The University of Wyoming Board of Trustees voted on May 15 to cancel five degrees, including bachelor's degrees in African American and Diaspora Studies and Gender and Women's Studies. It will also restructure the department that houses them.
The programs were identified as "low-producing," meaning they weren't graduating enough majors. Gender and Women's Studies produced 17 graduates in the last five years. African American and Diaspora Studies produced three.
Outside of the department those degrees share, UW axed three other degree tracks:
- Ph.D. in Botany
- M.A. in Molecular Biology
- B.A. in Art History
Many of the gender studies and diaspora studies courses themselves, which remain very popular, will still be available. But now they’ll form the basis of a gender or a diaspora studies minor for a broader American Studies degree.
The American Studies degree already exists and is the most popular degree track in its department.
Interim Provost Scott Turpen told the board that faculty support the degree shakeup.
"It wasn't something coming down from administration that said, 'This is the direction that we're going,'" he said. "It was a pretty robust conversation."
The department exists today as the School of Culture, Gender & Social Justice, but the trustees also approved a name change last week. Henceforth, the academic unit will be called the Department of American Cultural Studies. It will offer a bachelor's and a master's in American Studies, as well as a bachelor's in Native American and Indigenous Studies.
Department Head Stephen Dillon told the UW trustees the new structure will allow for better intersectional education, and gave an example.
"The role of African American women in the Civil Rights Movement can't be discussed or researched in the field of African American Studies solely, or in the field of gender studies solely," he said. "You actually need the kind of resources in both fields."
American Studies can be broadly defined, but Dillon said it is interdisciplinary in nature and draws from gender studies and other disciplines to examine the culture of the United States.
Students currently seeking a gender studies degree will be allowed to finish before the degree track is officially terminated. Dillon said there are currently no declared African American and Diaspora Studies majors.
Conservative state lawmakers have tried repeatedly to outlaw gender studies at UW, but the legislation has never made it to the governor’s desk.
UW officials say the legislative attacks on gender studies did not factor into the decision to cancel the degree track. Alumni, however, said UW should have fought for the degree amid those attacks.
UW regularly reviews its academic programs to identify then eliminate or consolidate low-producing degree tracks.
