YSU Majors to program: Auf Wiedersehen

The retirement of a full-time professor is spelling the end of the program.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Youngstown State University is advising students who want to major in German that there is no guarantee they will be able to complete their degree requirements here.
YSU is dropping the German major next fall, and offering German as a minor is in doubt as well.
The university is losing its only full-time German professor. Dr. L. Allen Viehmeyer, is retiring and the program can't support additional students without a full-time professor, said Dr. John Sarkissian, chairman of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures.
There are no plans to replace Viehmeyer at this time, he said.
The department will still be able to offer one year of lower-level German courses but perhaps not enough to even offer it as a minor, Sarkissian said.
German, along with Latin and Russian, were dropped as majors four or five years ago, but German was brought back this year because of a growing student interest.
Remaining majors
Sarkissian said the department had four German majors this fall, but one graduated this month.
Four students doesn't sound like much, but it's not a bad number for that type of major, he said.
The remaining students in the major will be able to complete their degree, Sarkissian said.
The university is using the part-time services of Dr. John Boehm, retired chairman of foreign languages at Jacksonville University, who has been teaching part time at YSU for a number of years.
He will be able to provide the upper-level course instruction the remaining students need, but a major in German can't be maintained with the services of a part-time professor, Sarkissian said.
Majors in French, Spanish and Italian are unaffected, and students can still minor in Latin and Russian, he said.
Discontented student
Nicole McElroy of Mentor is a sophomore seeking a double major in German and social studies at YSU.
She said that she's upset by the decision not to replace Viehmeyer and that she wrote to the provost about the issue. The response was that it was a financial decision, she said.
She said she was fortunate that she concentrated on her German major first and has only two courses left to complete that program.
McElroy said she is aware of other students who were interested in German as a major or a minor but now won't be able to pursue that interest here. Some are considering transferring to other universities, and high school students interested in languages may choose not to study at YSU, she said.
She questioned the wisdom of the university's decision in light of recent growth in the program and the long-term effects that its cancellation might have.
It's unfair to wipe out a program just because a professor retires, she said, adding that she fears it may be just the first of many such program cuts.
The university wants students to develop a global perspective but eliminating the German program isn't the way to do it, McElroy said, pointing out that Germany is the leading economic force in Europe.
gwin@vindy.com