The music program is not being dropped. A comment I saw on Facebook from a current worker indicated that the handful music majors that are up for possible discontinuance only include 10 students!
I do think we need to think about whether some things exist outside the construct of a major. Students can be passionate and eager to participate in music and choir without a music major. I"d imagine that most that do choir and other things ar enot primarily music majors. Same with Theater. In a similar vein. If Theology as a major is not highly sought after than why do we not rethink how we teach the required theology courses to students and rule our theo professors into general education. I cannot imagine that the university would be getting rid of theology just based on how there actually seems to have been more reinvestment in the religious and even lutheran identity. But, if they went by a specific metric to identify who must go thorugh the process they couldn't NOT put theology in there. The Social Work department showed that discontinuance review does not mean the end and could perhaps mean a remimaging of your area with growth in the future. I don't like that these are happening but I also don't see how we can look around and think it's all just based on too many admins or consultants(which is what I have been seeing on my socials). It's happening to too many institutions everywhere for it too simple. Less majors could also perhaps mean a decrease in teaching load and more options for reasearch and other things. I remember some of of the profs on this board in past complaining about all the extra tasks they were asked to do and how many classes. Maybe we need to shrink some of this stuff to free faculty up to do better work!
Less majors could also perhaps mean a decrease in teaching load and more options for reasearch and other things. I remember some of of the profs on this board in past complaining about all the extra tasks they were asked to do and how many classes. Maybe we need to shrink some of this stuff to free faculty up to do better work!
I appreciate this rosy view, but the reality is that eliminating majors in a department while keeping courses that are part of the general education process does not reduce teaching loads. In fact, it raises teaching loads since gen ed classes are more heavily populated than upper-level courses being removed. The number of classroom hours will remain the same for faculty but the students served by each faculty member will increase significantly. Additionally, if only lower-level gen ed classes continue to be taught (in subjects like German, Spanish, Theology, Music, Philosophy, Professional Writing, etc.) because the majors have been eliminated, then better well-respected full-time faculty who enhance the university's academic reputation will go elsewhere and be replaced by cheaper part-time adjuncts, which appears to be the administrative plan.
Identity change needs to accepted and you cannot operate as is.
While I am sure that the liberal arts programs that are being considered will get most of the emotion and attention, the one that really surprises me is Supply Chain and Logistics Management. This is a really hot field with enrollment going up at many universities around the country. If Valpo is not getting sufficient students in this field, it is hard to think that the cause is anything other than poor advertising/promotion.
Regardless, small to medium private universities do need make hard choices - they cannot sustain programs in fields with only 3-5 students as majors.
🦖 Dinosaur chiming in here.
i saw this when I was an under-grad. I saw this as I moved through the business world. I am seeing this in a grand kid who will graduate college in May: Students overly focused on just a vocational goal, turn into one-dimensional individuals who wind up operating in a very narrow silo, a world with limited boundaries and often wind up clueless about or disconnected from the world around them.
Kids today need to be dragged screaming, fingernails scratching on the sidewalk, through a liberal arts core education that challenges their ideas, regardless of their career aspirations, in order to be disgorged into the real world as a well-rounded human being who can not only exist, but contribute to the advancement of humankind.
There are institutions that can vomit tons of laser-focused vocationalists, and they are, of course, needed and valued for what they do. But there is a niche that produces more than that. Valpo is a citizen of that niche. If Valpo descends to pure vocationalism, it will die because it does not have the resources to compete with the big boys in that arena. Valpo needs to distinguish itself as an institution that provides an education that prepares career-oriented grads with the essentials to compete, but also with the added advantage of the ability to think about more than just the next engineering/ nursing/ musical / business problem.
62 - agreed, and many new graduates lack holistic thinking and are blinded in their specialty. Those other classes outside of their major and important to see the big picture of the ecosystem they are experiencing. In engineering, systems thinking and education/training in that discipline has increased to get many different teams or stakeholders or various talents and needs to collaborate, and identify their role in solving a problem.
my questions is, and yes this will piss people off, to get a broad liberal arts education, is the 2 (engineering) or 3 courses specifically in theology required so they can expand or be more diverse on taking other A&S classes? How about one class as a general requirement?
@usc4valpo as a valpo fan currently attending IUPUI, we are required to have a number of elective credits consisting in speech and creative writing as a "liberal arts" requirement. This is in place for all majors. Idk if valpo has something similar, but it is a good opportunity to develop skills in writing and speaking in a professional environment to prepare for the workforce
I guess I would be 'classified' as one who advocates that universities need to emphasize a vocation, but I don't think you are reading the situation correctly. I am not aware of anyone who is advocating for eliminating 'the core', and those that did would be overruled by the vast majority of people who all know the value of the core.
I am not that familiar with Valpo's curriculum structure, but here is my college's structure (which I assume is similar to Valpo's). All students in my college (one that would be considered vocational) take: 4 introductory core courses, 4 core courses in a specific area, 1 upper level general core course, and 6 open electives (any course outside of our college - which is almost always from A&S). 90%+ of 'core' courses are liberal arts. That is 15 courses/45 credit hours, which represents over one-third of all credit hours taken towards finishing a degree. How can you argue that sort of curriculum is not helping students develop a broader view of the world, critical-thinking, etc.? While I do not advocate for less, I don't think there is much to further gain by going from 45 credit hours to 60 credit hours.
There really are two major issues here:
1. What is the breadth of courses necessary for the core? i am all for courses in Philosophy (for instance), but do you need senior level courses in Marxism or Ancient Middle Eastern Thought to have a meaningful core?
2. Whether you like it or not, the demand is far greater for vocations-oriented majors - the vast majority or parents and students are not willing to pay $40K per year (net after financial aid/scholarships) for liberal arts degrees. Few organizations are successful telling potential customers what is good for them and what they should do...the potential customers just go elsewhere. This creates real problems in academia since faculty cannot be 'repurposed' like employees are in most healthy companies.
@vu84v2 Fair enough, my university seems to be formatted quite differently so i would have no grasp of such topics
@rezynezy agreed. But some schools tend to brush over the importance of those classes. Valpo is not one of them.
@usc4valpo I would have to ask my mother then as to her experience. She is the Valpo alumni in the family, I am just a lowly IUPUI student who happens to live in Valpo.
I have mentioned this on the former board, but it is worth noting here again. usc4valpo and I first met in a Philosophy class during our Fresman year at Valpo. I think even then we saw two value propositions from that class: 1. introduction to a mode of thinking, 2. far more female students than we had in our Engineering classes.
Has anyone noticed or had the feeling that the quantity and frequency of news from the university has been severely limited? I am an old timer and have been following Valpo since graduating in 1973.
Mid-1990s era grad here. Please forgive me if I'm steering what I think is a great point you make off onto a tangent. I've long felt that alumni engagement has not been great and have felt quite disconnected from the university over the years.
Not having participated in Greek Life for a bunch of what years later I see as really silly and nonsensical reasons, I don't have that more potentially automatic connection to the university. That aspect of a lack of connection is absolutely on me. I do have a couple different circles of VU friendships that have weakened somewhat over the years as life has taken us down our individual paths. I haven't completely lost touch with many of these people though. However, few in these friend groups seem to have any sort of strong connection or attachment to the university. The excitement around the men's basketball team's success on the national stage in the mid and late 90s kept some of us engaged, but that faded as the program faded and life's more important priorities took precedence.
I now live several hours away from campus, but even when I lived just over an hour away, I felt little pull to go back. In fact, I haven't been back on campus in about 20 years. When I was just over an hour away, I went back for the Saturday afternoon/evening of Homecoming weekend for a 10 year class event and because my department held an event that interested me. That hasn't happened since. With the time and distance involved now, a trip to campus feels even less compelling.
I really only re-engaged with VU a bit a few years ago when my son was in the college application process. He applied to VU and was accepted, but chose to go to one of VU's direct peers. I've somehow gotten onto his school"s alumni email newsletter. I didn't unsubscribe because I wanted to see how its outreach efforts compared to VU. It feels like more information is shared about happenings on his campus. The emails have actually become a helpful tool to me as a parent to stay informed. I also see the alumni magazine my wife's somewhat larger alma mater sends periodically. Yet again, it seems to be full of significantly more information than what I see coming from VU.
I grew a lot as a person at VU and learned so much about myself there. My memories of VU will always be fond because of that. I've honestly wanted to be more engaged, but I'm also finding this desire fading as I get older and have other interests where I'd like to direct my focus. I don't have any concrete ideas about how to improve alumni outreach since marketing isn't my area of expertise, but I just wanted to share that I also feel there does seem to be an issue with communication.
Thanks for bearing with me and my lengthy post. 
Welcome to the Board Valporainsnow! I have been a pretty active member of the board for many years and, although I graduated many years before you, I have several very close friends, most of which are fraternity brothers. I get back to campus, from my home in Texas, at least every other year, at Homecoming.
Obviously, your history and ties/feelings about Valpo differ greatly from mine. I do however feel that the University has been doing much better outreach of late, as I seem to regularly get emails/mailings from the alumni office, like this one, received today:
https://valpoalumni.my.canva.site/march524
As a member if the Victory Fund, I also get this from Dr. Small on a monthly basis, also received today:
https://new.express.adobe.com/webpage/sebdaG7gjUvmy
It may as simple as (and I'm certainly not saying only those who donate should be getting communications!) maybe sending them five bucks! Try this: https://securelb.imodules.com/s/1347/21/1col.aspx?sid=1347&gid=1&pgid=555&cid=1266
In any event, staying in touch with Valpo may lead to other friendship and perhaps you should seek out an alumni club in your area. We have a pretty active group here in the DFW area, though it has been a while due in part to COVID.
I hope you come back and also try subscribing to Paul Oren's Victory Bell publication!
