While the outrage and clamor from the University’s budget crisis have slowed down in the past semester, administrators have established plans to merge University programs, some of which could be finalized on Friday.
The LSU System Board of Supervisors will vote this Friday on a merger of the University’s College of Education, School of Social Work, School of Library and Information Science, School of Human Resource Education and Workforce Development, Department of Kinesiology and PK-3 program.
If approved, the college will be named the College of Human Sciences and Education, and University officials will start seeking a dean. Current College of Education Interim Dean Laura Lindsay, who led the plans to combine the programs, said she envisioned it having a powerful and visible presence on campus.
Students and faculty have been generally supportive of the provost’s decision to merge their programs.
Suzanne Stauffer, library and information science professor, said while they will miss their autonomy, becoming part of a larger college gives them access to more resources.
Robert Bostick, human resource education senior, said moving the School of Human Resource Education and Workforce Development under the College of Agriculture will be a better realignment for the University.
But not everyone has warmly welcomed the provost’s plans.
Hamilton also proposed a merger between the Department of Computer Science and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, causing complaints from students. The plans for this merger have not yet been brought to fruition.
Dean of the College of Science Kevin Carman and Dean of the College of Engineering Richard Koubek said they were looking forward to working with each other, though Carman added he did not necessarily agree with the provost’s decision.
The University chapter of the Association of Computing Machinery surveyed more than 45 computer science students to find a large majority disagreed with the department merger.
The members sent their results to Chancellor Michael Martin, who said the students should not worry, and the department can retain its noteworthy national ranking despite being joined with another program.
 
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Contact Andrea Gallo at [email protected]