Sun, Nov 23, 2008
ez access
Subscriber services | Subscribe now
Custom clipper icon
The University of Arizona has posted roughly 75 proposals on how it might change its structure to increase efficiency while retaining its academic prowess.
Read the proposals and comment on them at provost.arizona.edu/ white_paper_proposals.
Keep up with other happenings around the University of Arizona with the Campus Correspondent blog at go.azstarnet.com/campuscorrespondent.
Highlights of proposed changes
A rundown of the larger proposed changes to the University of Arizona:
Merging all or parts of the engineering, science and optical sciences colleges
• Among perhaps the largest structural changes recommended is the creation of the College of Engineering and Science, which would combine three colleges: optical sciences, engineering and science. The proposal would create a huge umbrella college for several programs, allowing faculty from the various colleges to collaborate on research and teaching. However, the proposal isn't supported by members of the optical-sciences college.
• Another proposal calls for only the engineering and optical-science colleges to merge, with no major changes to degrees offered by either college.
• Several faculty members within the electrical- and computer-engineering department called for the creation of the College of Engineering and Applied Science, which would combine various departments from the engineering and science colleges while also merging with smaller programs from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the Eller College of Management.
Proposed liberal-arts program changes
• The College of Social and Behavioral Sciences would merge some of its programs and let others organize under a new proposed college, reducing the number of departments in the college from 24 to 14.
• Another proposal calls for the creation of the College of World Cultures, Literatures and Languages, which would combine aspects of the current College of Humanities with departments such as Judaic Studies that are in the social- and behavioral-sciences college.
• Several proposals make reference to the formation of a College of Liberal Arts, though no single proposal spells out exactly what it would comprise. Members of the social-and behavioral-sciences college are opposed to becoming a part of the liberal-arts college.
New sustainability college
• A proposal would blend the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture with units in engineering and natural resources to create the College for Design and the Sustainable Environment. The college would focus on sustainability in terms of resources, construction, public policy and regional development.
Eller College proposed changes
• Two proposals argue for different outcomes for the School of Public Administration and Policy. In one, the program would be chopped up, with a piece heading to UA South in Sierra Vista while other aspects would be eliminated entirely. Yet a competing proposal calls for almost the exact opposite, saying that the school should merge with the UA's political-science department and increase in size.
Changes to the University College
• Competing proposals for the University College, which serves students who haven't picked a major, would either increase its role or strip it of its status. A proposal from administrators who run the college calls for its expansion in both teaching and advising students, while a proposal submitted by student-government leaders says the college should be changed into a student-support center to save money.
UA South proposed changes
• Among the proposed changes to the Sierra Vista campus are expanding its service to soldiers at Fort Huachuca and streamlining its academic administration. Another proposal calls for the UA South to merge with the UA's Outreach College, which provides services throughout the state. By merging, the Sierra Vista campus would oversee course offerings provided at all locations and work to eliminate support and administrative staff that could be centralized.

Tucson Region

UA's overhaul could involve blended majors, merged colleges

By Aaron Mackey
Arizona dAily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 10.15.2008
The science, optical sciences and engineering colleges at UA may be merged into a massive program and several other long-standing majors may combine to form a new college of world culture and language if proposed changes are accepted by university officials.
The proposals are among 75 made public on Tuesday in the University of Arizona's ongoing effort to save money and increase its academic prestige.
A campus committee will discuss the 75 proposals — written by students, staff members and faculty — today to continue the process of overhauling how UA organizes its academic offerings and outreach programs.
The proposals range from merging small departments to combining three of the university's most research-intensive colleges. While many of the proposals attempt to reshuffle academic programs from one location to another, only a few call for outright closure of programs.
Other pitches touch on maintenance and operations savings — shutting off power in unused buildings and installing automatic lights, for example.
The proposals come a little more than a month after UA President Robert Shelton said the university needed to dramatically change the way it operates in order to live within its annual budget and increase its academic reputation.
An initial review of the proposals shows that many hope to save money through mergers that would reduce administrative and staff costs by combining support positions and eliminating some deanships.
And while many of the proposals dovetail with others, several call for the opposite approach. Some proposals even ask that specific academic programs remain unchanged.
A subcommittee of the UA's Strategic Planning and Budget Advisory Committee will begin to sort through the wide-ranging and complex proposals during today's meeting, though it won't be an easy task, said Miranda Joseph, the committee's chairwoman.
Members likely will first look at the larger proposals to colleges before beginning to review changes to schools and departments, she said.
But the group must move quickly, as Provost Meredith Hay wants the committee's recommended changes by Nov. 3.
The group won't be making any final decisions but will vet all the proposals before they will be discussed among the larger UA community.
"In some cases there are going to be direct conflicts" among proposals, Joseph said. "We're going to have to think whether one or the other is the better argument."
But even then, the proposals could be merged or another option could be explored, she said.
"There are a lot of things that we could ultimately recommend."
● Contact reporter Aaron Mackey at 807-8012 or at amackey@azstarnet.com. Get all the latest UA news by visiting go.azstarnet.com/ campuscorrespondent.
Get Arizona Daily Star home delivery and SAVE BIG!
Go Back