Holub releases academic reorganization plan

An academic reorganization that will create a new college of natural sciences by next fall was announced March 12 by Chancellor Robert C. Holub, who also decided against the idea of creating a college of arts and sciences, but left the door open for further restructuring to address the campus’ worsening financial situation.

In an all-campus e-mail, Holub said the reorganization is aimed at increasing efficiency, reducing administrative costs and avoiding the “more deleterious option of slashing programs and departments.”

Campus officials said the reorganization will save an estimated $1 million, primarily through the reallocation of personnel in the affected colleges.

Under the plan, 17 departments and programs will be consolidated into what Holub is calling the college of natural sciences, though he is leaving the formal selection of its name to the faculty. The college will include Environmental Sciences; Food Science; Microbiology; Natural Resources Conservation; Plant, Soil and Insect Sciences; Stockbridge School of Agriculture; Veterinary and Animal Sciences; Psychology; Astronomy; Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; Biology; Chemistry; Computer Science; Geosciences; Mathematics and Statistics; Physics; and Polymer Science and Engineering.

Seven of the programs and departments are currently in the College of Natural Resources and the Environment, nine are in the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, and Psychology is under the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Two NRE departments, Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning, and Resource Economics, are being transferred to other colleges. LARP will go to Humanities and Fine Arts and Resources Economics is moving to the Isenberg School of Management.

According to Holub, the new college of natural sciences helps the campus accomplish its goal of uniting most of the life sciences under one administrative structure. “It better positions us to compete nationally and internationally, enhances our ability to attract and retain the best faculty, and facilitates research collaboration across the science disciplines,” he said. “I also look forward to improved curriculum in the area of the life sciences and possible further consolidations as soon as possible.”

The chancellor has instructed Steve Goodwin, dean of NRE, and Jim Kurose, interim dean of NSM, to develop a plan to implement the new college. The dean of the new college will be appointed by the provost.

Noting that his earlier proposal to combine the colleges of Social and Behavioral Sciences and Humanities and Fine Arts created some “angst from some quarters,” Holub said the idea needs further study. In the meantime, an interim dean of CSBS will be appointed for one year to replace outgoing dean Janet Rifkin. The interim dean and Joel Martin, dean of CHFA, will lead a review of the merger issue and report back to the chancellor by the end of the 2009-10 academic year.

A proposal to create a college of arts and sciences, a model that existed until 1993, “is not the best fit for our campus,” said Holub. “I do not believe we can avoid redundancy in [arts and sciences] and in the central administration in many areas: research, undergraduate education, graduate education, and development. Worse than redundancy, this plan creates the real possibility of conflict between the college and central administration in these or other areas.”

The chancellor also cited concerns about creating a divisional structure under an arts and sciences model, which would add “another layer of administration” of divisional deans or associate deans while the dean of the new college would add still another level between the deans and the provost. “Given the need to reduce administrative expenses in order to preserve our academic programs, such a move would be entirely counterproductive,” he said.

Holub said placing 650 faculty now in CSBS, CNSM and CHFA in a single college of arts and sciences under one dean could create other problems.

“Almost all AAU institutions that have a [college of arts and sciences] have professional schools with a large percentage of the faculty on the campus,” he said. “At UMass Amherst the imbalance would be severe and in my view dysfunctional. Redundancy and conflict can easily result from such a structure, which will not serve us well as we face the challenges ahead.”

To address concerns raised by some faculty about funding disparities between the “north side” and “south side” of campus, Holub said the campus is creating a special fund for travel and research expenses to aid faculty who have limited opportunities for external funding for research and scholarship. The funds will be administered by the Office of Research on a competitive basis. In addition, the vice chancellor for Research and Engagement will work with CHFA and CSBS faculty to develop ways to promote research and scholarships in their areas of study.

In an effort to strengthen engineering programs, Holub is also asking the Polymer Science and Computer Science Departments to explore ways to maximize cooperation with the College of Engineering.

Similarly, he asked Marjorie Aelion, dean of Public Health and Health Sciences (PHHS), to lead an effort to strengthen ties between her school and the natural sciences college. That report is expected by spring 2010.

PHHS, which will become a college under Holub’s plan, will include the School of Nursing, which will retain autonomy under a dean chosen from its faculty. To address concerns about accreditation of the Nursing and PHHS programs, the Communication Disorders Department is moving to the School of Education.

While expressing the view that his reorganization “gives us a better chance to reach our potential once we come out of this economic crisis,” Holub said the plan “realizes our goals in only a partial fashion.”

“I believe we will need to proceed beyond the proposed structure, if we are going to compete with the top public research institutions in the country,” he said. “In addition, depending on the financial crisis and its course over the next few years, we may have to revisit entities within colleges, propose consolidations of their operations, and thereby further eliminate administration, this time on the level of departments and programs, and perhaps eliminate instructional programs themselves. While none of us would choose this route, the financial picture may force these actions.

“Our work is not yet finished, and I call on the campus to approach the current reorganization and future measures in the area of consolidation with an open mind and with sensitivity to the severe exigencies of our campus finances and our goal of becoming a top-echelon public research institution.”

More Information

Read the chancellor's message

March 12, 2009.

E-mail story to a friendPrinter-friendly version

/more talking points/