{"id":159618,"date":"2026-02-18T10:50:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T10:50:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/159618\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T10:50:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T10:50:06","slug":"usf-moves-to-terminate-four-programs-announces-two-additions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/159618\/","title":{"rendered":"USF moves to terminate four programs, announces two additions"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a>USF\u2019s Board of Trustees\u2019 ACE committee voted to terminate or suspend five programs, including three in the College of Education. ORACLE PHOTO\/AUDREY KOCZANSKI<\/p>\n

A USF Board of Trustees committee unanimously voted to terminate four programs, suspend one and add two new ones on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The BOT\u2019s Academics and Campus Environment<\/a> committee, which focuses on academic affairs, moved to shutter three master\u2019s programs in education \u2014 math education, social science education and STEM education.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The committee also moved to terminate the aging sciences bachelor\u2019s program and suspend the social work doctoral program.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The decisions will be voted on by the full board on March 10.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The move comes just two months after the BOT identified<\/a> 15 programs that had fallen below state and institutional standards in December<\/a>, including the five programs that were terminated or suspended on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Some USF deans who participated in the meeting said the program terminations will not cause faculty turnover or delay students\u2019 graduation timelines.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Related: USF to shutter Sarasota-Manatee\u2019s honors college in August<\/a><\/p>\n

Jenifer Jasinski Schneider, the dean of the College of Education, said the termination of the math education and social science education degrees is part of a structural reconsolidation.<\/p>\n

\u201cLicensure, eligibility and subject matter depth remain unchanged in a more navigable program structure,\u201d Schneider said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She added that USF\u2019s STEM education master\u2019s program serves just two students \u2014 who graduate this spring \u2014 and will be terminated due to \u201cpersistent\u201d enrollment issues.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Schenider said there will be no faculty turnover or delayed graduation for any students in the affected programs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe certification pathways will remain intact, and faculty positions will be unaffected,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Julie Serovich, the dean of the College of Behavioral and Community Sciences, said its bachelor\u2019s in aging sciences will be terminated due to low enrollment.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents gravitate towards those classes, but they don\u2019t necessarily want to major in [Aging Sciences],\u201d Serovich said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Serovich said the college\u2019s health care administration<\/a> program, which provides a \u201cbasic education\u201d in gerontology, offers opportunities similar to those in the aging sciences program.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Related: USF\u2019s new president wants to position USF as a \u201cmodel university\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

The social work program, which the BOT identified in December as \u201cunder consideration for termination,\u201d will be suspended through 2029.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Serovich said the college will look to offer a more competitive financial aid package to social work doctoral students.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to find a better way of putting together a more competitive package for our students so that we can attract the very best and retain them with very interesting lines of research,\u201d Serovich said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite the terminations, the BOT also approved two new undergraduate degrees to begin in fall 2026.<\/p>\n

One of the additions is a bachelor\u2019s in fintech, which follows USF\u2019s launch<\/a> of a master\u2019s in fintech in fall 2025.<\/p>\n

David Blackwell, the Lynn Pippenger Dean of the Muma College of Business, said USF will be the first university in the state to offer an undergraduate degree in fintech.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fintech, short for financial technology, is a software that provides financial services such as online banking or investment platforms, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

USF\u2019s bachelor\u2019s program in fintech will address a \u201cstrong demand\u201d for financial technology professionals, according to BOT documents<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Blackwell emphasized the need for Tampa to \u201ccatch up\u201d to fintech leaders like Seattle, Washington and Denver, Colorado, which have a high concentration of STEM degrees.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a program of strategic emphasis,\u201d Blackwell said. \u201cIt incorporates in the curriculum all of the modern technologies that we\u2019re aware of, including AI, and we formed a program with a lot of industry advice.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Related: USF\u2019s Bellini College of AI marks rapid growth in its first semester<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

The BOT also approved the creation of its first bachelor\u2019s degree in architecture through the College of Design, Art and Performance.<\/p>\n

USF previously only offered a Master of Architecture, which is a six-year, 168-credit-hour program, according to the School of Architecture and Community Design<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chris Garvin, the dean of the College of Design, Art and Performance, said the six-year program led to a decline in the school\u2019s four-year graduation rate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The approval of the bachelor\u2019s degree in architecture opens a new path for students to pursue a four-year program.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBy creating a four-year undergraduate program like this in a STEM field, as well as our graduate program now, we can put out twice as many students,\u201d Garvin said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

USF will continue to offer its six-year Master of Architecture program and its two-year track<\/a> for students who hold a bachelor\u2019s degree in architecture.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn doing this, we split one degree and made it into two [degrees],\u201d Garvin said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

USF Faculty Senate President David Simmons said decisions on the terminations, suspensions and additions were made to serve students\u2019 needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cFolks should look and see that [terminations and additions] builds confidence in the phenomenal shared governance process we have, where we\u2019re constantly working to serve our students better,\u201d Simmons said.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"USF\u2019s Board of Trustees\u2019 ACE committee voted to terminate or suspend five programs, including three in the College…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":159619,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-159618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}