St. Joe’s plans to cancel several doctoral programs it acquired from USciences, raising student concern

St. Joseph’s University plans to discontinue four doctoral programs in chemistry and biology less than a year after acquiring them from the former University of the Sciences, a decision that has left some students perplexed.

The university is dropping doctoral programs in cell and molecular biology, cancer biology, chemistry, and biochemistry, some of which the school previously touted as an advantage of merging with USciences.

The Inquirer obtained an email sent to students Friday from James Carter, dean of the college of arts and sciences, confirming the change. Students currently enrolled will be able to complete the programs, and their tuition and scholarship commitments will be honored, he wrote, but no new students will be recruited into the programs.

» READ MORE: St. Joe's explores selling or leasing some or all of former USciences campus

“Please be assured that this decision was not undertaken lightly, but regardless of the reasons or process I know this is disruptive and stressful,” he wrote, encouraging students to collaborate with their faculty advisers and supervisors “to determine the best way forward.”

The decision comes as St. Joe’s, like many other schools, is weathering a drop in enrollment. When planning the merger, St. Joe’s said it envisioned a combined enrollment of more than 9,100. But this fall, the university enrolled 7,863 undergraduate and graduate students, a drop of 14.1% from 2021.

University spokesperson Liz Kennedy Walsh said the decision was not driven by money but rather fit. She said the doctoral programs being eliminated were more research intensive, and St. Joe’s wants programs that are more classroom-based.

“We didn’t know as much [before the merger],” she said. “Now, that we’re merged, we reevaluated them, and they just don’t fit our portfolio. We want to focus more on the educational experience as opposed to research.”

Walsh said there are as many as 60 students enrolled in the programs, though a student affected by the decision put the number a bit higher.

“This is devastating to our graduate students and research faculty who are passionate about their work,” said the student, who asked not to be named for fear of retribution. “The SJU administration has given us no rationale for closing the programs.”

And while the university said current students will be permitted to finish out their studies, the student questioned what the impact would be on the programs, given they are being phased out.

» READ MORE: St. Joe’s announces merger with another college, this one with nursing programs

St. Joe’s intends to keep several other doctoral programs it acquired from USciences, including pharmacy, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and physician assistant, Walsh said. St. Joe’s also last month announced it would be acquiring nursing programs, through another merger, with the Pennsylvania College of Health Sciences in Lancaster, the school founded by Lancaster General Hospital, now owned by the University of Pennsylvania. Those programs include a doctoral program in nursing, which will be retained, she said.

The changes in the biology and chemistry programs are the latest development less than one year into the merger.

In October, St. Joe’s said in a bond filing that it was exploring selling or leasing some or all of the former USciences campus and transferring student programs to its main Hawk Hill campus less than five miles away. The school at that time said it intended to move all undergraduate programs to Hawk Hill campus over the next few years, starting with freshmen in 2023. The university said the University City campus would continue to be used for graduate health-related research and programs, including those in occupational therapy, physical therapy, physician assistant, and pharmaceutics.

» READ MORE: The devil is dead. . The hawk lives on. USciences is officially part of St. Joseph’s University.

St. Joe’s first announced it was exploring a merger with USciences in 2021 and the merger became effective last summer.

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