Faculty has voted to suspend the economics minor following consistent low enrollment in required courses. Students who began the minor in fall semester 2016 or earlier will be able to complete the minor. 

The decision was made by Professors of Economics Gerald Toland, Stephen Davis and Sang Jung. The request was presented last fall, and received support at a faculty assembly meeting. The suspension is already in effect.

“We are beginning the suspension now so that students will not get into the situation of having selected the minor, only to discover that it is not available,” Toland said. “Student time and money are valuable.”

The motivating factor for the suspension was low enrollment in key 300-level theory courses. Toland said that for a “number of years”, the department has attempted to offer ECON 301 and 302, but the enrollment has been five students or less.

“Financially, SMSU cannot afford to offer these courses with such low enrollments,” Toland said. “Low enrollments and class cancellations mean that we cannot offer the minor on a regular basis.”

The suspension will not affect the amount of economics courses offered, though it will affect the selection of courses. Low-enrollment courses, such as ECON 301 and 302, will be dropped in favor of more in-demand economics courses.

“We will offer enough sections of courses such as ECON 201, 202 and 210 so that students who need these courses for graduation in other majors will be able to advance in their programs,” Toland said.

Toland said that the suspension is not meant to be permanent. The program can start again if there is enough interest in the minor.

Currently, five students are pursuing economics minors at SMSU.

“Our faculty will work with these economics minors to find substitute courses to allow students to finish what they began,” Toland said.

At the same time the minor was suspended, faculty voted to implement an agriculture economics minor. The program emphasizes the application of economic principles to agricultural market scenarios.

This new program is not meant as a replacement for the economics minor.