Liberal arts programs are taking the brunt of cuts at Utah’s two southern universities as the schools work to comply with a legislative mandate to reduce their budgets by millions of dollars.
Faculty had largely expected — and feared— that those programs would be the first to go. But the latest cuts announced at Cedar City-based Southern Utah University and Utah Tech University in St. George significantly reduce humanities and social science offerings for Utah’s public university students geographically, leaving fewer options south of Orem.
The reductions, overall, have been pushed by state leaders who say they want to see more efficiency and less “administrative bloat” in the state’s eight public colleges and universities. This year, lawmakers slashed $60.5 million across the board from institution budgets.
The demand under HB265 is that they reduce majors or programs that have few graduates and lead to lower paying jobs; professors have said those market-based metrics naturally disadvantage the liberal arts.
Lawmakers ensured a university could eventually get its share of any cuts back — but only if it proves it’s reinvested in high-wage jobs that the state needs.
Both SUU and Utah Tech released their proposals earlier this month. SUU’s share of the cut is $3.2 million, and Utah Tech must come up with $2.6 million.
For its plan, SUU is eliminating 24 academic programs. Of the four majors and two minors among those for undergraduates, all are in the liberal arts. That includes art history, French and philosophy.
The university is home to the long-running Utah Shakespeare Festival, which draws summer crowds to several campus shows at the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Center for the Arts.
Utah Tech University is cutting majors for students who want to become educators in Spanish and theater, as well as a theater directing emphasis. It’s also eliminating its standalone College of Arts, merging those programs into other departments at the school.
Utah Tech had considered slashing its full Spanish and American Sign Language majors, too, but said in a release that it chose not to “based on feedback” from faculty.
“Please know that this has been a rigorous and thoughtful process,” the school said in a letter to campus on May 13. “We considered a wide range of factors — enrollment data, program costs, open positions, workforce demand and your valuable input.”
Both universities will also eliminate staff and faculty positions — as other institutions have announced — to meet their designated reduction amounts.
The state’s schools have been pressed to quickly draft their plans. The first version of their plans was due to the Utah Board of Higher Education this month, with a formal presentation to follow in June. Final approval from the Legislature will come in August and September.
Here is a breakdown of SUU and Utah Tech’s plans:
SUU’s proposed cuts
SUU says it looked at every possible metric — using both university and state data — before making determinations. The programs it is eliminating are:
• Athletic training, master’s
• Arts administration, master’s (only the in-person option; the online version will remain available.)
• Art history, bachelor’s
• French, bachelor’s
• Philosophy, bachelor’s
• French education, bachelor’s
• Ethnic studies, minor
• Women and gender studies, minor
• Criminal justice, associate degree
• Equine studies, associate degree
• Legal studies, associate degree
• Agriculture with a focus in livestock farm management, associate degree
• General technology associate degrees for business, construction technology, culinary arts management, integrated health sciences and livestock management
It’s also cutting emphases for several of its programs, including hospitality and tourism with its master of business administration and the piano performance emphasis for music. Two certificates will be terminated, too.
“Our responsibility is to ensure that our degrees remain relevant and powerful tools for our graduates, opening doors to meaningful work, service and impact in a rapidly evolving economy,” the school said in a statement.
All schools will have three years under the law to teach out the programs so students currently enrolled can finish their degrees.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Mindy Benson, president of Southern Utah University, speaks during a meeting of the Utah Board of Higher Education in Salt Lake City on Friday, March 28, 2025.
SUU will also consolidate its College of Engineering and Computational Sciences into its College of Natural Sciences. That will bring together all math and science programs under one roof. But it will also mean cutting two faculty positions.
Overall, the school is eliminating 25.35 positions. A school spokesperson said that’s being done through a combination of retirements, merging positions and resignations.
A total of $1.2 million in savings will come from eliminating 6.5 administrative positions among those, including a vice president role in the university president’s office. There are 13.6 faculty position eliminations and 5.25 for staff; an advising role is also being cut, as well as a staff member in the school’s disability center.
Those account for most of the savings that SUU has to come up with, with reductions in professors mostly aligning with the discontinued programs.
The school, though, hopes it can reinvest in 23 new positions, with time, if it earns its share of the cuts back. Those plans, overall, focus on expanding psychology, nursing, business and engineering programs. All have been highlighted by state leaders as areas of study where they would like to see more learning opportunities.
What Utah Tech plans to cut
Utah Tech University is cutting 16 academic programs. Those are:
• Spanish with an emphasis in education, bachelor’s
• Theater with an emphasis in education, bachelor’s
• Theater with an emphasis in directing, bachelor’s
• Population health with an emphasis in long-term care, bachelor’s
• Applied and computational math with an emphasis in scientific computing, bachelor’s
• Criminal justice with an emphasis in digital defense and security, bachelor’s
• Information technology with an emphasis in cybersecurity, bachelor’s
• Professional studies, bachelor’s
• Earth and environmental science associate degrees with emphases in environmental science and geoscience
• Digital defense and security, minor
• Long-term care administration, minor
• Emergency medical technician and advanced EMT, certificates; those will be transitioned to Dixie Technical College
• Modeling and simulation, certificate
• Cryptography I and II, certificates
The school said in a letter to the campus community from Provost Michael Lacourse and Vice President Paul Morris that most of eliminated programs are taught by adjunct faculty.
“As a result, once funds are fully reallocated, the percentage of full-time faculty will increase,” they wrote. “We remain committed to ensuring students can complete their degrees in their current majors with no disruption.”
Utah Tech University's plan under HB265 by Courtney on Scribd
Until then, though, the school is reducing staff, faculty and administrative positions to save about $700,000. Utah Tech did not provide specific numbers for those reductions. It did note, though, that it will include cutting one administrative position in athletics and another in the president’s office. The cuts to the Spanish and theater education majors will each mean eliminating one faculty member.
The university is merging its College of Arts into its existing humanities and social sciences departments, which will also eliminate a dean and five administrative support positions, the school said. That will save $615,000.
And Utah Tech is reducing its marketing budget, plus ending a standing software contract.
Like SUU, it plans to reinvest in business, engineering, psychology and health sciences, as well as some in digital media arts. The proposal, it said, will continue to evolve.
“As you know, Utah Tech has long operated efficiently with limited resources,” the administration’s letter said. “Our intention is that these changes will strengthen the University and enhance our ability to serve students and the community.”
