Utah Tech University is the smallest public university by enrollment in the state, but it released a big list of potential cuts to comply with budget cuts and restructuring mandated by the Legislature.
Lawmakers took a collective $60.5 million from the state’s eight public degree-granting institutions during the 2025 legislative session. Schools can get that money back if they eliminate “low-performing” or “inefficient” programs and reinvest the money elsewhere. For Utah Tech, that means they have to reallocate over $2.55 million.
During an April 25 town hall, leaders at the St. George school shared their proposed plans with faculty, staff and students for the first time.
These are the majors and emphases the university plans to discontinue:
- Spanish & Spanish Education emphasis (BA)
- American Sign Language (BA)
Theatre (BA)
- Eliminate Theatre Education and current theatre emphases/transition to musical theatre
- Population Health: Emphasis in Long-term Care (BS)
- Applied and Computational Math: Emphasis in Scientific Computing (BS)
- Criminal Justice, Emphasis in Digital Defense and Security (BS)
- Information Technology Emphasis in Cybersecurity (BS)
- Earth and Environmental Science, Emphasis in Environmental Science (BS)
- Earth and Environmental Science, Emphasis in Geoscience (BS)
The university also plans to discontinue the Digital Defense and Security Minor and the emergency medical technician and advanced EMT certificate programs.
Like at other colleges, any programs that are discontinued would have a “teach out” period, meaning current students can still graduate but new students can’t join.
Along with that, the plan also reduces the adjunct instructor budget by $150,000, a $359,000 reduction in academic staff and administration positions, $500,000 in non-academic staff and administration positions and a $300,000 reduction in faculty due to program discontinuations.
Like Utah State University, Utah Tech will eliminate its College of Arts. It will instead be merged with the College of Humanities and Social Services, which would save money in reduced staffing positions. The school also plans to discontinue its Celebrity Concert Series.
In addition to cutting “low-performing programs,” Utah colleges and universities also have to identify “high-performing or “high-priority” programs where they’ll redirect the money.
Utah Tech Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Michael Lacourse emphasized that while the budget cuts involve administrative positions, all of the reinvestment funds will go into academics. The Utah System of Higher Education gave Utah Tech, Lacourse said, a list of high-priority programs the state wanted the school to focus on. Lacourse estimated almost half of those prioritized programs were related to business, a number were also related to engineering.
- Increase management and marketing undergraduate enrollment. That will include increasing faculty and pursuing AACSB accreditation.
- Increase undergraduate psychology enrollment and add a master’s program in mental health.
- Increase undergraduate and graduate enrollment in engineering/applied AI/computer science/design. That will include increased faculty, recruitment and hopefully receiving ABET accreditation for engineering.
- Increase enrollment in digital film, animation and digital media, as well as increased staff support for the school’s creative studios. With Kevin Costner’s new film studio in Southern Utah, Lacourse said this was a growing space.
- Increase enrollment in clinical health sciences (including pre-professions).
- Redesign Theatre and Dance programs to become a new Musical Theatre program.
- Merge the College of Art with the College of Humanities and Social Services.
- Elevate research and innovation enterprise to support instruction, faculty and student research, creative activity and innovation.
- Expand faculty professional development programming.
As a whole, the university plans to discontinue three faculty positions, including one that was vacant, but it plans to add 15-17 new positions. They will discontinue 10-11 staff/administration positions and add 2.5 new positions. It also plans to relocate four staff positions.
The draft plan was created by a committee of administrators, faculty and staff leaders, as well as the student body president. It must be submitted to the Office of the Commissioner for Higher Education by May 9.
After the presentation, staff members shared their concerns and questions for over an hour. A repeated frustration was that they wanted more transparency about the data used to make the decisions.
Vice President of Administrative Affairs Paul Morris stressed that this is a draft and not the final plan.
The university’s committee is accepting feedback on the plan and will then potentially make adjustments to the plan before sending it to the university president’s cabinet, who could recommend more changes to the plan before approving it. The plan will then still need to be approved by the Utah Board of Higher Education and two separate legislative committees.
