university administration is considering reducing or eliminating.

All of the degree programs being reviewed have annually had fewer than 27 majors on average over the past three years, and most have graduated less than five students in a school year, school officials said.

State budget cuts have strained finances for all of Missouri's public colleges and universities and prompted program reviews on many campuses this fall.

The University of Missouri is looking at the future of 48 graduate and undergraduate degree programs.

Program survival

With its small number of majors -- currently seven -- and only two faculty members, Southeast's geography program illustrates what's going on throughout the campus during the administrative review process: Supporters are making a case for why their programs should stay.

Faculty and students insist geography isn't some lonely program with empty classrooms burning a hole in the university budget. It's actually a moneymaker for the school and a vital part of college education for many students.

University figures supplied by the provost's office show the geography program costs $147,701 a year. But faculty members argue that the program generates $237,914 in student fee revenue for those taking geography courses.

Despite only seven majors this fall, nearly 300 students are taking geography courses either as basic education classes or as a part of other majors. A geography class is a state requirement for those studying to be elementary education teachers, or middle school and high school social studies teachers, Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education officials said.

Like their peers in other departments, the geography program's two faculty members -- Dr. Michael Roark, a tenured professor, and Beth Adkins, a non-tenured teacher who works on a year-to-year contract -- say it's tough to teach with the prospect that they could lose their jobs within the next year and a half.

The board of regents could decide their future and those of other employees on Nov. 14, when university president Dr. Ken Dobbins is expected to present a plan to cut academic and non-academic programs.

Roark, who has taught geography at Southeast for 23 years, said it wouldn't be easy for him to find another teaching job in higher education. "People don't want middle-aged professors," he said.

Both Adkins and Roark said geography isn't a useless academic subject, but a vital field of study in today's global marketplace.

"Geography is so much more than place names and capitals," said Adkins, who has taught at Southeast since 1995. "It's a discipline that's very broad. Geographers do everything from research on where diseases begin and how they spread to agricultural related issues."

Southeast has taught geography to students since the school's inception in 1873, Roark said.

On average, the university offers nine geography classes a semester. Most of the classes have more than 30 students.

Dr. Dieter Jedan, who chairs the foreign languages and anthropology department in which the geography program is taught, said the number of majors in the Southeast geography program has increased from one to seven within the last year. Jedan said his department plans to recruit even more students to major in geography over the next several years.

"My hope is that geography will have 20 some majors in the next academic year and 40 to 50 majors in four or five years," he said.

But that can't happen unless Jedan and his colleagues can convince school officials to keep the degree program.

Students' view

Geography student Greg Kluesner of Cape Girardeau said he's "disappointed" the board of regents may eliminate the degree program.

Kluesner hopes to graduate by next December with a double major in geography and finance.

School officials, he said, should look at other ways to save money rather than cutting academic programs that students want.

Brittany Beil, a sophomore geography major from Jackson, said the university administration needs to look at more than the number of majors in deciding what academic programs to cut.

"They are not looking at class sizes," she said. Beil is minoring in anthropology -- another program that school officials say could be eliminated or reduced.

Dr. Christina Frazier, a biology professor who also works as director of assessment in the provost's office, said the university will study all factors, including the importance of a program to the university's mission.

Frazier said university officials haven't decided how many faculty jobs will be cut, but faculty have speculated that 17 to 25 teaching jobs could be eliminated.

Frazier said it's too early to tell how many jobs will be cut. "The focus is to try to keep education affordable for our students and try in the process to disrupt the education of as few students as possible," she said.

That's little consolation to students like Beil.

If geography is eliminated, Beil said she'll be forced to take more courses each semester so she can complete her degree before the university drops the classes.

Beil said the cancellation of geography or any other academic program also could force some students to switch to other majors. That would mean students would be in school longer and it would cost them more, she said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123