June 14, 2002
(Note: this "Dear Collegues" letter is from Dr. Stephen Richters, Interim Provost. It is included here based on proposed academic and organizational changes Dr. Richters is charged with.)
Dear Colleagues,
As part of the on-going effort to reorganize our campus, we have requested permission from the Board of Supervisors to create a new College of Arts and Sciences by merging the College of Liberal Arts with the College of Pure and Applied Sciences. This proposal will strengthen the academy by renewing the university's traditional role as the purveyor of the arts, sciences, and humanities. The Fisher Report supports our position that the existing "liberal and general core curriculum" represents a "major weakness" for academics at ULM. The formation of a College of Arts and Sciences will provide the academic infrastructure necessary to design, implement, and administer a new and innovative university core curriculum. A stronger, university-wide core curriculum will enable us to achieve the following outcomes:
- prepare our students to think critically and to respect diversity
- improve our students written and verbal communication skills
- provide courses which will highlight the interrelation among academic disciplines
- improve student retention
- provide improved student advising, especially in the first two years
- allow students easier transfer between academic programs
- foster a stronger sense of community among undergraduate students
In addition to providing the platform for a uniform core curriculum, the faculty committee responsible for planning this merger believes that the new college will also accrue the following benefits:
- encourage cross-disciplinary instruction, research, and grant writing
- provide the arts, humanities, and sciences with a strong academic identity
- provide a more efficient and responsive college governance structure
- enhance the academic image of ULM
We have also requested permission to recombine the College of Pharmacy, the College of Allied Health and Rehabilitation Professions, and the College of Nursing into a single College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. This proposal represents a return to the traditional administrative structure that existed on the ULM campus for several decades prior to its breakup in the 2000 academic year. Although the deans of these three colleges were aware that we were considering a consolidation of the health sciences programs, the decision making process did not provide for the same level of input from their faculty as had been the case for the creation of the College of Arts and Sciences. However, in our opinion, these two mergers were best implemented simultaneously, and considering our current fiscal state, we determined that the reconstitution of the health sciences was in the best interest of the university community. The single College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences will provide:
- an internal realignment of the health science programs for more efficient reporting purposes
- a single health sciences college that will fit more appropriately within the overall university governance structure
- provide a single college to implement the Bachelors of Health Science program
- use the Bachelors of Health Sciences to eliminate all of the pre-professional programs used in the health sciences
- increased retention rates at ULM as the Bachelor of Health Science majors who fail to gain entrance into our professional programs, such as pharmacy or nursing, will be more likely to remain as majors in the Bachelor of Health Sciences, and complete their studies at ULM
The request to collapse these five colleges into two is ultimately a reflection of the administration's greater vision for ULM. This new configuration will allow the College of Arts and Sciences to become the central hub of the academy that will provide service to the other three colleges through the new university core curriculum. As the university can ill afford to devote scarce resources to administrative tasks, these consolidations will reduce the number of deans, department heads, and classified staff positions, and eventually allow the university to shift approximately $500,000 away from academic administration to areas within the university which are now poorly funded.
It is a reality that the university's funding is insufficient to provide adequate support for the number of academic programs on this campus. Our projection for the 2002-03 budget indicates that we will need to reallocate 2.5 to 2.8 million dollars towards recruiting, student life, research, planning, maintenance, grounds, and janitorial staff. These funds will be found in the budget plans submitted by the academic and administrative units.
As this is a short-term solution, we must rely on a reconfiguration of the academic programs to re-establish the balance between the fiscal and the academic sides of this university. We will begin immediately to develop an all-inclusive academic plan for ULM. Our philosophy on academic matters is that we will include faculty in the governance process and rely on their expertise in matters of academic standards and curricula. To this end, we will provide support and guidance in the re-creation of our academic structure. Our success, however, will ultimately depend on the academic sensibility of our faculty, their ingenuity in reshaping and delivering economically viable programs, and their determination to act in the best interests of the university. With this in mind, the faculty will be challenged to identify which academic programs are essential to this university. Once accomplished, the faculty must move to review all other programs by considering their cost, their academic viability, and their place within the university's overall academic mission.
As we begin this difficult task, remember that this is ultimately an exceptional opportunity to effect changes that will improve the quality of student education, renew faculty morale, and strengthen institutional governance.
Stephen Richters
Interim Provost