Dickinson faculty approved the discontinuation of the school’s only master’s program during the Nov. 2023 faculty meeting. The program, a master’s in Managing Complex Disasters, is being shut down less than three years after it was first announced in Jan. 2021.

One factor for the program’s ending is its “low enrollment” according to Renee Cramer, Provost and Dean of the College. “We haven’t adequately defined what it means to be robust,” she said.

Dickinson is also no longer accepting applicants for the program. The program will officially close in spring 2025 after all currently enrolled students complete it.

Since it was the only graduate program at an otherwise undergraduate institution, Cramer said “our identity as a college, [and…] our mission” are important factors to consider when making decisions about academic programs. 

The degree, which currently has six enrolled students, features 10 courses including three required classes: Managing Complex Disasters, Mixed Methods in Disaster and Complex Emergency Research and a Capstone Seminar. Students filled out their program with seven electives, choosing from topics like food security, the media in humanitarian disasters and combating health challenges, among others.

This end of this program does not necessarily mean closing the door on other graduate courses of study at the college. Cramer said that she “could imagine spaces in our curriculum where a master’s makes sense,” and that it would depend on faculty interest, especially given the current undergraduate focus at the school.