Amid the changes at the Polytechnic campus, University officials let students know at a town-hall meeting that they will still have the opportunity to complete their degree programs despite the elimination of some programs.
About 27 students attended the meeting on Monday held by administrators and faculty to answer questions from the University community.
“Whatever you are doing now will continue. You will be able to continue your degree on this campus,” said Keith Hjelmstad, vice president and dean of the College of Technology and Innovation.
In response to state budget cuts, programs at the Polytechnic campus will all be brought under one college or administered from other campuses. Disestablished programs include professional golf management, fire service management and concentrations within the applied science degree.
Hjelmstad said it was important for students to know that they will be able to complete the programs they are currently enrolled in “in a reasonable amount of time.”
“If you functioned as a full-time student, you will continue as a full-time student to finish your degree,” he said.
One student said he feels that he’s been left out of the University’s calculation.
Stephan Dzur, a cyber security junior, said he won’t be able to complete his degree in that reasonable amount of time because of his obligation to the military. Dzur’s unit mobilizes in August, and he will not return from the Middle East until after the required classes for his major are no longer offered.
“It’s kind of frustrating because I did come to ASU specifically for that degree,” he said. “I can get a vanilla, generic degree, I guess.”
The cyber security concentration is one of those being discontinued in the applied sciences major.
Hjelmstad also answered student questions about tuition during the town-hall meeting.
“The tuition picture … is a tremendous unknown because it’s tied together with how much the state of Arizona is willing to support the universities,” Hjelmstad said. “[If] the state of Arizona meets their end of the bargain … tuition doesn’t need to go up by much.”
He went on to say the goal of ASU has been and always will be to provide the maximum number of students with the most access to the education they desire.
Kelley Stewart, student-body president at the Polytechnic campus, said there was another meeting last Friday, Feb. 13, with about 35 people in attendance, including eight students — five of whom were from the student government.
Stewart said the low turnout was due to ASU’s failure to communicate the relevant information in a timely manner. She said students were given less than 24 hours notice via e-mail of the first town-hall meeting.
“We wanted a large town hall with enough time to engage in the discussions. [We also want] to have student-government representatives up front with the administrators to respond to questions,” Stewart said.
Stewart said the Polytechnic campus is having growing pains dealing with all the program and name changes.
“Basically it’s an identity crisis now. We’ve got to suddenly change midstream to become someone else. Last week we were all shell-shocked … but we’re coming to the realization that we have a role to play in what the Polytechnic campus becomes,” she said.
President Michael Crow was scheduled to hold a larger town-hall meeting at Polytechnic on Feb. 25, but the event was cancelled “due to changes in the President’s calendar related to the ongoing legislative budget process,” an ASU representative said in an e-mail.
The town-hall meeting with Crow is being replaced by detailed communications to the University community and smaller informational question-and-answer sessions.
Despite the tough economic road ASU has had to face lately, Stewart said change might be a good thing and that this might be an opportunity for Polytechnic to really shine.
“The Polytechnic students are pioneers,” Stewart said. “We really want the Polytechnic campus to be a place where students develop into technology leaders of tomorrow.”
Reach the reporter at benjamin.weitzenkorn@asu.edu.
