FSD 22-06 REVISED CES COT Proposed Merger

Revised 10.13.22

FSD 22-06 Resolution on a Proposal for Unification of College of Engineering and Sciences (CES) and College of Technology (COT) to College of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)

PURDUE UNIVERSITY NORTHWEST FACULTY SENATE

Resolution on a Proposal for Unification of College of Engineering and Sciences (CES) and College of Technology (COT) to College of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)

Committee: Educational Policy

For Discussion: October 14, 2022

For Action:

Whereas: Article III, Section C.5 of the Constitution of the Faculty of Purdue University Northwest (PNW) stipulates that the Faculty Senate has an advisory role relative to “All proposed changes and procedures concerning the academic organization of Purdue University Northwest”;

Whereas: At the December 11^th, 2020 Faculty Senate meeting a proposal brought forth by Provost Holford and Niaz Latif, Dean of the College of Technology and then Interim Dean of the College of Engineering and Sciences regarding the unification of the College of Engineering and Sciences (CES) and the College of Technology (COT) to become the College of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM);

Whereas: The Bylaws of the Faculty Senate of PNW stipulates that it is the responsibility of the Educational Policy Committee (EPC) to “Advise on changes in academic organization affecting the intellectual atmosphere and functioning of PNW, such as elimination or consolidation of existing colleges/departments/schools”;

Whereas: The proposal was referred to the EPC and the Committee discussed the proposal and reviewed both Colleges faculty survey results provided by Provost Holford. It appeared clear to the EPC that the majority of the faculty of both colleges clearly did not support the merger and, further, expressed questions about budget savings, administrative structure, and the long term effects on student enrollments, and other potential effects of the merger on CES and COT;

Whereas: On January 15, 2021 the EPC submitted resolution FSD 20-14 regarding the proposal for the Unification of the Colleges of CES and the COT to one college, the College of STEM. The EPC did not support the proposal. The EPC recommended that the Provost actively consult the faculties of both CES and COT to clarify their questions and to collaborate with faculty to create possible alternative proposals supported by a majority of faculty from these colleges.

Whereas: Faculties and staff of CES & COT were surveyed again by the VCAA between February and March, 2022. The survey contained questions asking whether the employee was faculty or staff, and if they supported the merger. They were then asked to rank (on a 1 to 5 scale; 1 worst to 5 best) both of the two models of the proposed STEM College as presented by the Provost.

Model #1: A STEM College with three Schools, each with three Departments, and

Model #2: A STEM College containing nine Departments;

Comments were allowed as well.

Whereas: Following the VCAA review of the survey results, the proposal was brought forth by Provost Holford, Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Niaz Latif, Dean College of Technology and Dietmar Rempfer, now Interim Dean College of Engineering and Sciences at the March 11, 2022 Faculty Senate meeting for further discussion.

Whereas: The proposal (attached CES-COT College Merger Proposal 3-11-2022) was referred to the EPC and the EPC reviewed the proposal, survey, and survey results (attached CES-COT College Merger Survey Results). EPC reviewed the responses to the survey question – Do you support a merger of CES and COT? Responder choices included “yes”, “no”, or “no preference”. The survey also included an area for open comments.

Results are summarized in the table below.

	Total Responses	Yes #	Yes %	No #	No %	No Preference	No Preference %	# of comments (see attached)
CES Faculty	47	15	32%	26	55%	6	13%	30
COT Faculty	22	12	55%	8	36%	2	9%	13
All Faculty	69	27	39%	34	49%	8	12%	43
CES Staff	10	4	40%	2	20%	4	40%	5
COT Staff	14	10	71%	2	14%	2	14%	8
All Staff	24	14	58%	4	17%	6	25%	13

 

 

 

After review of survey results and comments the EPC found that CES faculty oppose the merger and COT faculty support the merger. CES staff are mixed on the merger and COT staff support the merger. CES has more than twice as many faculty and students as COT (CES: 75 faculties, 1044 CES students; COT 34 faculty, 488 COT students) so overall faculty oppose the merger by a 10% margin. The total number of staff in CES and COT was not available. Over 56 open comments were included in the survey and provided valuable insight into the opinions of the faculty and staff.

 

Based on the proposal and survey comments, the EPC believe faculty in CES and COT continue to have valid questions for administration about real budget savings, administrative structure, long term effects on student enrollments, and other potential effects of the merger on CES and COT.

Be It Resolved: The Education Policy Committee advises against the proposed CES – COT merger.

Committee Members:

Diane Spoljoric (Chair)

Ralph Cherry

Anne Edwards

Dawit Gizachew

David Kozel

Michael Mick

Shengyong Zhang

Ed Policy Members Voting in favor of this resolution:

Ed Policy Members Voting against this resolution: