FAIRBANKS, Alaska — The University of Alaska Fairbanks is discontinuing its economics degree program.
The Board of Regents made the decision to cut the program during its most recent meeting.
Two faculty members recently received layoff notices, giving them one year left to teach, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported Tuesday.
The university’s Faculty Senate met at the end of April to discuss the potential discontinuation of several academic programs. Economics was on that list, as well as sociology, geography and dental hygiene, among others.
While the faculty voted in favor of keeping economics, administrators chose otherwise.
Enrollment in the program was suspended in March 2016. However, the program will remain intact for several years, allowing the 20 students with declared economics majors enough time to graduate.
“If an academic program is discontinued, we are still required to ‘teach it out’,” University of Alaska Fairbanks spokeswoman Marmian Grimes said. “So we have to provide a reasonable amount of time to students for them to complete their degree.”
