The University’s merger of the School of Social Work, School of Library and Information Science, College of Education, Department of Kinesiology, Early Childhood PK-3 program and the School of Human Resource Education and Workforce Development should bring collaboration among faculty and cement opportunities for students to learn in different fields, according to professors and administrators.
Chancellor Michael Martin said the merger, announced Sept. 8, is a way for the University to propel itself into the future. The University cannot grow without change, he said.
University administrators have said the merger is not directly budget-driven, but the budgets for each component being merged have fluctuated during the University’s battle with funding shortages during the past few years.
The School of Library and Information Science had an unrestricted budget of $936,966 for all activities pertaining to instruction, including salaries, in 2008. The preliminary 2011 unrestricted instruction budget for the School of Library and Information Science is $827,726.
That’s more than $100,000 in budget loss over four years.
The School of Library and Information Science also saw its restricted funding from state, federal and private donations drop from $60,836 in 2008 to $41,546 in the preliminary 2011 budget. That’s a decrease in funding of about $19,000.
Suzanne Stauffer, library and information science professor, said students and faculty in the School of Library and Information Science currently have to compete for resources against every other University school and college. Once the school is cushioned in a larger college, it will have access to more resources, she said.
“If this merger is approved by the Board of Supervisors, our students will probably not notice any changes because the name of the school, the faculty, the degree requirements and curriculum for the master of library and information science degree will stay the same,” said School of Library and Information Science Dean Beth Paskoff in an e-mail to The Daily Reveille.
The School of Library and Information Science enjoys its current autonomy as its own college, Stauffer said, but its students and faculty will enjoy interaction with other units.
“The only thing is we are no longer independent, which is good and bad,” she said.
Stauffer pointed to University students who are interested in specializing as children or teen librarians as examples of people who can benefit from curricula infused with other colleges.
“We’re really starting to get very excited about it because there will be a lot of opportunities for collaboration in terms of research,” she said.
The School of Human Resource Education and Workforce Development currently falls under the College of Agriculture and has three concentrations: agricultural and extension education and youth development, career and technical education, and human resource and leadership development.
“In one sense I really hate to leave where we’ve been so successful,” said Ed Holton, coordinator and founder of human resource and leadership development. “But on the other hand, I try to look at change as a new