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April 1, 2004Q&A on proposal to combine collegesIn this Q&A, President Geoffroy answers questions about the proposal to combine the colleges of Education and Family and Consumer Sciences.Is the decision to combine the colleges a done deal or can it be reversed? The university has a well-specified Policy on Academic Reorganization that requires a number of steps before the plan reaches my desk for a final decision. We will follow that policy in spirit and in letter. The policy calls for development of a detailed plan and includes advisory votes by the faculty and the Faculty Senate, all of which must occur before I decide whether or not to recommend the plan to the Board of Regents, State of Iowa. Are you willing to consider the opinions of faculty, students, staff, and alumni as you make decisions on this issue? Of course, as I try to do in all critical decision-making. If the faculties of Education and FCS vote strongly against combining, will you still recommend it to the Board of Regents? As the universitys Policy on Academic Reorganization notes, the votes of the faculty are advisory to the Faculty Senate, provost and me. Provost Allen and I will take the votes by the faculty and the Faculty Senate very seriously. I can't say what my final decision will be until we have completed the process. What is the charge to the planning committee? The planning committee's charge is to develop, by Oct. 1, a detailed plan that addresses the most critical organizational issues. The plan will include a recommendation for a name for the college and a process and timeline for naming its first dean. The plan, which will be presented to the faculties of the Education and FCS colleges and then the Faculty Senate for discussion and advisory voting, may include several options for consideration. We hope the discussion can be completed by the end of fall semester. Are you willing to consider variations on the proposed combination? We are seeking ways to reduce administrative costs, and we will certainly give serious consideration to alternative proposals presented to the planning committee that address administrative cost-cutting. What kind of variations would you be willing to consider? As one example, several people have suggested maintaining separate colleges with only one dean and deans office. That is an interesting suggestion. We have several instances in which two academic departments are administered by one department chair and departmental office. The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences has taken a step in that direction by creating three divisions within the college, all of which are under one dean and one deans office. Are you willing to look at other administrative reorganizations among the eight colleges, or is this your sole focus? Absolutely. Good suggestions that will reduce administrative costs and redirect the cost savings into academic programs, and that are reasonable from an academic perspective, are welcome. You have mentioned administrative savings in the range of $500,000 to $700,000. What is the basis for that calculation? The Provost Office provided those estimates based on a detailed analysis of the size of the two deans offices, the number of positions involved and an estimate of how many of those could be eliminated as a result of the combination. For example, a deans position alone carries with it a cost of approximately $250,000 in salary and benefits. There are other positions and costs associated with the two deans offices that we believe can be significantly reduced. One task of the planning committee will be a careful analysis of the cost savings that are likely to accrue and a proposal for reinvestment of those resources back into the academic programs of the combined college. The estimated savings doesn't seem very large. Is that the primary reason for combining these colleges? The decision to proceed with the planning for this combination has been driven by the need to address our severe budget situation. If we dont cut administration, we have no choice but to cut academic programs that our students and other constituents depend on. The $500,000 to $700,000 figure mentioned is an annual savings, not one-time. Those amounts will be available every year and translate into seven to 10 new faculty positions in the combined college. What are the primary reasons for proposing this particular combination? First, these are two of the smallest colleges at Iowa State in terms of student enrollment. FCS is the smallest and Education is tied for second smallest with Design. Small colleges have a disadvantage in budget flexibility and the workload of faculty and staff, because functions have to be shared across fewer people. In terms of student enrollment, this combined college would rank fourth in size among the remaining seven colleges. Second, there are important synergies between many of the academic disciplines within the two colleges. About two thirds of the undergraduate students in the college of education are in majors that were formerly housed in the College of Home Economics, the precursor college to FCS. Third, there are real administrative cost savings that would accrue from this combination and could be redirected back into new faculty positions and academic programs to strengthen the combined college. Like all colleges at Iowa State, these two have suffered significant budget cuts over four years, resulting in lost faculty and staff positions and decreased operating budgets. Redirecting administrative cost savings into academic programs could partially restore some of those cuts. Why did you not consult more broadly with constituents of the two colleges before proposing this combination? I felt that the best way to proceed with this discussion was to make it public and put it on the table for broad discussion and input from all faculty, staff, students, alumni and other constituents. That is exactly what should occur as the plan is developed by the planning committee and makes its way through various steps under the universitys academic reorganization policy. Some maintain that this action was taken mainly to influence legislators as they consider university funding and topics like program duplication. This proposal was advanced because of serious budget challenges the university has had to face. Our top priority is to maintain the excellence of our academic programs, and the only way we can realistically do that with all of the budget cuts we have had to endure is to reduce university administration. We must make sure that as many of our resources as possible are directed to our academic programs and that we are increasingly efficient in delivering services and academic programs. Are you surprised there is so much opposition to this proposal? No. Resistance to these changes is understandable, given units with such a long and proud history. Are you hearing from people who think combining the colleges is the right thing to do? Yes, many individuals, both within and outside the university, believe it's a good proposal. Some people are concerned that the importance and special identity of FCS will be lost and the new college will be primarily a college of education. Your response? We do not want to see that happen. The university is proud of the FCS college, going back to the days when it was a College of Home Economics. Its identity is important, and I believe it's possible to preserve the college's special identity after the combination. A concern has been expressed about co-mingling scholarship and other funds that were given to support the programs of just one of the colleges. How will you ensure that doesn't occur? We will ensure that gifts are used the way donors intended. For example, scholarship funds given to support students in FCS would be used only for students majoring in degree programs that now belong to FCS and not for programs that now belong to Education. There is only one Family and Consumer Sciences College in Iowa, but there are three Colleges of Education. Instead of merging these colleges, why not remove duplication and eliminate the College of Education at Iowa State? There are many reasons this is not a good idea. First, it would require the elimination of degree programs and the opportunity for students to pursue those degrees at Iowa State. There are about 1,900 undergraduates currently enrolled in the College of Education. I believe it is important for ISU to maintain its flexibility with a number of popular degree options. Second, eliminating those degrees would not result in savings, since the tuition that the students in Education pay closely matches the college's budget. If we closed the college, we would lose all of those students and the associated tuition income. And finally, closing those programs would require the dismissal of tenured faculty, which is always a difficult and messy affair and one that I do not believe is in the best interest of the university. Can you elaborate on the degree programs in Education that were formerly associated with the College of Home Economics?
Related stories on this issue: -- Planning begins toward first-ever combination of colleges at Iowa State ( http://www.public.iastate.edu/~nscentral/releases/2004/feb/reconfig.shtml) -- Allen announces college combination planning committee ( http://www.public.iastate.edu/~nscentral/releases/2004/mar/plancomm.shtml) President's homepage |
Office of the President, 1750 Beardshear Hall, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011 (515) 294-2042, president@iastate.edu Ames, Iowa 50011, (515) 294-4111 Published by: University Relations, online@iastate.edu Copyright 1995-2004, Iowa State University. All rights reserved. |