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YSU to consider combining colleges
University asking faculty, department heads to provide input
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
Youngstown State University is considering a reorganization plan that could include combining colleges, although the interim provost and vice president for academic affairs says no decisions have been made and the concept is in the preliminary stages.
Martin Abraham acknowledged Wednesday after an Academic Senate meeting that among the reorganization options under consideration is combining the College of Education and the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences.
But there are departments within CLASS that align better with the College of Creative Arts and Communication, too.
“Then it’s possible we could look at this and say, ‘Hey, we’ve been doing this right all along,’” Abraham said.
In that case, the university would opt not to reorganize.
He said the university is asking both faculty and department heads to provide input, listing opportunities “for synergy and for growth” in realignment, as well as the things to watch out for.
A committee of faculty will be finalized next week, he said.
Abraham expects a decision on reorganization to be made by June. The plan would have to be approved by university trustees.
“I was the founding dean of the STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] College and I benefited from the reorganization,” he said.
That 2007 reorganization involved the College of Arts and Sciences and the Rayen College of Engineering and Technology reconfigured into the new STEM College.
Shearle Furnish, the founding dean of CLASS, left last June for another job and YSU trustees last September approved a resolution to begin the process to fill the post.
Earlier this week, Bryan DePoy, dean of the College of Creative Arts and Communication, announced his departure for a job at Lake Erie College, effective in mid-January.
Abraham told members of the Academic Senate that he hopes there’s some reorganization.
“I think there’s something to be gained by it,” he said.