Approval to Restructure the Divisions of Academic Affairs and the Division of Student Engagement and Campus Life to the Division of Academic and Student Affairs.
The proposed new organizational structure for the Division of Academic Affairs recommends the following:
The merger of the School of AFE with STEM to create the School of Agriculture, Communities, Environment, and the Sciences;
The conversion of the School of Aquaculture and Aquatic Science into the Center of Aquaculture and Aquatic Science (CPE identified this as a Center of Distinction);
The merger of the Division of Literature, Languages and Philosophy with the School of Humanities and Performing Arts and Library Sciences to create the School of Arts, Communications, and the Humanities;
The merger of the School of Behavioral and Social Sciences with the School of Criminal Justice and Political Science to create the School of Criminal Justice, Behavioral, Political and Social Sciences;
The merger of the School of Business with the School of Public Administration to create the School of Business, Public and Health Administration; and
The addition of the Liberal Arts and Honors Collegium to the School of Social Work, which would subsequently be renamed as the Whitney M. Young, Jr. School of Social Work, Liberal Arts, and the Honors Collegium.
As a result of the restructuring, the Division of Academic and Student Affairs now has two deans and seven chairpersons versus the three deans and twelve chairpersons found in last fiscal year's structure. In addition to the merged schools, the low-performing and very few majors found in the Chemistry and Mathematics degree-granting programs will be sunset and restructured into the Department of Biological and Physical Sciences and Department of Mathematics and Computer Sciences, respectively. The chemistry and mathematics programs will require teach-out plans.
The co-curricular aspects of student life at institutions of higher education play a critical role in improving the traditional markers of student success (retention, progression, and graduation). During the COVID-19 pandemic, the role of student affairs was even more pronounced (e.g., mental health services, testing/quarantine, virtual engagement, etc.), which led to some reversals in the pre-pandemic trend of the decreased importance of comprehensive student affairs units (Ching & Agbayani, 2019). Student engagement at historically Black institutions is central to what it means to have a “HBCU experience,” especially in a politically vulnerable climate which has led to increased interest and enrollment in the safe, affirming spaces provided by HBCUs.
Doing more with less is essential to KSU's ability to survive and thrive as Kentucky's sole public HBCU. In an effort to create