USD officials announced Monday that students will no longer be required to take the IdEA Program as part of their graduation requirements after May 2010.
In light of looming budget cuts, Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Chuck Staben said officials had been discussing changes to the IdEA Program for the last two months. Because USD’s faculty is not growing in size, staffing the IdEA Program’s capstone courses could not be sustained at a rate that would best serve students, Staben said.
Instead, Staben would like to replace the IdEA course with a new course, similar in size to the IdEA foundation course, taught by USD’s “finest instructors.”
“USD needs a strong signature program that distinguishes us as a liberal arts institution and meets as many goals (of the university) as possible,” Staben said.
Students who have taken the IdEA foundation course will not have to take the new course, which will be offered next fall.
Although the change with the IdEA Program has not yet been approved by the Board of Regents, Staben said USD officials felt “good enough” about securing approval to inform students that they would not have to register for IdEA capstone courses during registration periods.
IdEA Program Director Terry Robertson said he was disappointed that the program would be cut.
“I understand the discussion about budgetary constraints, but I am disappointed,” Robertson said. “IdEA (allowed students to learn) through a variety of different lenses.”
Senior Rory Reid said since he was already taking the IdEA capstone course to graduate, he wasn’t affected by the announcement of the cut.
“If I was just coming into the program, I’d be happy to see it go,” Reid said. “(IdEA) is not something I would’ve picked for myself.”
Reach reporter Jessica Kokesh at Jessica.L.Kokesh@usd.edu.
1 comments