The Board of Regents approved the year‑one academic planning list for 2025–26, authorizing campuses to develop full proposals for up to 35 programs and accepting a set of proposed program terminations and progress reports. The action clears the way for institutions to prepare full 24‑page proposals; final program approvals will return to the board later in the process.

Doctor Tristan Denley, senior staff lead for academic planning, told the Academic and Student Affairs Committee that the board is not approving new degrees today but instead authorizing campuses to plan. The packet submitted to regents lists 35 “programs of interest” for planning, 17 of which are expansions or specializations of existing offerings. Staff also presented a termination list that includes 20 programs proposed for immediate termination and commitments from campuses to terminate an additional 23 programs. Denley said that, taken with further commitments, the board is on pace to terminate a substantial number of low‑producing programs across public campuses during the academic year.

Denley described a larger portfolio of activity: 164 programs are at various stages of implementation, and the board requires annual progress reports for newly approved programs until they reach self‑sustaining maturity. He also outlined new efforts to create cooperative academic arrangements across systems to achieve economies of scale—an approach used by the Louisiana Cyber Academy, where six institutions share instruction for cyber‑related courses so a single instructor can serve students across multiple campuses.

Board members asked how “low producing” programs are defined. Denley said the board uses production thresholds that vary by degree level and average completers over a three‑year period; programs falling below those thresholds are placed under review. Members also discussed the higher costs of adding graduate programs (which can require recruitment of Ph.D. faculty) and emphasized fiduciary responsibility and workforce alignment when new proposals are pursued.

After discussion, the board voted to accept the year‑one planning list, approve the requested program terminations and receive the listed progress reports. Staff will bring full proposals and termination plans back to the board for final approvals as each item matures.