Students will take classes in history and languages in a different building this spring. The History, Language and Philosophy department is in the process of merging with Behavioral Science in building 14. Because of the merger, faculty are taking on new roles within the campus.
History, Languages and Philosophy Department Head Susan Morgan, is now taking over the position of Department Head of Behavioral Sciences, a position formerly held by Dr. June Linke. Morgan noted that the merge began as of Oct. 1, but it won’t affect students until the spring semester.
”Nobody likes packing,” Morgan said. “But I feel good about it, I mean it’s a lot of work, but I’ve been working on the spring schedule and met with some of the adjuncts that I didn’t know previously and I’ve already met lot of people and learned a lot about the programs.”
“The new department will have probably the largest enrollment at the college, seeing as we are district wide,” said Martin Gonzalez, vice president of Instructional Affairs. “It will probably be the largest enrollment in the campus, because we have dual enrollment students from the high schools and we have three campuses with these courses.”
By merging these programs into building 14, it will free classroom space in building 4 (which will now house the Education Department), giving the option to offer more English and Literature classes as well as providing students with more options and scheduling.
“Students often prefer to have their classes in a very small window of time, and very often what limits the number of sections we can offer is available classrooms. We may have sections available at 2 in the afternoon, but some students don’t want to take classes at 2 in the afternoon, because they are working or whatever. What we find is that most students want their classes between 7:30 a.m. and noon,” Gonzalez said.
It also marks a change in position for Linke, who has been promoted to dean of Curriculum and Assessment after the retirement of the former position holder, Elaine Elledge.
Linke pointed out that the merger will have a positive effect on the way program reviews are handled. They will now be web based instead of paper based. Previously, the programs were on a five year rotation and every year certain programs come up for review to see what changes are needed to be made in programs.
“It is becoming much more automated. Whereas in the past there was lots of paper generated due to program review, now it will just be online reports that will be generated from MIS to the departments, and the department head will form an advisory committee. That part won’t change, but the process and the time that will be consumed conducting the review will be shortened. Which is good, because it gives the department heads and the faculty that are on the review committees more time to interact with students,” Linke said.