Ithaca College is considering a broad reorganization that would bring its existing academic programs into three schools instead of five, but leaders say no final structure has been approved. The proposal is a starting point for campus discussion, not an immediate change to degrees, faculty positions or student requirements.
The college's board voted Oct. 9 to endorse development of a new academic model, and Provost Melanie Stein presented one possible three-school structure to faculty Oct. 13, according to the college's announcement and detailed questions and answers. Any eventual reorganization would require further academic and operational planning and final board consideration in a multiyear process.
Ithaca College says the effort responds to its enrollment and financial challenges, a shrinking population of traditional college-age students and changing expectations about how students combine fields of study. School boundaries can complicate shared courses, advising, requirements and collaboration, even when students and faculty already work across them.
The college has made smaller changes to its schedule grid, centralized academic support and established a cross-school major. It says the next question is whether a different overall organization would make such combinations easier to design and sustain. Leaders have not presented enrollment gains or cost savings as guaranteed outcomes of the proposal.
Three schools under discussion
Stein's model would create a School of Health, Technology, and Scientific Discovery, grouping natural sciences, quantitative fields, psychology, public health and allied health programs. The college says putting health professions closer to science and technology could support shared courses, research and applied learning.
An expanded Roy H. Park School of Communication, Society, and Enterprise would include communication, business, social sciences and humanities. The college says business programs would remain, rather than be eliminated, and could become easier for students in other disciplines to connect with their studies.
A School of Performing, Visual, and Media Arts would bring music, theatre and visual arts together with cinematic and television arts. The film and television programs would move from their present administrative relationship with the Park school under the proposed model. The names and groupings are working concepts, not approved changes.
The model would end the current standalone School of Humanities and Sciences as an administrative unit, while carrying its humanities, social sciences and natural sciences programs into the three broader schools. Ithaca College says liberal arts would remain part of every student's education, and all existing degree programs would remain initially.
The college also says the proposal is not structured around faculty layoffs. That does not settle every staffing question: administrative leadership and support arrangements would need review, and any eventual curricular changes would go through the appropriate academic approval process.
Costs, leadership and participation
A structure with fewer schools could reduce administrative expenses or duplication, according to the college, but it has not supplied a savings estimate. The amount would depend on the final leadership and support arrangements. The college also cautions that reorganization alone would not solve its enrollment and financial pressures; any benefit would depend on the educational and operational changes it produces.
The proposal does not require immediate changes to campus buildings or students' degree requirements. Any later facilities changes would need separate planning and communication. Existing programs and faculty expertise are the starting point, while later academic offerings could evolve through faculty work and review.
Stein will lead planning with faculty and academic leaders, supported by President La Jerne Terry Cornish and the board. She is assembling an Organizing for Opportunity Transition Team to develop the model and create opportunities for broader campus participation. Faculty are expected to address curriculum, academic rigor, accreditation, workload and how individual programs retain their identity.
The work is starting during a presidential transition and after interim appointments in several leadership roles. The college says beginning now gives an incoming president a foundation of planning while leaving that leader an opportunity to shape the eventual direction. Interim leaders will continue managing their schools during the discussion.
Faculty, students and alumni may weigh refinements or alternatives that meet the board's stated goal of developing a new academic model. The college says the Park school's identity and alumni ties, as well as the visibility of other programs, will need attention if a new organization is adopted.
The next phase is campus discussion and study of academic and operational consequences. A final structure would need board ratification before it could take effect; the college has not announced a date for that decision or an implementation schedule.
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