July 2026 Presidential Update - FAQs

One year from now, in fall 2027, the college will discontinue academic programs in French, German, physics and health/physical education. This will include the majors, minors, and any education licensures in these areas of study. Additionally, the international relations and art majors will be streamlined through reduced curriculum requirements. Although the college will no longer offer a physics major, it will continue to offer courses in physics. While currently declared majors in these programs will be able to complete their courses of study, the college will no longer accept new major declarations in these areas of study, effective immediately. 

The college thoroughly examined all 58 academic programs and their associated majors, minors, and concentrations, looking at the investment required to run them, student interest in the programs, and workforce demands. Those programs with diminishing student interest were more closely analyzed, and decisions about which programs to phase out were made with preservation of the college’s overall liberal arts mission in mind.

Eight faculty positions have been impacted — five tenure-track faculty members and three contingent faculty members. All of our faculty are valued members of our community, and saying goodbye to them is incredibly difficult. There is no way to deny the difficulty of this choice and its impact on our colleagues.

Each faculty member will remain employed by the college through August 2027, allowing them a full year to work on plans for their next career step. School deans will provide letters of recommendation, and the college also offers an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) as part of the benefits package, which may provide additional support.

Roanoke’s staffing levels are already lean following a 2020 staff reduction of 14 positions. In addition, the College has reduced additional staff positions through attrition in the intervening years. Also, President Shushok recently simplified the cabinet structure to only four vice presidents, along with the general counsel and chief of staff. This reorganization of the cabinet includes no salary increases and will help us operate more efficiently, make decisions more nimbly, and reduce costs.

More than a dozen members of Academic Affairs leadership were involved in deliberations, with communication as needed with other constituencies of the college and with the President's Cabinet. The senior vice president for academic life and learning made final recommendations, which were affirmed by the president and the board of trustees. Throughout, leadership took care to enact shared governance practices, and the Shared Governance Council will be engaged to evaluate the process.

All students who are currently pursuing a major in the affected programs will have the opportunity to complete those courses of study at Roanoke College. Less than three dozen students are affected by all the program closures, and all but six are expected to graduate by May 2027. For those remaining six students, Academic Affairs staff has created teach-out plans that will ensure they receive the courses they need to complete the requirements at Roanoke. School deans will serve as academic advisors for impacted students and are ready to work with them to ensure they can smoothly complete their academic plans. Effective this fall (2026), the college will not accept any new major or minor declarations for the impacted programs.

While the college does have an operating deficit, our cost-containment and revenue-generation efforts are expected to trim that by 75% by the end of this fiscal year. Just this summer, Forbes rated Roanoke’s financial health a B+, and last year, we participated in a rigorous Standard & Poor’s bond rating process that resulted in a BBB+ rating with a stable outlook. This decision represents an ongoing proactive measure to further protect the financial health of our institution and to position our college and our students to be relevant for the changing workforce needs of the 21st century.   

The college created a cost-reduction task force in fall 2025 that has worked collaboratively across faculty, staff, administration and the board of trustees to identify and implement cost-saving measures. Those have included the collegewide adoption of zero-based budgeting, adjusting the scope of the McConnon Discovery Center, the reconfiguration of the President’s Cabinet, increasing and recalibrating faculty teaching responsibilities, and employee reduction through attrition. We have also focused on diversifying our revenue streams to strengthen our overall budget.

We have introduced a variety of new academic and athletic programs over the last several years to meet student needs and generate revenue, but those programs have no connection to the current decision to trim academic programs. These decisions were made based on the specific financial analysis of the affected programs, as well as student and market demand. New major initiatives such as Roanoke College-Roanoke Valley (RC-RV), and co-curricular programs such as football, band and cheer, were funded by donors who chose to support those specific project areas. 

Roanoke will continue to offer a major in Spanish and courses in Latin, Greek, Italian and American Sign Language (ASL).  

Faculty and staff may contact Kathy Wolfe, senior vice president of academic life and learning and dean of the college, at kwolfe@roanoke.edu or 540-375-2203.

If you are a student, please contact your school dean. They are:

Alice Kassens, dean, School of Business, Economics, and Analytics
540-375-2428; kassens@roanoke.edu

Marit Berntson, dean, School of Education, Government, and Society 
540-378-5186; berntson@roanoke.edu

Wendy Larson-Harris, dean, School of Communication, Culture, and the Arts
540-375-2368; larson@roanoke.edu

Karin Saoub, dean, School of Health, Science, and Sustainability
540-375-2348; saoub@roanoke.edu