Ames, Iowa — A doctoral student at Iowa State University is gathering signatures to challenge budget cuts that would cause the history department to end its graduate program.
Michael Belding says the program has a unique focus on rural history as well as agriculture, technology and the environment.
Kevin Mason, an ISU history alum and a professor at Waldorf University in Forest City, is one of more than 60 alumni who have signed the petition. Mason says cutting the program would be shortsighted because Iowa State is one of the top universities training experts in rural and agricultural history.
Iowa State is looking to make up for lower enrollment and increased costs by cutting 15-million dollars overall from the budget of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences by 2026. The cuts range from around 70-thousand dollars in computer science to nearly one-million in history.
