Texas A&M has begun inactivating 38 certificates and 14 minors after an internal review found the number of students enrolled in each was below the required threshold. 

According to a statement provided by an A&M spokesperson, in August 2023, Alan Sams, A&M’s provost and executive vice president, collaborated with the Council of Deans to establish a method for identifying “low-producing” programs. 

The subsequent thresholds were modeled after state standards for degree programs, according to the statement, which classifies a bachelor’s program as low-producing if it awards fewer than five degrees per academic year and fewer than 25 degrees in five years.

Neither the A&M System’s Office of Academic Affairs nor the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, or THECB, require the university to set minimum thresholds for certificate or minor enrollment. The statement said the review process will be repeated every two years. 

The 52 certificates and minors being inactivated are part of the 320 total offered at A&M — 176 being certificates and the other 144 minors. Originally, 44 certificates and 26 minors were identified for inactivation, but, according to the statement, 18 were exempt for various reasons, such as if an accreditation body mandates a certain minor be offered. The university statement said some programs had no students enrolled in the past two years. 

The exact programs being inactivated were not mentioned, and an A&M spokesperson said the official list will not become public until it appears before the Faculty Senate. The next meeting is scheduled for Oct. 14. 

The director of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program, Theresa Morris, confirmed the LGBTQ Studies minor was among the inactivations, and James Howell, director of Undergraduate Studies in the Global Languages & Cultures Department, said they received and complied with a request to inactivate the Asian Studies minor. The director of undergraduate programs for the Department of Economics, Jonathan Meer, said the quantitative economic methods and business economics certificates were being inactivated.

An official in the Department of Communication & Journalism confirmed two certificates — communication, diversity and social justice alongside global media — were inactivated. However, the official added that faculty had already voted to inactivate them before the notification from administrators. Rob Clark, the director of Marketing and Communications in the College of Performance, Visualization & Fine Arts, said two certificates, popular culture and performing social activism, were also inactivated.

A Department of Geology & Geophysics professor said three programs were being inactivated from the department: the geophysics minor, the graduate certificate in petroleum geoscience and the undergraduate certificate in environmental and engineering geology. They said the graduate certificate in geoscience data management from the Masters of Geosciences distance education program is set for inactivation as well.

Officials from the mathematics undergraduate and political science undergraduate departments said their programs were not impacted. The university statement confirmed that students currently enrolled in minors and certificates will be allowed to complete the program even if it’s inactivated. 

The change requires a full review, according to the statement. Once approved by the appropriate department or college, the request is sent to several reviewing bodies, including the Faculty Senate and President Mark A. Welsh III.

The university statement said in the past five years, A&M created triple the number of programs being inactivated. Courses associated with the inactivated programs will be unaffected. 

Editor’s note: This article will be updated with a more comprehensive list of impacted minors and certificates when more information becomes available.