Ithaca College students in the communication strategy and design (CSD) major and minor received an email Oct. 20 explaining that the program would no longer be offered or accept new students starting Fall 2026. In the place of CSD, the school will offer a revised advertising, public relations and marketing communications (APRMC) major and minor.

Over 20 majors across the college have been “sunsetted” over the last five years, for a number of reasons, many relating to the college’s budget deficit, desire to increase enrollment and streamline student experience. The email to students said the department hopes that the new path will offer students a more streamlined program that incorporates many of the current CSD courses.

CSD program cut

Amy Falkner, dean of the Roy H. Park School of Communications, said the move had been in the works for over a year. Despite this, students found out with little warning, initially leaving them concerned about their futures. Sophomore Sarah Bontomase, who transferred to IC for the CSD major, said that the announcement was a surprise to her. 

“Because it’s already mid-October, you don’t really expect that your major is going to be completely flat out discontinued, especially because I just applied to this program,” Bontomase said. “So it’s kind of unnerving that they can just randomly take it away at one point.”

The initial announcement email was only sent out to current students enrolled in either the CSD major or minor. Falkner said this was done to prioritize current students, who she said deserved to be the first to know about the changes. The Park School will no longer list CSD as an option at its open houses. 

Falkner said the main reason behind “sunsetting” the degree was a growing lack of distinction between CSD and APRMC programs. While the website for the department does distinguish CSD by its focus on internal communications, the two degrees share many electives and required courses. She also said a lack of understanding among prospective students and their parents was a reason for the degree’s low enrollment numbers because under 10 first-year students joined in the Fall 2026 semester.

“It’s not that what was being taught was the issue,” Falkner said. “It is in terms of student recruitment. The enrollment kept going down because 16-year-olds don’t understand what [the program] means.”

Both the CSD and APRMC programs have seen several shifts over the last decade as technologies change, with the expansion of social media and online networks, causing both programs to be renamed and restructured. The CSD program, in particular, went through several name changes, changing to its current name from communication management and design in Fall 2024. The main difference between the two programs is that APRMC pulled from courses across marketing and public relations in addition to communications, while CSD focused on internal communications, such as human resources and management. 

Scott Hamula, professor and chair of the Department of Strategic Communications, said the new APRMC program will allow students to take foundational courses in both disciplines while allowing for a more expansive approach to upper-level courses across different disciplines in marketing, public relations and advertising. He also discussed the development of new courses, such as a planned course in advanced visual design. 

Though the new APRMC degree is still in the works, Hamula said that there will be opportunities for students to take upper-level courses across different tracks in the major. This will give new students some of the same flexibility that the old CSD degree offers. 

While other cuts to programs and staffing have been related to budget reasons, both Falkner and Dennis Charsky, professor in the Department of Strategic Communication and the director of the CSD program, said all current staff will remain through the current changes. Falkner said that if a professor retires, the department will have to submit a request through the college’s Teaching Resource Allocation Committee and prove that the department still has a need for that role. 

“No faculty are being impacted by this,” Charsky said. “No faculty load is being impacted by this. I think that’s a strong point to make, that it’s not a downsizing at all.”

Changes to other programs at IC

The college cut several teaching majors in 2021 as a part of its Academic Prioritization Program, which was an effort by the college to resize and saw roughly 116 full-time equivalent faculty positions cut. In Spring 2025, the college announced that it would be cutting the deaf studies minor, this time as a part of an effort to help balance the college’s budget. 

Michael Johnson-Cramer, dean of the School of Business, said via email that not all changes have been purely budget motivated; they have often been made to boost enrollment numbers and potentially streamline the student experience. The School of Business redesigned its main degree in Fall 2024 to turn concentrations of its business administration major into several different programs — including finance, marketing and sports management — allowing for more student flexibility and combinations with various minors. Johnson-Cramer said via email that enrollment data and anecdotal feedback have indicated an overall boost in student numbers and satisfaction within the school.

“Ongoing curricular change — keeping degrees relevant to a changing world, making sure students understand the value of what they’re learning — is a healthy sign in any department,” Johnson-Cramer said via email.

Claire Gleitman, dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences, said via email that the School of H&S also took a similar route when they merged individual language majors to create the world languages major. Gleitman said that no faculty positions were cut as a result. 

Additionally, Falkner said there are plans for a new minor in the strategic communications department focusing on social impact communications. While still in the development stage, rough drafts allow students to combine communications courses on advocacy with topics in the School of H&S. Falkner said she hopes that another minor will draw in more students to the department, which will in turn allow her to potentially justify adding new staff positions.

In a State of the College meeting Oct. 21, Melanie Stein, executive vice president and provost for academic affairs, said that the college will also begin working on the introduction of microcredentials, with the aim of allowing students to put more marketable skills on their resumes. The Department of Computer Science currently offers three different microcredentials in python programming, web design and data-centric programming. 

Future for CSD students

However, some current CSD students are concerned about what the merging will mean for those who would have picked the major in its current form. Both Bontomase and junior CSD major Callie Kozak said the focus on internal communications over fields like marketing was one of the main reasons that they chose the major, as that was where their interests were.

“I think they’re different programs for a reason,” Kozak said. “I think [the new major] definitely gives a much more well-rounded education, but for incoming students who might want to not be focusing on public relations, advertising or marketing, they’re not going to know that there’s another pathway.”

Though concerned, students still have faith in the department, which immediately began working on “teach out” plans for students that would allow those currently enrolled in the major or minor to finish out by their intended graduation year. In the initial email sent out to students, the department also offered one-on-one meetings with advisers and an information session, where any student in the major or minor could come to have questions answered by Charsky and other professors. 

Bontomase said she had been told by her advisor that required courses would still be running, but may only run for one more semester before being moved to the APRMC degree. 

“I just have to make sure to get the credits on time, which is stressful, but doable,” Bontomase said. “They wouldn’t do this if it wasn’t completely doable.”