By Kari Travis
Taylor faculty and administrators voted yesterday in favor of a plan to formally restructure all schools within the university and align departments to combine similar branches of study.
The proposal, which was initially brought forward February 11 by Taylor Provost Jeff Moshier, is focused on answering questions about school identity, according to Moshier.
"I'm looking for a real faculty contribution," said Moshier in a presentation prior to yesterday's vote. "I want us to think about what we mean by Christian liberal arts and our philosophy of education."
Preliminary restructuring will come into effect over the summer with the intent of full implementation during fall 2013. The new schools will be organized into three entities: The School of Humanities, Arts and Biblical Studies, The School of Natural and Applied Sciences and The School of Social Sciences, Education and Business.
Upon first arriving at Taylor last fall, the provost noticed some problems in the university's ability to maintain a liberal arts focus. The lack of cohesive structure within schools was interfering with Taylor's ability to communicate its identity clearly to prospective students, according to Moshier.
And that wasn't the only reason for concern.
Moshier also discovered that imbalances in number of faculty from one school to the next was giving privileged status to smaller schools while making it difficult for larger schools to gain equal representation within university governance.
It was then that Moshier hatched his plan for structure reform.
"I could tell there were many faculty who were resonating with the me about the concerns with identity," Moshier commented after the faculty vote. "It always helps conversations to give something that people can specifically think about and react to."
Moshier began outlining a plan while collaborating with deans and asking for faculty insights. The response was largely encouraging in terms of consideration for the rationale and philosophy of the proposal, he said.
Opposition to the plan was contained to concerns surrounding realignment of departments within the new school structures, Moshier said. It was only after several revisions that faculty members reached a satisfying compromise.
"Some of the programs like psychology and sociology, which used to be in the School of Liberal Arts, will be moved over into the social science school," Moshier said. "Things like social work, which used to be in the School of Professional Studies, will be moved over into that social science area as well."
The transition to the new system should be subtle and won't affect students noticeably during its preliminary stages, Moshier said.If anything is obvious during the shift, the provost hopes it will show in the improvement of Taylor's ability to communicate its purpose as a leading liberal arts university.
