The faculty senate is in the process of considering a series of 11 proposals that would affect several academic programs for the upcoming 2005-07 course catalog.

Five of the proposals call for discontinuation of programs, two for program name changes, two for five-year reviews and one for a merger of two curriculum programs.

Another proposal is to change the name of the designation for students with low academic performance from “temporary enrollment” to “academic probation.”

All 11 are on the docket for the Tuesday’s Faculty Senate meeting, along with a presentation from representatives of the University of Northern Iowa faculty union.

Jack Girton, Faculty Senate president, said the discontinuation proposals were for programs with low enrollment or programs eliminated due to reorganizations.

Two programs, botany and zoology, are being discontinued because the departments were eliminated after the reorganization of the biological sciences last year.

“All of these [programs] were relatively small,” Girton said

Girton said the nature of the sciences had changed, so it was necessary to reorganize, which led to the elimination of some departments. The two programs being eliminated are available as part of an expanded biology major, he said.

“There is a natural life for such things,” he said.

The programs were not eliminated because of budgetary reasons, but because they were no longer necessary, he said. A major in botany is something fewer and fewer people want.

“It’s harder and harder to justify smaller programs,” he said.

Earlier this year, a task force appointed by the provost to look at programs with low enrollment had listed both the majors in its final report.

Howard Shapiro, vice provost for undergraduate programs, said last year the budget and planning committee had appointed a series of task forces to look at the university structure.

“The question is, can we afford it?” Shapiro said of the smaller programs.

The task force recommended there be a minimum of 50 students enrolled in an undergraduate program and 20 in graduate programs, he said. Those guidelines, however,

don’t need to be followed strictly, he said.

Some smaller programs could be found necessary if they are being managed effectively, he said.

Encouraging smaller classes is still important for the provost, Shapiro said.

“Our biggest concern is large sections, not small sections,” he said.

It is important to evaluate each course and program differently and to figure out if all the faculty resources are being used efficiently, Shapiro said. Many colleges and departments have taken the initiative to eliminate smaller programs without pressure from the administration, he said.

“The budget pressures are such that people are going to do that,” Shapiro said.

Ed Braun, professor of plant pathology, said the plant health and protection program was eliminated because it was getting too hard to enroll students in the program. It was easier to eliminate it, he said.

The report by the provost’s task force caused the Department of Plant Pathology to take a look at the program and talk about eliminating it, he said, but the faculty didn’t feel any pressure from the task force to eliminate the program.

Instead of eliminating programs, the Department of Human Development and Family Studies decided to merge two programs: family resource and consumer sciences and housing and near environments.

The two merged majors will constitute one new major: family finance, housing and policy, said Maurice MacDonald, professor and chairman of human development and family studies.

The two majors were very similar, and the department felt it would be better to create one streamlined major, as well as helping to raise awareness of the program, he said.

“We wanted people on campus to be aware [of the courses],” MacDonald said.

The new program would address a growing need for home purchasing and credit counseling, he said.

“The name of the existing majors don’t currently convey that,” he said.