CMU School of Drama


Wednesday, July 01, 2026

PennWest University cutting more than 40 majors and minors in academic redesign

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Pennsylvania Western University is moving forward with its plan to cut 43 academic majors and minors while adding dozens of new workforce-focused certificates and credentials.

1 comment:

Jackson Watts said...

It's sad to see the arts become increasingly neglected in universities. While I think that the shift towards certifications rather than full degrees for certain fields is an interesting approach that could be helpful for some students, not all degrees that are being eliminated seem to be getting a certification program. While I can understand that not every university can cater to every degree I think that it would make sense to reimagine the axed degrees in some way, especially considering the fact that the university does not currently intend on reducing faculty or staff. For example I would imagine that digital media technology would be viable as a certification rather than being cut entirely. Ultimately I understand that universities need to cut programs that are not enrolling enough students but I think that this is missing an opportunity to restructure programs such that students would be interested. While the arts and humanities might appear to have less impact than degrees in STEM these degrees teach students to think critically which is an important skill in any field.