In a campus-wide message, UT Austin President Jim Davis announced the consolidation of seven College of Liberal Arts (COLA) departments into two new academic departments.
The Department European and Eurasian Studies will include current departments:
- French and Italian
- Germanic Studies
- Slavic and Eurasian Studies
The Department of Social and Cultural Analysis will comprise the current departments:
- African and African Diaspora Studies
- American Studies
- Mexican American and Latina/o Studies
- Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS)
In his email, Davis acknowledged that “the prospect of change has prompted some concern,” but argued that consolidation reflects an effort to reorganize existing academic work rather than eliminate it. He suggested that research and instruction in these fields could continue through interdisciplinary collaboration across departments, classes, and programs.
The message also noted the initiation of a curriculum review to reevaluate what majors, minors and courses will be offered within the new departments. Across the four departments to constitute the new Department of Social and Cultural Analysis, there are five undergraduate majors, five minors, and eight graduate programs offered to students, including the Race, Indigeneity, and Migration (RIM) major, an interdisciplinary major launched in Fall 2020 in collaboration among departments such as African and African Diaspora Studies, Latina/o Studies, and WGSS.
Davis cited the broad range of student-to-faculty ratios within the College as a factor leading to these departmental consolidations, in addition to a review conducted by Provost Dr. William Inboden alongside COLA leadership.
The changes to these liberal arts programs at UT Austin follow other universities’ modifications of similar departments and schools, including the discontinuation of the women’s and gender studies program at Texas A&M in January and recent regulations on coursework taught in race and gender classes at Texas Tech, established this past December.
