Chinese program suffers cutbacks

Budget cutbacks are forcing the languages, philosophy and speech communication department to cut its entry-level Chinese courses beginning next fall.

Department Head Charlie Huenemann said cutting the program is even more difficult as China continues to emerge as the world’s fastest-growing economy.

“I think it’s unfortunate,” he said. “But we have no tenure-track professors in Chinese and programs without tenure-track professors are very vulnerable.”

The university currently employs the equivalent of two professors for its Chinese program, Huenemann said.

USU will still offer a Chinese minor, he said, but students would have to take the entry-level courses at another institution or online.

No other language programs have been affected by the cut backs, Huenemann said. Although, he said, the department has had to “dip into extra resources” to continue offering Korean courses.

“I’m sure everyone wishes we would have the resources for a more robust Chinese program,” Huenemann said.

Spoken by more than 1 billion people worldwide, Mandarin Chinese is the most widely spoken language in the world.

-acf@cc.usu.edu