By Katherine Yeager | Echo
Spring arrives in Upland with rain, snow and the University Program Review (UPR). Announced on Feb. 23, the UPR now begins to manifest itself in the lives of students, faculty and staff.
Cuts of $3.8 million affect departments, professors and paperwork, bringing concerns to the minds of students looking ahead to the future.
With registration approaching, freshman political science major Lauren Gum has found support through her academic advisor, Dr. Kerton-Johnson, when choosing courses to meet all the graduation requirements.
While political science will no longer be offered as a major, the classes will still be there. As she enters academic advising, Gum's advisers still follow the major requirements needed for her to graduate with a political science degree.
Gum will graduate as one of Taylor's last political science majors. The program, discontinued through the UPR is currently being phased out and channeled into other majors such as politics, philosophy and economics (PPE).
"I'm sad for the people who can't come in next year as political science majors-it's a really interesting area of study," Gum said.
Sophomore Sean McKee faced similar challenges after his major, Spanish education, was cut.
He is disappointed in the lack of interest in studying a foreign language. Given the growing Spanish-speaking population in the U.S. and the large number of Spanish-speakers worldwide, McKee feels that studying Spanish is increasingly important.
McKee, currently studying abroad in Spain, is fulfilling many of his language requirements overseas. However, the last Spanish class he needs to take, Spanish literature, will not be offered next semester. A new Latin American literature class will be offered instead. McKee hopes the course will fulfill his literature requirements and count towards more Spanish elective hours.
"Initially I was a bit shocked, but as I gave it more thought, it made more sense to me," McKee said. "There aren't many Spanish majors."
The effects of the UPR have spanned to faculty as well as students. Roger Jenkinson, department chair of geography, will retire in August of 2017 after teaching over 11,000 students over the past 51 years. The geography department is part of the UPR's cuts, as are economics, international business and others.
Students and administrators alike seek to understand how the UPR will affect life on campus from schedules to department names (such as the newly formed communications department, now including professional writing). RAC sheets abound, registration looms and the UPR's effects manifests themselves across campus.
