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Bellarmine University planning to restructure major options

The university announced this week they will be phasing out certain majors they say didn't produce a large number of graduates.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Bellarmine University is planning for an overhaul of their academic offerings. 

The university announced this week they will be phasing out certain majors they say didn't produce a large number of graduates and will be adding more in demand courses of study.

Susan Donovan, the university's president, said there are a few things at play here. One is student interest in certain majors, and another is looking to develop graduates that local businesses will want to bring in right out of school.

According to the university, 95 percent of their graduates receive a job in the field of their interest after graduation. In addition, nearly three quarter of their graduates choose to live and work in Louisville.

That looks really good on paper to local organizations and to the university, which is why they want to lean into the success they've seen in recent years with fields public health, biomedical science, nursing and marketing. 

But, that will come at a cost. 

That cost is that stalwart programs of the liberal arts college - like theatre, foreign language studies, Spanish and philosophy - will be phased out in the next 5-6 years.

University officials said the majors will be phased out, but not the actual courses, especially lower-level courses. Those will still be available for students. 

Donovan said extracurricular activities, like shows in the theatre department, will continue by making them interdisciplinary.

"All of the disciplines that we have in the liberal arts will continue to teach, it's just that the upper-level courses will be different if they continue and there will be majors that will be more interdisciplinary," she said.

For some students, they see that as a slap in the face.

"The theatre classes that I've taken that aren't specifically productions have given me more of that liberal arts empowerment, growth, etc. And by taking that away and saying 'oh well we'll still have productions,' it's not equivalent in my mind," Bellarmine junior Holly Kissel said. 

University officials said that current students and this incoming freshman class will be able to finish out their major, but this next class of freshmen will be the last to be offered those majors.

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