[FUN_Mail] College of Arts & Sciences vs STEM College

Tue Nov 27 20:10:18 EST 2018

Hi Alo! Long time, no see. I hope you’re well and thriving.

Bests, John

**********************************************
John G. Hildebrand, Ph.D.
Foreign Secretary, U.S. National Academy of Sciences
Regents Professor
Department of Neuroscience
University of Arizona
PO Box 210077
1040 East 4th St.
Tucson  AZ  85721-0077, USA
tel: 520-621-6626
fax: 520-621-8282
email: <jhildebr at email.arizona.edu>
Website: http://neurosci.arizona.edu/
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From: FUN_Mail <fun_mail-bounces at lists.funfaculty.org> On Behalf Of Basu, Alo
Sent: Monday, November 26, 2018 4:03 PM
To: fun_mail at lists.funfaculty.org
Subject: Re: [FUN_Mail] College of Arts & Sciences vs STEM College

This was a great e-mail Ilya.

Thanks,
Alo

Alo C. Basu, Ph.D.
Neuroscience Advisor
Associate Professor
Department of Psychology
College of the Holy Cross
Tel. (508) 793-3750
E-mail. abasu at holycross.edu<mailto:abasu at holycross.edu>
http://www.holycross.edu/academics/programs/psychology/faculty/alo-c-basu
Pronouns:she/her/hers

On Sun, Nov 25, 2018 at 2:19 PM Vilinsky, Ilya (vilinsia) <vilinsia at ucmail.uc.edu<mailto:vilinsia at ucmail.uc.edu>> wrote:
The question of STEM participation in Arts and Sciences colleges goes right to the heart of the purpose and function of overall liberal education at the college level. I believe these moves are driven by 1) increasing budget constraints, 2) decreasing enrollment in many of the traditional humanities majors, and 3) overall national decline in undergraduate enrollment. The fact is that if revenue comes from enrollment and tuition, STEM majors and programs more than pay their way, and have to subsidize arts and humanities. That may be an acceptable model to some extent, but it puts pressure on the system. Highly selective schools can bypass some of these issues (for one, they don’t face dropping enrollment and don’t worry about filling their incoming class), but the rest of us will have to face them.

At the University of Cincinnati, we’ve had consistent (and increasing) questions about the role of A&S in general. We’ve had one department break off and move to another college (economics, moving to the business school), and there is some strain between sciences and humanities in terms of direction and vision. Some years ago, I heard that the University of Nevada Reno split their A&S-like college into sciences and humanities, with Psych staying in humanities (because otherwise the humanities college would have very little revenue base).

In general it looks like STEM or science colleges do well, while humanities and arts shrink, unless they have programs with endowments, strong national reputations, or the like. Neuroscience, currently being one of the more popular STEM majors, should do very well in such a split. Interdisciplinary neuroscience programs can use this as an opportunity to forge stronger ties with other colleges (medicine, engineering, etc.). But this comes at the cost of arts and humanities, and these spits are often politically fraught. It sounds like at Tulane, the split has gone very well for sciences, and neuroscience, but I bet that arts and humanities would have a different take. I would be very interested to hear from others who’ve experienced similar reorganizations. How has the university handled the political implications? Who initiated the split? How did negotiations proceed?

-Ilya

----------------------------------------------
Ilya Vilinsky, PhD
Director, Undergraduate Neuroscience
Associate Professor, Educator, Department of Biological Sciences
University of Cincinnati, 614 Rieveschl Hall
Cincinnati, OH 45221-0006
ilya.vilinsky at uc.edu<mailto:ilya.vilinsky at uc.edu>
Phone: 513-556-9749

On Nov 25, 2018, at 12:00 PM, fun_mail-request at lists.funfaculty.org<mailto:fun_mail-request at lists.funfaculty.org> wrote:

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Today's Topics:

  1. Re: College of Arts & Sciences vs STEM College (Wee, Beth E)

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Message: 1
Date: Sat, 24 Nov 2018 20:57:25 +0000
From: "Wee, Beth E" <bwee at tulane.edu<mailto:bwee at tulane.edu>>
To: Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience Mailing List
<fun_mail at lists.funfaculty.org<mailto:fun_mail at lists.funfaculty.org>>
Subject: Re: [FUN_Mail] College of Arts & Sciences vs STEM College
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Tulane University has had a School of Science and Engineering since 2006 when the university had to regroup after Hurricane Katrina.
It has worked very well, as the science and engineering faculty have many collaborations together. Fortunately, Psychology is with the School. Our Neuroscience Program is interdisciplinary with the Medical School and Primate Center as well as with the School of Liberal Arts. (I can talk more specific with you Judy, separate from the listserve).

We have a Neuroscience teaching position advertised now, as well:
https://neurojobs.sfn.org/jobs/11661439/professor-of-practice-neuroscience-program
Direct link to application: https://apply.interfolio.com/55153

From: FUN_Mail <fun_mail-bounces at lists.funfaculty.org<mailto:fun_mail-bounces at lists.funfaculty.org>> On Behalf Of Judith Ogilvie
Sent: Saturday, November 24, 2018 10:50 AM
To: fun_mail at lists.funfaculty.org<mailto:fun_mail at lists.funfaculty.org>
Subject: [FUN_Mail] College of Arts & Sciences vs STEM College

We have a strong push from some members of the faculty in our College of Arts & Sciences to move to a College of Science & Engineering, leaving behind a College of Arts & Humanities (or if the College of Engineering doesn't want us, to form a separate College of Science, although I think this is unlikely). Do any of my fellow FUN colleagues have experience with the pros and cons? I should note that  right now, as a member of a Biology Dept, I am just interested in broad information as to what kinds of differences there might be in overall culture, recruitment, teaching loads, competition for resources, support for interdisciplinary programs, and everything that we are forgetting to think about. If this moves forward, I will have to address the impact on our Neuroscience Program, which is an interdisciplinary major run jointly with Biology and Psychology. I am sure that Biology would move with Sciences and most likely Neuroscience, but I expect that Psychology Department might be spli
t on which way to go.  But we aren't there yet....

Thanks in advance for any thoughts or experience you might have.

-Judy Ogilvie

****************************************************
Judith Mosinger Ogilvie, Ph.D., FARVO
Associate Professor of Biology

Co-Director, Neuroscience Program

Saint Louis University

Office:  Morrissey 2513

3700 Lindell Boulevard
St. Louis, MO  63108
email:      judith.ogilvie at slu.edu<mailto:judith.ogilvie at slu.edu><mailto:ogilviej at slu.edu<mailto:ogilviej at slu.edu>>
Phone:     314-977-3965<file://localhost/tel/314-977-3965>
Fax:         314-977-1014<file://localhost/tel/314-977-3658>

Lab:         Schwitalla M109

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