Disappearing Departments: An Inside Higher Ed Article on Kean's Restructuring, Accreditation, and Fiscal Concerns

To read the entire article by Jack Stripling, click here.

Here's an abstract:

“The document you have is a Frankenstein’s monster with missing parts and no way to animate it,” Maria Montaperto, an assistant professor of English said.
 

Other departments that now exist are similarly concerned with the implications of being split apart. The plan stipulates, for instance, that bachelor of arts programs in science will be placed in one school, while bachelor of science programs in the same disciplines will be housed in another school. Since faculty frequently teach courses in both degree programs, there’s a practical concern about how to cover the teaching if faculty are divided between B.A. and B.S. programs.
 

Dividing faculty between degree programs also presents potential concerns for accreditation. The independent national accreditation for the B.S. program in chemistry, for instance, hinges in part on full-time faculty numbers. Those numbers would presumably be reduced if some chemistry professors were devoted purely to the B.A. program, as the plan appears to prescribe.
 

“How do you maintain accreditation if one part of your program is in one school and another part of your program is in another school? We’re absolutely aghast and we’re very concerned about accreditation and losing it,” said Lees, who helped the school secure accreditation with the American Chemical Society nearly 30 years ago. 

The Document they're referring to is a draft proposal addressed to Dr. Farahi from Mark Lender, at the time the Interum Vice President for Academic Affairs, about a plan to restructure the University starting last June.  We've been watching the plan unfold for a semester and a half so far—at the price of faculty and academic programs—so if you want to read the proposal, dated last April, download it HERE from InsideHigherEd.