Merger of Social Work and Education

MERGER OF SOCIAL WORK INTO COLLEGE OF EDUCATION IS PROPOSED

     COLUMBUS -- The Ohio State University Office of Academic
Affairs has proposed that the College of Social Work become a
school within the College of Education.

     According to the proposal, the merger of Social Work and
Education would provide programmatic and financial benefits to
both the social work and education programs, allowing for greater
collaboration among faculty and greater economy in
administration.  Specifically, course offerings common to both
programs could be better coordinated, support functions could be
shared or shifted, field placements in local schools and social
agencies could be made more accessible to students, and the
university would have greater flexibility to meet accreditation
standards.

     In making the announcement, Richard Sisson, senior vice
president for academic affairs and provost, said there will be
extensive discussion and consultation with the faculty, staff and
students of both colleges.  The proposal will be presented to the
Steering Committee of University Senate, the Council on Academic
Affairs, and the Senate Oversight Committee on Restructuring for
consideration before a final version is submitted to University
Senate for appropriate action.

     "The intent of this proposed merger is to provide a
framework for enhancing programs while at the same time
supporting the efforts of the Social Work faculty," Sisson said.
"Such a merger could enable the consolidation of related human
services programs with Education and provide new collaborative
program opportunities between Social Work and other programs in
Education related to schooling and educational policy."

     The proposal is part of the ongoing restructuring of the
university and meets three criteria established by the Office of
Academic Affairs for consolidating academic units.  It has
potential for: (1) creating new programs or consolidating
existing programs which can build on the complementary expertise
of faculty in both units; (2) increasing flexibility in meeting
curricular and teaching responsibilities; (3) improving
efficiency in carrying out core administrative functions.

     Social Work has been a separate college since 1976.  Before
that it was a school housed in what is now the Max M. Fisher
College of Business.  The college has 27 full-time equivalent
tenure-track faculty members, and does not have departments.
Because it lacks the economies of scale and the financial
flexibility of larger colleges, Social Work has been particularly
hard pressed to absorb the budget cuts of recent years.

     It offers the Bachelor of Science in Social Work and the
Master of Social Work degrees as well as the Ph.D.  Approximately
75 percent of its nearly 700 full- and part-time students are
enrolled in graduate programs.  In 1992, the college had the
second largest Master of Social Work enrollment in the Big Ten
and the 21st largest in the nation.  An additional factor in
presenting the merger proposal now is that the college is
currently searching for new leadership.

     According to today's proposal, "The expanded college could
enable, encourage and provide leadership for collaborative
efforts with other academic units that have instructional or
research programs with an education or human services dimension."

     Any programmatic changes would be phased in so as not to
affect the ability of currently enrolled students in either
college to complete their programs of study.

                                #

Contact: Robert Arnold, associate provost, (614) 292-5881.


[Submitted by: GERSTNER  (gerstner@ccgate.ucomm.ohio-state.edu)
               
Fri, 22 Apr 1994 13:54:13 -0500 (EST)]
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