Academic Realignment FAQs

In 2022, President Smart announced that the university would begin a two-year transformation plan. The Board of Governors supported the approach. The transformation plan includes all areas of the university. Within academic affairs, it includes college realignment and this was a key focus because amid all the education sector and external environmental changes over the past several decades, the university had not performed a full-scale review of its academic structure. Additionally, assessing numerous changes throughout academic affairs [e.g., budget, realignment, provost’s office changes, research, advising, learning management system (LMS), etc.] took place because of the desire to address, more specifically, Missouri State’s long-range plan (LRP) and  the strategic enrollment management (SEM) plan, as well as to better support students, maintain and strengthen academic program and enhance efficiency and collaboration.

In December 2022, we announced that the College of Humanities and Public Affairs and the Judith Enyeart Reynolds College of Arts would be joining forces effective July 1, 2023, and Access and Outreach would be subsumed in other areas of the University, including Enrollment Management Services and Marketing and Communications, during the spring of 2023.

Thus, beginning July 1, 2023, we will have six colleges and three affiliate areas:

• Colleges: College of Business (COB); College of Education (COE); College of Natural and Applied Sciences (CNAS); Darr College of Agriculture (DCOAG); McQueary College of Health and Human Services (MCHHS); and Reynolds College of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (RCASH).
• Affiliate areas: Graduate College, University Libraries and the Provost’s Office.

Several changes are taking place within and across the six colleges. The changes are addressed below under each of the colleges.

From January through May 2023, eight process steps were enacted. These included data collection, data analysis, member checking, presentation of additive/refined themes, Deans’ Team development of potential directions, presentation of potential realignment directions and feedback, Deans’ Team final recommendation and decision-making and announcement.

During this time, data were collected and analyzed from many different sources, including town hall meetings; online surveys; department/school/program exercises; working group discussions; Deans’ Team restructuring workshop; and meetings and conversations with department heads, school directors and departments outside the direct academic college portfolio, administrative assistants, provost’s office staff and administrators.

Data point teams reviewed and refined themes. The executive summary of findings included the following:

• To consider when addressing realignment directions: Culture, perspectives and facilities.
• Structural realignment directions: Context, profile, schools and collaborations.
• Other considerations: People, advising structure enhancements, research-based enhancements, end-user input and communication.
• Don’t forget to emphasize: The why, definitions and descriptions, and that Phase 3, implementation, is next.

Revised guidelines included: Focus on student success, recognize context, raise academic profile, enhance collaboration, respect culture.

We used the definitions in the Faculty Handbook, though these will need to be refined slightly and we have indicated such to the Faculty Senate Executive Committee.

Multiple data points were considered, including faculty full-time equivalent (FTE), number of majors and credit hour production. As noted previously, we were primarily guided by a focus on student success, recognizing context, raising the academic profile, enhancing collaboration and respecting culture.

This will be determined on a case-by-case basis and informed by the Faculty Handbook, individual appointment letters and final approval by the college deans, provost and president. 

Yes.

Travel support and sabbaticals will be determined by college deans in consultation with the provost

The provost, in concert with college level one-time funding, will support the new branding.  

Marketing and Communications will work on updated websites and brochures in consultation with the Office of the Provost and college deans. 

The PCOB is leased by the university. Programs currently in the PCOB will be relocated over time, with a phased approach between now and 2025. 

In what is being described as the College Realignment Plan, Phase 3, the focus will be on implementing the realignment changes. This involves not only the academic areas, but also Faculty Senate, Administrative and Financial Services, Marketing and Communications, Registrar, University Services and other support areas. Departments will receive guidance from college deans, school directors and department heads. Faculty Senate leadership will provide guidance regarding curriculum and committee representation. 

The provost’s office is seeking to meet and exceed the changing needs for the office by being more strategic, proactive and service-minded. The focus will be on addressing institutional priorities, invoking strategic intent, addressing internal needs and external forces, articulating workload and spans, aligning functions and ensuring efficiency and effectiveness, and especially raising MSU’s academic profile.

The Chief Academic Strategy Officer (CASO) will be Dr. Ken Brown and he begins his duties June 1, 2023.

Three provost fellows are being introduced for fall 2023: research – Dr. Paul Durham, research compliance – Dr. Amy Hulme and curriculum and learning – Dr. Subha Basu Roy. Examples of expected output include a research strategy moving forward and an online strategy.

Investments in research include the provost fellows, funding an additional position in the Office of Research Administration (ORA) and a move towards an eventual innovation fund.

Key changes in advising include structure – ensuring all colleges have advising centers, system – invoking an early alert system, and people – providing baseline market pay for advisors.

We are investing in a data warehouse, implementing a departmental dashboard and moving Institutional Research to being both compliance-driven and proactive in providing data, information and insights. Both Institutional Research and the Online team from Access and Outreach will move to reporting to the provost’s area effective July 1, 2023.

The Office of Public Affairs Support and the Center for Community Engagement are moving to Student Affairs effective immediately.

By July 1, 2023, the various provost’s councils, college committees and the Academic Leadership Council (ALC) will be refined.

Study groups will review: ROTC placement (decision by July 2023); action by July 2024: implementing and enhancing Honors programming within the colleges, placement of the Haseltine Library, placement of Outreach and placement of Enrollment Management and Student Success. The goal with the Honors College change is to enhance its impact across all colleges. The 2023-24 study team will work on how to integrate it successfully.

In crafting academic affairs as MSU’s strategic enterprise, we are reallocating and investing in academics, as follows:

• ~$1.8 million for future academic investment.
• Savings/reinvestment at the college level from realignment (~$600k).
• Provost fellows, research and advising.
• Proposed cost of living adjustment and retention payment along with centrally-funded position adjustments.
• Up to $5M for active learning classrooms and facility improvements.
• Data warehouse.

In summary, through all the changes, we:

• Recognized context, enhanced collaboration and protected culture.
• Focused on raising the academic profile.
• Avoided program eliminations.
• Protected filled faculty lines and maintained administrative assistant positions.
• Selected a new learning management system (see below).
• Injected a variety of investments – immediate and into the future (e.g., R&D, provost fellows, research, advising, personnel, facilities).
• Decreased number of administrators by one associate provost position, one dean position and 12 department head positions.
• Saved and reallocated ~$1.8 million in administrative costs (note that of the original $5 million in academic budget reductions, 24% came from the provost’s budget).

The learning management system (LMS) is part of the Transformation Plan and the Academic Affairs Continuous Agility Plan – to ensure our LMS is updated and meets the needs of students, faculty and staff. We know the system is only a tool – but use is key.

The provost requested a review of vendors in late November 2022. A committee planned and executed the process, including vendor inputs and visits, stakeholder input, a final review and recommendation. Guidelines included LMS components, pedagogical evaluation, learning and system analytics, implementation and support, costs, campus feedback, and reference checks.

At the May 18, 2023, Board of Governors meeting, we are seeking approval to select Brightspace/D2L as our new LMS vendor. We expect full implementation and use by fall 2024.

There should be! We call it continuous evolution and we anticipate annual tweaks moving forward.

• Enhance statewide prominence as a leader in Ag and Ag Ed in Missouri.
• Develop industry leaders – strategic leaders promoting innovative solutions.
• Realize farm to fork – food, forage and natural resources.

Hospitality Leadership will be merging with DCOAG. The college will then have two schools to be named. One school will have Hospitality Leadership and Agribusiness, Education, and Communications, and the other school will have Animal Science and Environmental Plant Science and Natural Resources. Two school directors, reduces administrators from four to two and reduces faculty service loads.

Yes, Dr. Ken Brown will be transitioning away from the college to become the Chief Academic Strategy Officer in the Office of the Provost effective June 1, 2023. Dr. Melissa Bledsoe is the new interim dean in DCOAG effective June 1, 2023. Dr. Chin-Feng Hwang will become the chancellor of the Mountain Grove campus effective July 1, 2023 (pending Board of Governor approval at the May 18 board meeting). Additionally, rather than department heads in the departments in the college, each school will have one school director that will be chosen through an internal search. Each department will have a program coordinator who will report to the school director. 

Most likely, yes. The college has been working with the efactory on an internal reorganization. This may result in changes associated with the management of the college’s various properties (e.g., Shealy Farm, Kindrick Family Farm, etc.), the college’s advising model and its marketing and recruiting efforts. 

There is no plan to fill the Interim Associate Dean position at this time.

We expect to launch a national search in fall 2023.

• Be a destination campus for the arts, social sciences and humanities.
• Be a trendsetter – Missouri State is investing in arts, social sciences and humanities while many other universities are making cuts in these programs.
• Protect and invest in academic programs in a named college.

• School of the Arts: Art and Design, Music, and Theatre and Dance. No additional administrators; no school director.
• School of Communication: Communication, Media, Journalism and Film (CMJF) and English. Reduces administrators from three to two; no school director.
• School of Humanities and Social Sciences: Languages, Cultures and Religions (LCR); History, Political Science and Philosophy; and Sociology, Anthropology and Gerontology. Note: Gerontology is moving from the Department of Psychology. Reduces administrators from five to four; no school director.
• School of Criminology and Criminal Justice. School director; no additional administrators.
• School of Defense and Strategic Studies (DSS). Only professional doctorate in the college. School director; no additional administrators.

Yes, RCASH will have two full-time associate deans (one will have an office in Strong Hall).

• Program visibility – expand and enhance the COB portfolio and remain the university of choice in the Midwest.
• Student and faculty opportunities – synergize programs.
• Enrollment and student success – remain mission-focused.

• Economics (ECO) joins what will soon be known as the Department of Finance, Economics and Risk Management (FERM). This reduces administrators from two to one. ECO will move to Glass Hall, but the Behavioral Economics Lab remains in Strong Hall.
• Merchandising and Fashion Design (MFD) moves to the Department of Technology and Construction Management (TCM). This reduces a part-time administrator and faculty service loads. MFD will relocate to Glass Hall to enhance its academic profile.

Yes, if the Economics major coursework satisfies DHS requirements for STEM-designated programs. An academic major’s STEM designation is not impacted by where the program is housed. Several of COB’s undergraduate and graduate programs have STEM eligible CIP codes.  

• Sustain statewide leadership in teacher education and developmental studies.
• Raise the profile of the college.
• Support proactive engagement with schools and communities.

• Counseling program moves to MCHHS to become part of the School of Mental Health and Behavioral Sciences locating all areas of mental health in one school, providing clear pathways for undergraduate and graduate students and signaling a cutting-edge effort to address significant state and national needs.
• American Sign Language program moves from MCHHS to COE to align with Special Education programs and expertise.
• Creation of two schools from three departments to enhance interdisciplinary collaboration for students and faculty and provide for sharing of resources.
  • School of Special Education, Leadership and Professional Studies: Special Education, Educational Administration, Student Affairs in Higher Education, Foundations/MATL/SETL/MAT, Educational Technology and American Sign Language.
  • School of Teaching, Learning and Developmental Sciences: Child and Family Development, Child Life Studies, Early Childhood Education, Early Childhood Special Education, Elementary Education, Family and Consumer Sciences, Business Education, Literacy, and Middle School.

Secondary Education programs will remain within the colleges. However, we will continue seeking feedback on program improvements and working to improve communication across programs related to advising and program changes.

No, the ATLL will continue as a center with Director Chuck Garner reporting to COE Dean Barri Tinkler.

The CDC will continue as a center. It was previously housed under the Department of Childhood Education and Family Studies and will now be housed under the School of Teaching, Learning and Developmental Sciences with the CDC director reporting to the school director, Dr. Denise Cunningham.

No, Greenwood will continue as an academic department reporting to COE Dean Barri Tinkler.

No, Bear POWER will continue as a center reporting to COE Dean Barri Tinkler.

The Center City Counseling Clinic will continue as part of the counseling program and will be housed under the new School of Mental Health and Behavioral Sciences.

The university is working to identify potential space for the 19 COE faculty (not including counseling faculty) and 33 staff (32 of these are with ATLL and many share office spaces; this count does not include Project ACCESS) currently housed in PCOB.

• Be multidisciplinary – multiple knowledges to solve a problem.
• Integrate practices in health, healthcare and health science.
• Provide immersive student experiences in clinical rotations and placements.
• Address community integration with workforce needs.

• Counseling moving from COE and creation of School of Mental Health and Behavioral Sciences consisting of Counseling, Psychology and Social Work. Reduces the number of administrators from two to one.
• Creation of a school to be named, consisting of Athletic Training, Communication Sciences and Disorders (Audiology & Speech Language Pathology), Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Physician Assistant Studies, and RStats: Elevates MSU’s clinical doctoral programs, joins programs with similar foundations and provides seamless student pathways into medical and clinical careers. Reduces the number of administrators from four to one.
• Creation of a school to be named, consisting of Biomedical Sciences (with curricular changes), Kinesiology, and Public Health and Sports Medicine. Reduces the number of administrators from three to one.
• Create an interdisciplinary major in Esports to address the growing industry and area of student interest as well as providing for multidisciplinary opportunities. To be spearheaded by the current Department of Kinesiology.

Moving from a department head model to a school model with school directors and program coordinators/directors reduces the number of small departments and provides opportunities for multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary collaborations. 

School directors will provide oversight and support for the academic programs within the school, including but not limited to, budget, university and program accreditation, faculty and staff workload, scheduling, faculty and student concerns, evaluation, and facilities. 

School directors will be appointed by the dean following an internal and/or external process involving faculty and staff impacted by the appointment. 

Program directors/coordinators will not retain their roles as department heads. 

Compensation could be in the form of financial incentives and/or course release(s) depending on program needs and sophistication. 

Program coordinators will work with the school directors to support the program, including but not limited to, budget, faculty workload, course scheduling, resources and program accreditation.

Faculty and professional advisors from MCHHS and CNAS along with other interested personnel from across campus. Dean Smith and Dean Jahnke will appoint a chair for this group.

Faculty from Biology, Biomedical Sciences, Chemistry, and Kinesiology. The group will be led by a facilitator from outside the disciplines.

• Program visibility – school naming and new facilities.
• Statewide leadership in research and tourism.
• Student clarity in career advising.

• Create an interdisciplinary major in Tourism, with Tourism being the state’s second largest industry after agriculture.
• Change the Department of Geography, Geology and Planning (GGP) to a school to be named.
• Clarify student pathways, ensuring students and academic advisors understand similar degree programs. This will be completed by Feb. 1, 2024, and reviewed annually and includes Mechanical Engineering Technology (MET) and Mechanical Engineering (ME); Information Technology and Cybersecurity (ITC) and Computer Science (CSC); and Pre-Health/Pre-Advising Handbook.
• Biology (BIO) remains as a department in CNAS, but course duplication will be eliminated in consultation with MCHHS and Biomedical Sciences (BMS). We are requiring all curricular proposals to be submitted to the college councils by Feb. 1, 2024.

Anyone who wants to be involved. The team will be led by Toby Dogwiler and Kara Wolfe. Please let them know of your interest as they will begin working immediately. 

Faculty and professional advisors from MCHHS and CNAS along with other interested personnel from across campus. Dean Smith and Dean Jahnke will appoint a chair for this group.

Faculty from each department, along with a department head review and dean approval. The advisement worksheets will be available on the website for each program and will be distributed to professional advisors annually.

Faculty from Biology, Biomedical Sciences, Chemistry and Kinesiology. The group will be led by a facilitator from outside the disciplines.

We anticipate construction beginning on May 22, 2023.

• Address the booming information economy.
• Be a digital content and service partner – assuming a leadership role across academic affairs and beyond.
• Pilot library staff development and team-based work approach.

• Partner with Academic Affairs to advance key initiatives: Open Educational Resources (OER) for affordability and accessibility purposes; digital scholarship; and new forms of publication and scholarly expression (e.g., Digital Humanities, large data sets, AI-assisted scholarship).
• Conduct a one-year pilot test of a new way of work in Meyer Library, which may be transferable to other cost centers at the university – team-based, “60/20/20 normal work week” across three teams.