LOGAN – Monday, Utah State University Interim President Alan L. Smith issued a campus-wide update on the progress at USU to meet legislative-mandated budget cuts for public higher education.
USU announced in April 14 academic programs that were being eliminated, most of them falling under the College of Education and Human Services.
USU was the first school in the state to announce such cuts after Utah lawmakers slashed $60.5 million from institution budgets under HB 265. USU’s share of the budget reductions this year is $12.6 million.
The school earlier announced a plan to merge five colleges into two to save money while also asking employees for voluntary resignations and retirements.
Monday he said the college mergers announced earlier as part the strategic reallocation plan will be in place July 1.
The merger of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, with Science, will be known as the College of Arts and Sciences; also, the Caine School of the Arts will be embed within the new college.
“We are working with the Caine family on a major gift to continue our legacy of excellence in the arts,” said Smith.
He also announced a $5 million gift from the Janet Q. Lawson Foundation to create the Janet Lawson Endowed Deanship for the new S.J. and Jessie E. Quinney College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. The new college grew from the College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences’ merger with the S.J. and Jessie E. Quinney College of Natural Resources.
He concluded with an expression of gratitude to employees, “for your outstanding contributions and for your resilience during unusual times for higher education.”