This fall, UTM will join the ranks of other UT-system campuses and universities belonging to the Tennessee Board of Regents when it begins compliance with a Tennessee Higher Education Commission mandate from fall 2003.

This mandate requires that all programs leading to a bachelor’s degree from a public institution of higher learning must be limited to 120 credit hours, unless said limitation would endanger the program’s accreditation.

“For most programs, [120 hours] is within reasonable limits,” said Dr. Tom Rakes, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs. “Some programs will definitely have to make adjustments, but it’s certainly in line with what’s happening across the country.”

Dr. Nancy Warren, professor and chair of nursing, is in favor of the changes the mandate brought to her department. “We’re proactive instead of reactive. We [made the change] two years ago … it forced us to do a curriculum blueprint.”

The number of credit hours required for a degree in nursing has been reduced from 141 to 120.

“We still have the same number of upper-division classes. It changed the number of hours required in non-nursing courses,” said Warren.

Other programs have hardly been changed at all.

“The [hours required for a degree in engineering] haven’t really changed much. They are sitting at 128 [hours]; they were at 129 before,” said Dr. Douglas Sterrett, associate professor of engineering and dean of the College of Engineering and Natural Science.

Sterrett added, “The deans across the state reached a consensus of 128 hours.”

Reactions to the changes from students and graduates have been mixed.

“I’m always for finishing earlier. Then you can get into the real world earlier and get more experience. However, a little more work is sometimes necessary for an academic experience. I’m in between,” said Stephanie Moore, a student from Memphis.

Dustin Vernon, a UTM graduate living in Union City, agrees. “I guess in a way it can be good because you can get out and start working on your career … people just want to see a college degree nowadays. Really, getting out is pretty good.”

This decision follows the recently-instituted lottery scholarship. Tuition payments from this fund cease after a scholarship-endowed student earns 120 credit hours.

“[The lottery] was not why the mandate was made, but the people who conceived the lottery certainly supported it,” Rakes said. “[They] seem to think from an economic-development perspective, not a liberal-arts perspective. They don’t place as much emphasis as we’d like on having global knowledge and being informed about the world.”