The University of Southern Maine is eliminating its therapeutic recreation program and laying off two tenured faculty members, citing low enrollment.

Provost Adam Tuchinsky announced the decision Thursday, noting that the number of students in the program had dwindled from 35 in 2018 to just eight this fall. He described the choice to eliminate the program as a difficult one and said faculty had worked very hard to grow the program.

The two faculty members were notified early Thursday, Tuchinsky said, and will receive severance pay and benefits per their union contract. He said the university would be “working carefully and diligently to help the remaining students complete their degrees.”

The program, which falls under the Department of Exercise, Health, and Sport Sciences, is made up of a major in therapeutic recreation and a minor in recreation leadership, which are designed to prepare students for careers like music, art and recreational therapy. Students learn to provide wellness and health care services, especially to those with disabilities or injuries, that allow people to participate in leisure activities.

Economics professor Michael Cauvel, president of USM’s faculty union, described the two laid off staff members as “among the very best that USM had to offer” and said they were especially dedicated to their students.

“Although the university will have to develop alternative pathways for them to complete their degrees, they won’t be receiving the education that they signed up for,” he said.

Cauvel said he understood that the administration faced a difficult budget situation but said the union pushed for an alternative solution that involved merging the therapeutic recreation program with the tourism and hospitality department. He said the faculty members “deserved better.”

This year, the USM also laid off six employees on its marketing staff and all three members of its public affairs office. In both cases, administrators said the goal was to modernize the work of those offices to align with university strategy, and said they would create new positions to replace them.