The annual report on awarded academic degrees for Fiscal Year 11 showed a slight decrease from previous years.

The total awarded degrees for FY 11 was 2,907, which is 83 less than the 2,990 total degrees awarded in FY 10.

In FY 09, a total of 3,018 degrees were awarded.

The annual earned degrees report is announced to the Board of Trustees. The FY 11 information was presented at the Nov. 18 Board of Trustees meeting.

Blair Lord, provost and vice president for academic affairs, said the reports are provided to the Board of Trustees to give them general statistics about university operations.

“(The annual reports) also allow us an opportunity to discuss some of the trends, which actually flow from the annual changes in overall enrollments,” Lord said. “They are good dashboard-like indicators of university activity.”

Lord said the decline in total degrees within the last three years was because of the decreased enrollment of entering classes.

“It is not just new freshman which affect this, of course, because we have also been admitting somewhat larger classes of transfer students,” Lord said. “Retention has not been much of a factor in degree production because it has been steady for a number of years.”

The largest number of bachelor’s degrees during the last three years was awarded to elementary education majors.

In FY 11, 244 bachelor’s degrees were awarded to education majors compared to 243 in FY 10 and 275 in FY 09.

The majority of master’s degrees awarded were in Educational Administration during the last three years.

“The significance of education degree production is simply a reflection of our legacy in education and our continuing regard in teacher preparation,” Lord said.

During FY 11 and FY 10, 11 percent of the total degrees were awarded to minority students compared to the 8 percent awarded in FY 09.

Eastern’s six-year graduation rate has increased in the last three years from 56 percent in FY 09, 58 percent in FY 10 and 62 percent in FY 11.

Rachel Rodgers can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].