The administration of UT's Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology will become part of UT's Health Science Center in Memphis after $11 million in budget cuts threatened to close the program. The academic program and clinics will remain in Knoxville.

The shift will still help save money, as the program will no longer be a part of the Knoxville campus's College of Arts and Sciences.

"By putting the audiology and speech pathology program and its services under Allied Health, the department and clinics will be under an umbrella that's far more appropriate," Jan Simek, UT's interim chancellor, said in a press release.

The department plans to continue offering prerequisite courses, but students will no longer have the option of earning bachelor's degrees in audiology or speech pathology. Undergraduate students currently enrolled in the program will be able to graduate, while the graduate program will continue.

"Becoming part of the Health Science Center will be a good fit because we will be working with other academic departments that have clinical training requirements," Ilsa Schwarz, head of the audiology and speech pathology department, said.

UT's Board of Trustees must finalize the move at their meeting in Knoxville on Oct. 23-24.