The School of Arts & Humanities has announced that it will drop its Masters of Arts in Teaching, or MAT from its graduate program. 

The reason according to Dennis Kratz, dean of the school of Arts & Humanities, is that there simply are not enough students showing interest in the program. 

“We did not have anywhere near the enrollment to justify the courses we had to offer and the people we had to hire,” Kratz said. “At the moment there are only two students in the MAT program.”

The students currently participating in the MAT program will be allowed to finish their degrees before it is officially dropped. 

Kratz said the MAT will be removed from the next course catalogue. 

The Masters of Arts in Humanities that is offered has been adapted to appeal to a wider range of students and has therefore, become the more popular option. 

There are two options for the Masters of Arts in Humanities, one catering to those interested in continuing to doctoral studies and the other for those who just want a master’s degree. 

Many of the professors, as well as students, preferred the MA option to the MAT for these reasons. 

“The MAT as a degree lost its appeal to our students when the MA became an acceptable alternative,” Kratz said. 

The option in the MA that does not require a thesis proved more popular than the MAT. The loss of this program, Krtaz said, does not reflect the state of the Arts & Humanities.