After five years of operation, the Latino Studies domestic Study-Service Term program will be canceled due to scheduling complications. In its place, students seeking to substitute their international education degree completion requirements with something other than SST can choose to take classes on campus.
“Domestic SST will be canceled as we know it,” said Stan Miller, registrar. “It will be replaced by alternate options.”
According to Miller, students previously enrolled in Latino Studies SST courses struggled to fit them into their course schedules between other requirements for their majors.
Five years ago when the Latino Studies domestic SST program began, it was offered as a full semester program. Eventually, it turned into a two semester program which allowed students to take other courses concurrently with Latino Studies courses.
According to Tom Meyers, director of international education, only two students are currently enrolled in the upper-level Spanish class that is a part of Latino Studies SST. He also noted that since the program’s initial semester, no more than five students were enrolled in a given unit.
While Meyers acknowledges that low numbers are not financially viable, he noted that course scheduling issues presented the largest need for a change.
“Now, alternate courses give the flexibility that professional studies students and transfer students need,” he said.
Students seeking to fulfill their 15 credits of international education degree completion requirements can now choose from a list of 8 courses that are regularly offered on campus. The students currently enrolled in the Latino Studies program can use the credits they have already completed to count toward their international education requirements.
“It’s deeply disappointing to not be able to offer a program in another culture,” said Meyers regarding the cancelation of the Latinos Studies program. “I regret that we couldn’t pull that off.”
Another, separate change was made to the CORE program regarding SST requirements. Initially, the SST program in the CORE program included a course requirement for the semester following a student’s completion of SST, CORE 300: Global Issues Seminar. Now students will complete a one-credit hour online course upon their arrival from their SST host country. SST in the CORE program will fulfill 14 credit hours with the addition of this extra requirement.
According to Miller, this change was made to accommodate students taking SST during their last semester, especially transfer students. Those students can now complete the entire requirement during their SST semester.
