From the Archives: 'Morse to recommend that trustees approve plan for college restructuring'

[ Editor's note: At the end of the decade, Western Today is publishing articles from the past 10 years of FAST, the campus faculty/staff newsletter. This is one of those articles. Publication of FAST officially ended in the summer of 2009. It was replaced by Western Today. ]

At the Dec. 13 board of trustees meeting, Western President Karen W. Morse will recommend creation of two colleges from departments currently in the College of Arts and Sciences. Under the proposal, a College of Humanities and Social Sciences and a College of Science and Technology would be established by Sept. 1, 2003.

The board will be asked to authorize searches for deans of both colleges and to support the development of administrative plans to set up strong and viable colleges. Responding to faculty concerns, Morse has charged a Faculty Senate committee to assure the continuance of a strong liberal arts core. She has also called for a task force to consider the role of interdisciplinary programs at Western and to recommend approaches to strengthen such efforts.

“The formation of the two colleges is an important opportunity that will strengthen the University and its central mission of teaching and scholarship,” Morse said. “The result should be a better student learning environment at a time when we face a more complex, rapidly changing environment in higher education.”

Strategically, the creation of the two colleges will enable the University to better respond to a changing academic and economic environment and to meet future educational demands, according to Morse. The ability of the two smaller colleges to focus more closely on educational, programmatic and fund-raising opportunities will benefit students and faculty.

Resources to support both deans’ offices will be allocated from present resources of the dean’s office in the College of Arts and Sciences and the president’s and provost’s administrative budgets. Faculty and the campus community have been engaged in discussion about restructuring for almost two years.

The Student Senate and Associated Students board had extensive discussions and gathered information through forums and information talks. Faculty and students presented their perspectives to the board of trustees at a special meeting on Nov. 7. Morse noted that changes in administrative structure have taken place throughout the life of Western, which was founded more than a century ago as a normal school for teachers. In June, 1975, then-President Jerry Flora proposed three new colleges: the College of Business and Economics, the College of Education, and the College of Fine and Performing Arts. At the time, the proposal had supporters and opponents. Financial issues were a concern then, too.

“Those three new colleges were approved and have been successful,” Morse noted. “The factors in favor of establishing these two new colleges are very strong, and concerns can largely be addressed through careful implementation.

“We consider this an opportunity for Western to meet the challenges of the future and become an even better university, while at the same time strengthening our mission and adhering to our special niche to provide the highest quality undergraduate education possible,” she concluded.