Just six and a half months after curators voted to deactivate Lincoln University's history degree program, the school's administrators have approved a revised version, which will start this fall.
"There are some steps we have to do to make this happen," President Kevin Rome told the curators during Thursday's meeting. "But we wanted to make that public announcement."
He reminded the board they didn't have to vote on the reactivation because, "in the prior (July 2016) action, when we deactivated it, the language stated that the president would meet with the faculty and make a recommendation to the university to reactivate."
The history faculty submitted a 35-page plan to Rome at the end of January.
In a Feb. 6 memo to Bruce Scovill, the history department head, Rome said, "What you and your faculty have proposed illustrates a curriculum that is relevant to 21st century social and historical realities (and) respectful of the educational needs of our students."
When the curators voted 4-2 July 18 to deactivate the program and to terminate two music programs, Said Sewell - who was LU's provost and vice president for Academic Affairs - told the board the recommendations were based on three primary reasons: low graduation numbers over the last five years, prospective students' low demand for a program, and low regional or national career demands for the program.
School officials noted the history program had only 20 graduates in the five years before Sewell recommended the deactivation decision.
In approving the program's reactivation, Rome told Scovill, "I'm excited about the possibilities this new curriculum holds for current and future students of Lincoln University, as it relates to their educational and careers needs."