Warren Wilson College discontinues 5 majors in 'strategic planning process'
Karrigan Monk
Incoming Warren Wilson College students will have a different set of majors to choose from starting in the fall of 2024.
Five majors are being discontinued from the college’s available list of majors: chemistry, global studies, history and political science, math and philosophy. While students who are currently enrolled at Warren Wilson will be able to major in these departments, no new incoming students will be admitted to the programs.
The Board of Trustees voted to approve these changes in late October.
Warren Wilson Provost Jay Roberts said this move is part of a “strategic planning process” put forth by the college’s newest president, Damien Fernández. Roberts said Fernández set objectives he wanted the college to focus on.
“Those included kind of main elements,” Roberts said. “I think the three big pillars were to strengthen our overall student experience, to create a more financially sustainable model for the institution moving forward and to create an educational experience that stays inclusive and as accessible as possible.”
Roberts said his office went through an “academic rebalancing” process that looked at enrollment patterns, student interest and national trends.
He said enrollment for Warren Wilson has stayed “fairly consistent,” but the college is experiencing “flattening revenue and increasing expense.”
“As any business has to do, we just have to monitor that and make adjustments based on it,” Roberts said.
The closing of the majors also means a reduction in staff. According to the college, 14 faculty lines will be closed by a combination of retirements, natural attrition and involuntary layoffs. Twelve more staff positions were eliminated or frozen across the institution, and other positions may see reduced hours.
Roberts said some faculty will be kept on in what is called a “teach out.” These faculty members will remain to finish out the majors for those who are currently enrolled and teach classes that serve other majors. He said Warren Wilson does not anticipate a need for further staff reductions in the future.
He said the questions coming from students primarily revolve around wanting to know if they can continue their courses of study and the fate of favorite faculty members.
Black Mountain News reached out to professors in the majors being discontinued, but the professors declined to comment.
While the college is cutting majors at the undergraduate level, there is a plan to add a new low-residency master's program in applied climate studies, according to Roberts.
“When you go through a process of refocusing and tightening your academic portfolio, that doesn’t necessarily mean that there aren’t exciting new initiatives that come from that,” Roberts said. “That’s where the reinvestments happen.”
Roberts said these decisions come at a time when Warren Wilson wants to focus on “experiential learning for every student both in and out of the classroom.” He said the school wants to focus on the environment, human dynamics and social change as well as the arts.
“We are going to see more investments in those areas, and I think it’s going to allow the college as a whole to focus on areas that we know are our strengths and where we can produce really strong outcomes for our students,” Roberts said.
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