Faculty and staff from ETSU’s College of Applied Science and Technology and College of Business have spent a lot of time in meetings this semester, preparing for the merger of their respective colleges July 1.
Earlier this year, ETSU administrators made a decision to combine the two colleges in order to save money and eliminate some open staff positions.
Ever since, the deans, associate deans and department chairs from both colleges have been meeting to become more familiar with each other and the different programs they offer.
However, the focus of these meetings is finding ways to most effectively serve the needs of the students, said Linda Garceau, dean of the College of Business.
“I look at [the merger] really positively,” she said. “There are a lot of synergies that we can capitalize on.”
The changes in organizational structure that will come with the merger are currently in the process of being approved by the Tennessee Board of Regents. All changes, including changing the name of a program, must be approved by TBR.
The two colleges’ respective honors programs will also be combined into one larger program.
With the impending changes, workloads have increased.
“I think we’re demanding more of our faculty and staff,” Garceau said.
“The size of my college has just doubled,” she said. “I have 100 faculty instead of 50, I have many more programs, people separated in six different buildings and 2,500 students to worry about. Each of the department chairs’ workload has grown appreciatively.”
Another important aspect of merging the two colleges has been to find ways to merge their different protocols. “Some of the faculty members’ concerns are related to promotion and tenure, and how I will treat different credentials that are not considered ‘traditional’ in the College of Business,” Garceau said.
She estimated that it will take about a year for the colleges to truly mesh as one, although they will begin the process of acting as one this summer.
“Our incoming freshmen will be going through orientation as one college,” she said.
However, Garceau said students should not see any ill effects from the merger.
“As far as the students are concerned, it will be relatively transparent,” she said.
“They’re going to see the same faculty and the same advisors. Their lives should go on as usual.”

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