Point Loma Nazarene University has been in the process of reorganizing the administrative structures of its academic programs. Eventually, the university will contain seven schools made of new and existing departments and programs.
Since the beginning of the effort, around three years ago, the School of Education, Fermanian School of Business, School of Nursing and the Colleges of Health Sciences have all undergone administrative reorganization. Some schools had incremental changes, while others were built from the ground up on this new structure, according to Jim Daichendt, interim provost and chief academic officer.
In addition to the four previously mentioned schools, PLNU’s academic structure will include the Schools of Arts and Culture, STEM and Behavioral and Social Sciences. Both the School of Arts and Culture and the School of Behavioral and Social Sciences will likely undergo a name change upon restructuring.
Daichent, formerly dean of the Colleges of Arts and Sciences and vice-provost, has been closely involved in planning the reorganization effort.
While the transition was relatively smooth for schools containing programs with existing connections such as the Fermanian School of Business and School of Nursing, Daichendt said the changes to the remaining schools may prove more difficult.
“The College of Health Sciences took on dietetics,” Daichendt said. “That was not part of their school, but that was also part of the reorganization. Moving that program made sense thematically and programmatically for them, but doesn’t feel as jarring as bringing two areas together that maybe hadn’t been together in the past.”
In bringing multiple departments under one umbrella, Daichendt said organizing the School of Behavioral and Social Sciences has been the most complicated, as it is set to contain the Department of Psychology; Department of Sociology, Social Work, and Family Services; and the School of Theology and Christian Ministry.
Rebecca Laird, interim dean of Theology and Christian Ministry, said the initial plan put forth to faculty contained language that implied the School of Theology was being merged into the School of Behavioral and Social Sciences. However, she said this has been clarified to signal a bridge between the schools.
“We are both an academic unit and then we have the sort of connection with churches which is an important piece of what we do,” Laird said. “And to try to bring all of that into the business that will then have to be handled by people that are in sociology, psychology and family sciences — It doesn’t impact them on the same level.”
In emphasizing the “missional role” of the School of Theology and Christian Ministry, Laird said the school’s desire for independence to speak from and into that role has been validated across the university.
While these conversations are occurring on campus, the School of Behavioral and Social Sciences is yet to have a permanent dean in place, as opposed to the School of Arts and Culture and School of STEM, which are both at different phases in their development, Daichendt said.
In conjunction with the beginning of this semester, the School of STEM has done away with department chairs, operating under a reorganized structure. The School of Arts and Culture will transition to this in the coming spring semester.
“We know where we’re heading with the structure, we just don’t know the name of the school,” Lindsey Lupo, dean of the School of Arts and Culture said. “We have a task force right now that’s coming up with some name options. I’ve hired the two associate deans, but I’m in the process of hiring the three assistant deans and staff; and we do know what departments it’ll be made up of.”
Under the reach of the School of Arts and Culture will be the departments of Art and Design; Communication Studies; History and Political Science; Literature, Journalism, Writing and Languages; and Music.
When she was hired, Lupo was tasked with fully fleshing out the administrative design for the school of Arts and Culture. While she was given an organizational chart that outlined a recommended structure for the school, Jim Sullivan, the dean of the College of Health Sciences and one of those involved in Lupo’s hiring, said that she was able to work outside of these recommendations as she saw fit.
Within the School of Arts and Culture, there are five buildings to manage and a host of differing needs across each of the programs. Sullivan said that flexibility within the particular positions created will allow Lupo the opportunity to suggest changes.
Alongside the transition from department chairs to associate and assistant deans, Lupo said there will no longer be department assistants by title, but rather operations coordinators and an operations manager.
“We’re also rewriting all the staff positions again for some efficiencies. An operations coordinator is going to work with LJWL and communications,” Lupo said.
Some staff say that the future of their current role is still unclear.
Department of Music Building Coordinator Susan Bradley said department assistants were informed about a year and a half ago that their positions would be changing, and they would be welcome to apply for the new updated positions. These applications were set to be open mid-September, but have since been pushed to October.
“I don’t think that much of the duties will change in-and-of itself, but then again, there’s a lot that we don’t know either,” Bradley said. “We don’t know how much of the course scheduling is going to be going to a different level. We don’t know how much of the financials are going to go to a different level.”
Despite the array of changes coming to the way staff and faculty will operate administratively, Lupo said students will not recognize the difference on a day-to-day basis. However, over time this new structure will create more avenues for students to engage in cross-disciplinary interaction.
“For instance, graphic design, multimedia journalism and multimedia communication, are three different departments right now, but those can come together in really fun ways,” Lupo said. “So where those things used to informally happen, now there’s a little bit more intentionality.”
While the efforts of reorganization have been primarily in the interest of efficiency, Sullivan said he hopes the shift will result in a more expansive education for students that will train them in a wide array of functions rather than a specific skill.
“Interdisciplinary – that’s what we hope for and we think that that can happen if students are studying in a larger interdisciplinary unit,” Sullivan said.
