Enrollment in Tennessee Tech’s College of Arts and Sciences has remained stable in recent years, though many programs are declining nationally.
Dean Dr. Darren Snider said while there was a decline during and immediately after COVID-19, enrollment has leveled off since 2021. Snider said the plateau reflects broader national trends, as students increasingly gravitate toward STEM fields.
“Humanities has been on a trajectory since about, for about the last, I would say, 30 years, going down in the number of majors and graduates in that field,” Snider said. ” It’s still robust, but it’s not the same that it was, you know, 30 years ago.”
Snider said in an effort to grow enrollment in arts and sciences, the university is turning to new tools to guide future program development. Snider said Tennessee Tech recently implemented a market analyzer database to better understand trends in higher education and workforce demand.
“The market analyzer is a database that Tennessee Tech has licensed this year, and what it does is it looks at colleges that are similar to us in the region and around the country,” Snider said. “It gives us information about what degree programs are flourishing, what’s the demand for certain kind of degree programs, and that gives us an indication of what kind of degree programs we might want to offer in the future.”
Snider said that data could help shape new programs and refine existing ones. One upcoming addition is a master’s degree in social work, set to launch in fall 2027, which aligns with growing national demand.
Beyond new programs, Snider said the college is also working to “elevate” existing degrees by turning concentrations into standalone majors, while also strengthening outreach to younger students.
“We’re also looking at building pipelines into the high schools,” Snider said. “The focus has typically been on seniors in high school, but we realize now that by the time someone is a senior, they may have already made some of their college choices.”
Snider emphasized that arts and sciences programs play a foundational role in higher education, helping students develop skills that extend beyond any single career path.
“We focus strongly on critical thinking skills, communication skills, problem solving, and teamwork,” Snider said. “Those are skills that they’ll need no matter what their career choice is.”
Looking ahead, Snider said growing enrollment remains important not just for the college, but for the university as a whole.
“The core of a university really is that liberal arts program, the general education, critical thinking, all of that,” Snider said. “And so you want that to be strong because every student benefits from that.”