Several college departments merge due to budget

    Several college departments combined or merged Aug. 9, 2011, due to budgetary and reorganization reasons and should not affect students or faculty.

    Dr. Paul Swets, Interim Dean for the College of Arts and Sciences, said English and Modern Languages combined, Mathematics and Computer Science combined, and History and Political Science combined.

    Laurence Musgrove, professor and head of the Department of English and Modern Languages, said this change has added to the workload of the department's office coordinator and to his role as department head.

    "We will soon be revising our department by-laws and committee structure to respond to this merger," he said, "but in the spirit of collaboration along with equal doses of patience, goodwill, and respect, I am confident we will continue to serve our students and colleagues to the best of our abilities."

    The College of Liberal and Fine Arts and the College of Sciences merged to create the College of Arts and Sciences, Swets said. Also, the College of Nursing and Physical Therapy merged with the College of Health and Human Services.

    Last spring all academic leaders in the community, the president, and the Board of Regents decided to combine and merge departments to save the university money and to reorganize for academic efficiency, Interim Provost and Vice-President for Academic Affairs Brian May said.

    He said the university looked at areas of inefficiency and combined and merged departments to help students obtain the highest academic excellence.

    "The state cut the income so we had to do everything possible to keep academic quality," May said. "This is a common theme around Texas - to increase academic quality."

Class sizes are slightly larger this semester, but this move should not affect anyone greatly, students or faculty, he said.

Students whose departments combined may have a different department or office head, but the impact will remain relatively minor, Swets said.

    "Overall, I think this is going to be a good change for the university and students," Swets said.