“We're looking at whether it might make sense to organize some of our smaller departments into a more overarching entity. Nugent said that does not match how the university thinks of itself. Nugent said the national accreditor, the Higher Learning Commission, conceives of IWU as a school of nursing, a school of music, a school of art, and a school of the liberal arts. IWU is looking at other options to reorganize as well. She discounted the recent departure of the head of Music for a position at Ball State as a professional opportunity, and said she did not think it directly related to the enrollment numbers. “Whether it makes most sense for it to be organized as a school or as a department is something that we're looking at now,” said Nugent. She said she hopes the area of study can survive as a School of Music but said there will always be music at the university. They're looking at ways that they can trim expenses, and ways that they can introduce courses that might be of a broader collegewide interest,” said Nugent. “We're working very closely with the music faculty. Nugent noted music education has healthier enrollments but said training for professional musicianship is not as popular as it once was at IWU. Over the last four years deposits for music majors have fluctuated between 10 and 21. There's a lot of interest in those fields,” said Nugent. “It has also added new types of programming, like graphic design. She said the evolution of the School of Art into one of Art and Design has borne fruit and has healthy enrollments now. I think some of our programs such as philosophy are actually seeing increasing enrollments,” said Nugent. We tend to see very high enrollments in Spanish, which people view as more pragmatic these days. Enrollment in foreign languages in America has been declining steadily for 40 years. In 2020 there was faculty pushback to previous moves in some departments including foreign languages, philosophy, and music. Nugent said in a WGLT interview IWU hopes to offer a blend of the two. Over the last 20 years students nationwide have shown more interest in pre-professional programs and less in traditional liberal arts majors. Meanwhile, Illinois Wesleyan continues its campus conversation about structure and priorities. Meanwhile, Illinois State University said its entering student deposits for the fall are up about 1% from this time last year. May 1 used to be the deadline for deposits, but most higher education institutions have become more flexible in recent years. Many colleges and universities of all sizes have had trouble sustaining enrollment numbers because of demographic shifts. Then the size of the new class fell in 2019 when the enhanced scholarship levels were not repeated. Enrollment rose about 30% or by 100 students in 2018 on the strength of above-average scholarship awards. IWU presidents over the years have targeted that number as one the institution is built to serve.Īs recently as 2017, IWU enrollment was 1,649 students, which at the time was the lowest since 1988. If that projection of 500 entering students in the fall comes true and can be replicated, IWU could return to an enrollment of about 2,000 in a few years. In the school year that is about to end, the size of the student body fell to 1,527. IWU average total enrollment of about 1,600 in recent years is less than desired and has contributed to stretched finances on campus. In a lot of cases students were not able to get visa interviews," said Nugent. "That was a particular area of concern last year because of things beyond our control. Illinois Wesleyan University President Georgia Nugent.
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