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University of Connecticut Moves Two Schools, Restructures College

Posted on: Wednesday, 1 February 2006, 21:00 CST

By Grace E. Merritt, The Hartford Courant, Conn.

Feb. 1--STORRS -- The University of Connecticut board of trustees Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a controversial plan to move the schools of family studies and allied health into other schools and to restructure the College of Continuing Studies.

The move ended weeks of e-mails, meetings and intense lobbying efforts from some alumni, faculty and staff upset about the way the plan was proposed at least as much as the move itself.

Under the plan, the School of Family Studies will move into the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and become a department within that school. The School of Allied Health will be split up, with physical therapy moving to the Neag School of Education and the rest of the department going to the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Meanwhile, the College of Continuing Studies would be downgraded to a division, rather than a college, and will have a director rather than a dean.

Provost Peter Nichols proposed the changes to improve the overall effectiveness and academic strength of the schools by giving them more of a critical mass of faculty and the resources afforded by larger schools.

He told the trustees Tuesday that he wants the university to be more than a "smorgasbord" of offerings and more efficiently guide the university's academic strengths with an academic roadmap.

The current structure, he said, does not permit the university to be flexible enough to respond to the state's needs, has stretched some faculty members thin and deprived schools of resources they would have in a larger setting.

But the proposal caught students, faculty and staff off guard. Many were angry they were not consulted or included in the planning process.

Several spoke during the meeting, including the dean of the College of Continuing Studies, Krista Rodin, who was moved to tears as she said it has been an honor to serve as dean.

Nichols said he has held about 75 meetings with faculty and staff since he announced his plan, but student trustee Salmun Kazerounian said the meetings took place after Nichols announced the plan, not before.

Kazerounian read some of the 50 or so e-mails he has received from outraged faculty and staff and said many concerns remain about whether the university will use the same unilateral approach to make other decisions.

Trustee Denis Nayden said he is certain that the experience has been a significant learning process and that he is certain that more discussion and collaboration would be used the next time.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Hartford Courant, Conn.

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Source: The Hartford Courant, Connecticut

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