Starting this fall, Lincoln University again will offer bachelor of science and bachelor of arts degrees in history - just a year after curators voted to deactivate LU's history degree program.
LU President Kevin Rome announced the program's reactivation at Thursday's Board of Curators meeting.
The board voted 4-2 on vote July 18 to deactivate the history program, based on a recommendation from then-Academic Affairs Vice President (VPAA) Said Sewell, who told the curators his recommendation was based on the program's low graduation numbers over the last five years, prospective students' low demand for the 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's deactivation recommendation.
Sewell told history faculty in a two-page, Aug. 9 letter: "While the department over the years has made significant progress in modifying its programs, the low enrollment and graduation numbers suggest that there is a need to reexamine the survey courses, the curriculum and interest areas for the major and minor, to ensure that it appeals to a 21st century student who attends an HBCU (historically black college or university)."
In the redesign proposal presented to Rome at the end of January, which resulted in the program's reactivation, the LU history faculty wrote: "The robust and appealing History Degree Program envisioned here will prepare all graduates for productive and meaningful careers in the field of History. The program is distributed across three Concentration Areas:
"(1) Public History.
"(2) Research and Writing, with Graduate School as Goal.
"(3) Concentration in Middle School/High School Education."
The first two areas include suggested emphases or minor concentrations in African-American Studies/Gender Studies; Pre-Law/Legal Studies; International Relations/International Studies and Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
The faculty also said: "Attaining degrees in these Concentration Areas will empower Lincoln University History graduates to recognize and meet the needs of each Area's communities, the needs of the academic discipline of History as a whole, and the broader challenges faced by global citizens in the twenty-first century."
Under the program in the current LU catalog - the one deactivated by the curators' vote last summer - Lincoln students could graduate with degrees in European/World History and United States History.
In the redesign proposal, the LU history faculty wrote: "Existing courses have been revised, and new courses have been envisioned. All courses in the redesign serve the Concentration Areas noted above.
"Introductory survey courses in International History and American History that serve Lincoln University's General Education curriculum have received special attention.
"World Civilization and American history 100 and 200 level courses have been thoroughly redesigned, purposefully stressing depth and relevance of course content over breadth of coverage."
Rome told the curators last week: "They proposed some courses, but I'm sure there will be some additions."
Bruce Scovill, the LU history department's current head, told the News Tribune the faculty learned of the reactivation in a meeting with Rome Tuesday, before the public announcement at Thursday's meeting.
In a Feb. 6 memo to Scovill, 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."
But Scovill has some concerns.
Professors Marshall Crossnoe and J. Mark Leslie helped write the proposal to reactivate the history program, but both were terminated in December - effective in May, at the end of the school year.
Both men have confirmed being terminated, although the LU administration hasn't identified who received termination letters.
The two professors also haven't said if they're appealing those terminations, although other faculty members believe they have appealed.
Rome told the News Tribune Thursday: "I'm not at liberty to discuss those personnel matters."
But, since the two tenured professors were notified of their terminations, former department head Debra Greene was appointed as Lincoln's new provost and VPAA, cutting her out of the teaching load, and Scovill was named to succeed Greene as department head, reducing his ability to teach classes.
Because of the new assignments, If Crossnoe and Leslie are not re-instated, :
"Without these two professors," Scovill said, and because of the changes in his and Greene's workload, "we will have fewer sections of general education history available for the Lincoln students in Fall 2017.
"Losing general education sections seems counterproductive in the long run if, in fact, we were charged with redesigning the history program to make it more marketable."
And that was one of the charges Sewell gave the faculty last August.
"The department must provide a plan for how it intends to 'actively recruit' students for its program in the next five years," Sewell wrote.
Sewell's challenge for the program redesign also said the history department had to "build into its academic pathway a career/graduate school pathway, such as mandated internships and cooperative education experiences."
The redesigned program follows that challenge in several areas.
Sewell also challenged the faculty to "develop an internal tracking system for its graduates."
In the redesign document, the faculty wrote: "Few public universities across the United States would refuse high quality Master's or PhD candidates.
"History students interested in pursuing graduate work will also be encouraged to consider enrolling in the MA (master of arts) in History Program offered by Lincoln University.
"Graduates of Lincoln's MA History Program have gone on to successful careers in the private and public sector as well as winning admissions to PhD programs across the country," including Texas Tech, Washington State University, and the University of Missouri.