YSU department heads, faculty reject merger proposals

YOUNGSTOWN

The idea of a merger of Youngstown State University colleges may be dead before it really got started.

Last fall, YSU’s administration began considering merging the Beeghly College of Education and the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences or dividing CLASS departments between Beeghly and the College of Creative Arts and Communication.

Martin Abraham, interim provost and vice president for academic affairs, asked for input and recommendations from two committees — one of department heads and the other primarily of faculty.

Neither committee supports a merger.

“We had a dialogue, and the synergies and relationships and good academic collaboration that currently exist between departments, across departments and across colleges can be maintained and enhanced without necessarily moving to reorganization,” said Joseph Mosca, dean of the Bitonte College of Health and Human Services and chairman of the faculty committee.

The three colleges include 16 departments.

Charles Howell, dean of the Beeghly College of Education and a member of the department chairmen and women, said that committee concluded reorganization wouldn’t be productive at this time.

Read more about the discussions in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.