On March 4, the Academic Task Force released a draft of a restructuring plan for campus colleges. This includes reorganizing some majors in new or existing colleges.

Provost Kimberly McCorkle, alongside the rest of the Academic Task Force, has been working to restructure the different colleges. McCorkle stated that this aspect of the academic plan has not been looked at in years, which caused the plan of reconstruction.

“Spring of last year Dr. [Brian] Noland and I decided that it would be an important part of our strategic plan process to move forward by taking a look at our college structure, which the university hadn’t done so in a holistic way in decades,” stated McCorkle.

Last spring, a large task force was created, which included staff, faculty, a student and community members. This group was given seven questions to help give insight into what a proper academic structure should look like. This task force group received feedback from different students and staff to understand how they could better the academic structure as a whole, along with the colleges.

The task force group sent their draft in January of this year and Noland and McCorkle went in and shared it with different students and people on and off campus, to get an idea of what their thoughts were about the report.

“We’ve received the public feedback as of yesterday and we’re analyzing the input we received. We wanted to hear from the community and that is what we got,” stated McCorkle.

The changes affect all the colleges except the College of Nursing, Pharmacy and Medicine. This draft, which can be viewed online, shows the draft structure of how the new colleges will be set up. Most majors within that college have stayed the same, but some have been reconstructed.  The draft was uploaded and open to public comments for anyone to share their remarks.

The overall goal is to ensure that students are being recognized and heard. Ensuring that student concerns are met and growth within the university is a big priority for the academic task force. The draft will be taken to the higher boards of the university and if that is approved, the changes are planned to be implemented by July 2024, just in time for the fall semester.

“We wanted to make sure that people feel heard during this process. It’s so important to the president [Brian Noland] and I that this be a process that is transparent and collegial and that people have an opportunity to weigh in,” stated McCorkle.

To review the changes being made by the Academic Task Force, please visit etsu.edu/provost/academic-structure-task-force.php.

(Contributed/ETSU)

 

 

 

 

 

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