Despite enthusiasm from both sides, implementation issues have left the future of a proposal to merge two major science colleges uncertain.
In an effort to increase cross-discipline collaboration, administrators last semester suggested merging the colleges of chemical and life sciences and computer, mathematical and physical sciences. Both university President Dan Mote and Provost Nariman Farvardin have expressed support for the proposal, but issues such as the time frame for university approval and how to handle the transition process are still up in the air.
A 12-person committee studying the possible merger unanimously supported the idea with the condition that university approval be granted by Sept. 1, Farvardin said. But navigating the university’s approval process — which includes review by a committee that advises the provost and the University Senate — would not be possible in that time frame, he said.
The Sept. 1 date was designed to give the new college time to reorganize before selecting a dean, committee member Larry Davis, chairman of the computer science department, wrote in an e-mail.
“The committee felt it would be easier to recruit the new dean if the administrative reorganization were completed; that will probably take the better part of an academic year,” Davis wrote.
Davis wrote he considered the date a “goal” rather than a “firm deadline” and thought the problem wasn’t insurmountable. For example, to provide more time to find a dean, an interim dean could be appointed.
To ease the transition, academic unit heads in the computer, mathematical and physical sciences college suggested the dean of that college, Steve Halperin, take over as interim dean of the chemical and life sciences college starting July 1, Halperin wrote in an e-mail to others in his college. Norma Allewell’s term as dean of the chemical and life sciences college ends at the finish of the academic year. The unit heads also suggested that units within the chemical and life sciences college simply be transferred to his college, Halperin wrote.
But it is still too early to say what the administrative structure of the new college could look like or when the merger could take place, Farvardin wrote in an e-mail.
University officials said discussions on the topic are ongoing, and Farvardin indicated the decision on whether to proceed with the merger would come by the end of the semester.
“There’s a lot of interest from both sides in accomplishing this merger,” Farvardin said. “We haven’t quite figured out the way to do it.”
Although some of the other mergers discussed this academic year have been motivated by the dire budget situation, administrators have said this merger is designed to foster collaboration between the schools. Allewell has said faculty in a unified science college would be able to work together more easily and explore new areas of study.
Differences between the cultures and organizational structures of the two colleges could complicate the matter, Allewell has said. For example, the administrative structure in her college is more centralized than in the computer, mathematical and physical sciences college, she said.
cox@umdbk.com
