Name change, reorganization for SOLAS
On Friday, Jan. 30, the faculty of the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences held a meeting in the A&S Auditorium to vote on one important issue regarding the organization and nomenclature of their school.
The vote changed the name of the school, as well as separated it from the education department. SOLAS will become “College of.” instead of “School of…” effective July 1.
Kenneth Procter, Dean of SOLAS, says the name change only makes sense.
“‘College’ is the normal term for these units,” Procter said. “In my past experience, almost everywhere uses ‘colleges’ and not ‘schools.’”
The process began when Procter’s fellow faculty members brought up the strange structure.
“Some of my coworkers mentioned it to me,” Procter said. “I got the ball rolling. My thinking was ‘let’s clean this up.’”
The School of Education passed a similar measure on the same day, completing the restructuring move, according to Amanda Hall, coordinator of office services.
“As an artifact of earlier administrative structure, the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the School of Education are joined under an ‘umbrella’ designation called the College of Arts and Sciences,” Procter wrote in an e-mail to the faculty before the meeting. “At one time there was one supervising dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and subordinate deans of the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the School of Education.”
Procter went on to explain why the change was now necessary.
“Given that there is no longer a supervising dean, the two schools are functionally separate and each enjoys the leadership of an independent dean, this proposal would eliminate the College of Arts and Sciences as an ‘umbrella’ organization. The School of Liberal Arts and Sciences will be renamed the College of Arts and Sciences.”
The School of Business joined SOLAS in passing the name-change measure, according to Valerie Lemmon, administrative assistant to the dean, and the School of Health Sciences has passed it as well, according to the school’s dean, Dr. Sandra Gangstead.
At the meeting, the opening points were brief but fairly interesting, including a proposal to create separate Music and Theater departments and the president releasing five percent of summer revenue back to the school recently.
Once opening statements had been heard, the faculty seemed eager to vote on the name change. The measure passed unanimously.
“The only costs we would really be looking at incurring are for stationary and a few new signs. The ones in this building and auditorium are already correct,” Procter said as he gestured toward a large College of Arts and Sciences banner hanging on a side wall.
Based on the faculty’s overwhelming support of this move, it seems long overdue and should help both schools move forward independently, while still maintaining a working relationship between them.
“A math teacher is first a math major,” Procter said. “It is part of our job in liberal arts and sciences to support education. The cooperative relationship will not change.”
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Mar 6 2009. Filed under News.
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