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Dear ºìÁ«ÉçÇø community,

After careful and thorough review of all feedback, including formal letters, open forum and other meeting notes, models and data, Senate recommendations, and numerous one-on-one conversations with faculty and administrators, I am prepared to issue my final recommendation on our four College configuration that will begin in fall 2025. I realize that with any decision I make, some people will agree and others will disagree. Please note that I have carefully reviewed all inputs with a lens on what will serve our students to the greatest degree now and into the future.

College of Health
The College of Health will be established beginning with the fall 2025 semester through a reorganization combining the Departments of Kinesiology, Nursing, Public Health, Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, and Social Work. A search for the founding dean of the College is currently underway and will continue.

School of Education
Also beginning in fall 2025, a new School of Education will be established within the College of Letters, Arts, and Social Sciences. The school will consist of the Departments of Teacher Education, Educational Psychology, and Educational Leadership. It will be led by its own dedicated associate dean with an internal call for interested applicants going out in the spring semester. By residing in CLASS, this school is positioned alongside most teacher pathway programs, enhancing coordination.

Department of Hospitality, Recreation and Tourism
This department will remain as is but moved to the College of Letters, Arts, and Social Sciences. This organizational change will become effective in fall 2025.

College of Education and Allied Studies
With these changes, the College of Education and Allied Studies is discontinued effective Fall 2025. College office personnel will be reassigned to the College of Health effective the August 2025 pay period.

Implementation process
As previously stated, all existing faculty, staff, administrators and budgets will move with impacted departments to their new organizational homes while existing offices and facilities will remain as assigned to these departments.  A new College of Health dean’s suite will be established in existing space in the Student and Faculty Support (SF) building. Over the summer a small team of administrators and faculty will oversee the technical aspects of this reorganization, overseen by the Deputy Provost. Faculty on this team will receive an appropriate stipend for this limited summer assignment.

I would like to extend my sincere gratitude for all the engagement, participation, consultation, organization, and thoughtful feedback so many of you provided during this extended review and planning process. I look forward to seeing how our new organizational structure amplifies awareness of ºìÁ«ÉçÇø, creating new synergies and positioning us for future growth.

Sincerely,

Cathy Sandeen
President

 
February 27, 2025