So far, academic restructuring gets thumbs up

Students, faculty and staff in Ohio University's College of Health and Human Services will see many changes to their programs next fall, but so far most students and faculty have had positive responses to the academic restructuring process.

Executive Vice President and Provost Pam Benoit announced Dec. 17 that, as part of looking for efficiencies university-wide, the College of Health and Human Services will become the College of Health Sciences and Professions, splitting off some programs into the colleges of Business, Education and Fine Arts.

"In the long run, the (academic restructuring) will create stronger, more efficient programs for students," said Andy Burnette, Student Senate's vice chair for academic affairs. "It will help set the university up for national prominence."

The university announced that changes would take place in the College of Health and Human Services last spring, and many faculty criticized the decision as coming from the top down. Since then, though, Benoit and her staff have taken a step back and discussed how to restructure the college with the help of faculty and students, said Joe McLaughlin, chair of Faculty Senate.

"President McDavis and Provost Benoit should be commended for slowing down this process, working through issues with faculty during summer and fall, and, for the most part, making sure things were settled agreeably before moving forward," McLaughlin said. "I hope that our administration has learned a lesson about transparency and the inclusion of faculty in the early stages, indeed the initial stages, of all major planning efforts."

McLaughlin added that he has only spoken with one faculty member who had issues with the restructuring, and that those issues were being ironed out.

"Some faculty are excited about their new homes and some are excited to receive new colleagues into their units," McLaughlin said.

AS FOR STUDENTS, MANY ARE also excited about their new academic homes. The College of Health and Human Services' Sports Administration program and the Center for Sport Administration will be moved to the College of Business under the new Department of Sports Administration. Taylor Evans, former student senator for the College of Health and Human Services, is a sports management major. He stepped down this week as senator for the College of Health and Human Services in anticipation of filling the role as senator for the College of Business to reflect his major's new home.

"The academic restructuring is a matter of efficiency," said Evans, a junior from Wyomissing, Penn. "It will only help OU... As a sports management major, we are already required to have a business minor. Sports management is a business. (The restructuring) will only increase the university's national prominence and further legitimize the major."

While Evans admitted he has heard some people express concerns about the change, he said their concerns are a normal response to change. The university's administration is doing everything they can to make this change painless, he said.

The university's biggest challenge throughout this restructuring process will be working with current faculty to reevaluate their programs' focal points, Burnette said. Students and faculty also must hold the administration accountable for completing the restructuring the way it said it would, Burnette added.

Burnette said he met with Benoit over winter intersession to discuss the restructuring, and he said he felt Benoit was receptive to his thoughts and that they were on equal ground throughout the discussion.

The university will also move the College of Health and Human Services' Interior Architecture program into the College of Fine Arts, a move that senior Lisa Gumerman said is fitting. Gumerman, now a journalism major, was formerly pursuing a double major in journalism and interior architecture. One of the reasons she said she left the Interior Architecture program was because it focused too much on nutrition and other health-related skills, rather than the art of architecture.

"It always seemed pretty ridiculous to me "“ a holdover from when everything was in Tupper Hall and "interior architecture" was for future homemakers." Gumerman said. "We were required to take nutrition and everything, a large part of why I left the program."

As part of the restructuring, the university is also moving the College of Health and Human Services' Child Development programs and the Restaurant, Hotel and Tourism, Retail Merchandising, and Family and Consumer Sciences to the College of Education. The College of Education will be renamed to reflect the new mission, but the new name has not yet been chosen.

The university is creating a new Academic Health Center, which will help combine the health and wellness initiatives across the university to provide a better opportunity for collaboration across departments, according to Benoit's December announcement.