Q+A with the New Provost, Dr. R. Brent Thomas

Do you think there are misconceptions or confusion about some of the suspended programs?

Emporia State University has undergone significant changes over the last year, specifically suspending some majors, minors and concentrations. Can you explain what factors led to the need for these changes?

I've been at Emporia State for almost 18 years and served as a department chair, dean or provost for most of that time. I've been through budget cuts in every one of those roles. The approach was always the same, eliminate positions that happened to be vacant or take advantage of other cuts that happen to be conveniently available at that moment in time.

It was a kick-the-can-down-the-road approach. Those decisions would have made sense if we were dealing with short-term financial issues, but the reasons behind these cuts weren’t shortterm issues. The issues we’re dealing with are long-term shifts. They're going to be with us for a long time.

When you have a decade-plus of making those kinds of nonstrategic cuts, they add up. That old method didn’t allow us to invest in anything or make strategic decisions. We had to do things differently, and we had to do it quickly.

Among other organizational concerns, we generally made changes to the areas that had less interest, not because they weren't valuable disciplines, but because we didn't have very many students interested in those programs anymore.

What process was used to approach these changes and what are the desired outcomes?

We looked at a lot of data. We looked at head count, enrollment and student credit hour production anywhere from the last 5 to 20 years. We looked at workforce demands and career placement rates.

We looked at how many prospective students contacted ESU and inquired about each program. We also looked at how many of those people enrolled. For example, you might look at a program and see the enrollment in that program has been declining steadily for 20 years. Then you look at the recruitment funnel, and you find out that in the previous 12 months, only two prospective students expressed interest in this program. Some programs, minors and concentrations no longer made sense for ESU. Narrowing our focus allows us to reinvest those resources into programs we can maintain and grow.

It also allows us to take a more strategic approach. For example, it is allowing us to invest in the art department in a way that could, for the first time in a very long time, meet the requirements of their specialized accrediting organization. We are also in the process of hiring another assistant professor of graphic design for the art department – one of the most popular concentrations in the art major.

Even in areas where programs were suspended, we are re-envisioning and investing. For example, in the English department, we are launching a completely unique and modernized Bachelor of Secondary Education English program, revamping composition one and two for our General Education courses and reimagining the English minor in such a way that students in any major on campus can acquire skills that will be valuable in their profession.

Yes, I believe so. For instance, we have suspended programs — majors, minors and concentrations — but that doesn’t mean that we don’t offer courses in those disciplines anymore. For example, I think there is a misunderstanding about history and political science. We suspended those two majors. However, it was actually the department that proposed the plan to merge these two majors. The department chair brought this proposal forward to me last spring. They said, ‘We know our enrollment numbers in the history major and the political science major have been declining. We want to be proactive.’ So, they made the recommendation to suspend the two standalone majors and merge them into a single broad field major. We’ve received formal approval both internally and from the Kansas Board of Regents (KBOR) for that merger now. Students who would've formerly declared a major in either history or political sciences would now declare “history and government” as their major. This new structure also aligns better with the Bachelor in Secondary Education in social sciences.

There's also a misunderstanding about our secondary education programs. There's only one thing that we stopped doing related to K-12 teacher preparation and that was the journalism endorsement. That's it. Everything else we're still doing, and we plan to continue doing them well.

As Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, what are your priorities and goals for Emporia State?

My first priority is the continuation and completion plans for students in programs that were suspended. We will honor the commitment we made to the students we recruited to those programs.

Second, as I mentioned earlier, is moving forward in the areas where we have made focused reinvestments.

Third, we are focused on optimizing the structure of academic affairs to best align departments and disciplines to increase opportunities for collaboration across traditional disciplinary boundaries. Additionally, creating a structure that provides better opportunities for leadership development and succession planning.

As you look toward the future, what outcomes do you anticipate from these changes? What will be the impact on the university, our students and future students?

These changes will allow us to focus on, and elevate, the programs Emporia State is known for. We want to deliver students the very best experience in the programs we offer. Our investment strategy will allow us to do that.

I am also excited about the long-term impacts our pre-K-12 outreach approach will have on increasing future enrollment at ESU and getting young people excited about education. Additionally, the changes we are making to the structure of academic affairs will allow us to be more nimble and responsive to the needs of our students and react to changes in the marketplace.

Any closing thoughts?

I want to acknowledge that the reduction to programs and personnel have been painful. However, by making these difficult decisions, we are now more focused than ever, and we are strategically reallocating resources that will be beneficial to our current and future students. I have never been more excited about the future of Emporia State University!