Departments combine as VCU pushes forward with academic repositioning

Departments combine as VCU pushes forward with academic repositioning

Heciel Nieves Bonilla, Assistant News Editor

The VCU English and Foreign Language departments within the School of World Studies are being merged into a new department with the potential name of the “Department of Language and Literature.” Multiple programs focused on innovation and entrepreneurship will also be integrated into University College, the existing umbrella department for interdisciplinary work.

VCU leaders describe the changes as a push toward administrative efficiency, innovation, market expectations and enrollment concerns. 

A VCU task force convened in 2023 to implement a plan to produce a “more academically attractive and more efficient university.” Its goals included “restructuring” the College of Humanities and Sciences and the merging of University College with the DaVinci Center for product development and the VCU Transformative Learning program into a new, yet-to-be-named college. 

The task force’s final recommendation stated the College of Humanities and Sciences would “remain intact,” but would absorb the Focused Inquiry department from University College. The change came after 14 layoffs of Focused Inquiry staff, despite pleas from students and faculty — including 95% of the faculty senate.

Interim dean Andrew Arroyo described the changes as integral to the identity of VCU in a press release.

“Many universities have programs in interdisciplinary studies, experiential learning or innovation, but it’s rare to see all three combined into one college the way we’ve done at University College,” Arroyo said.

VCU’s interim — and former — provost Beverly Warren described University College changes as part of a focus on “emphasizing modularity, interdisciplinary access and innovation readiness” in an email Arroyo collaborated on. Warren plans to elaborate on this description at a presentation for the Board of Visitors on Sept. 11. 

Warren also described the broader repositioning as shaped by faculty, staff and students. Faculty, according to Warren, were part of a “deeply collaborative” process with the provost’s office to implement the task force’s recommendations.

“Budgetary efficiency is part of the conversation, but it’s not the driver,” Warren said. “This is about faculty-led academic innovation. We’re building structures that allow us to respond nimbly to student needs, job market shifts and emerging technologies. Yes, there are cost savings, but they’re in service of a more agile, inclusive and future-focused university.”

Laura Middlebrooks, an associate professor of foreign language in the School of World Studies, explained that, to their knowledge, the other departments in the school are staying intact. Middlebrooks said it made the most sense organizationally to combine the Foreign Languages department with the other language the school already teaches — English.

“Last year there was some focus group work done, and both foreign language and English faculty met officially for the first time to discuss what the future might look like with joint collaboration,” Middlebrooks said. “And this semester, we have begun to meet formally as a combined group.” 

Faculty and staff have been involved throughout the process to the extent that the “shared governance” structure of university administration will allow, with budget considerations also playing a role in the change, according to Middlebrooks.

“I will certainly recognize that there are some extraordinary budgetary and fiscal pressures,” Middlebrooks said. “It’s going to be more difficult to get funds for faculty and research travel, and that’s just a reality with which we are dealing. It just means the university has to be a very careful steward of its resources, and faculty are also part of that decision process.”

VCU’s chief financial officer Meredith Weiss said a key aim of the university is to make its operations efficient during her remarks at a Board of Visitors meeting on Sept. 4, calling VCU Virginia’s “most efficient institution.”

“We are working very diligently to be efficient and to realign the funds that we have,” Weiss said. “‘What programs do we need to stop, do we need to phase out? What are the programs that we’re rolling out in AI, some of these innovative areas?’”

VCU deputy chief financial officer David Allen said the combination of programs is not a priority of the university, and that cuts tend to come as responses to the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia or student interest.

“I think it’s always been a look of the university to see what programs we offer and how best to optimize that,” Allen said. “The focus was not ‘we want to combine academic programs or eliminate them’ or anything like that, the focus was ‘how do we want to offer things to students?’ Even the programs that have been proposed for phasing out are very few.”

Allen said program creation and removal also depends on career demand, including the increased interest in AI driven fields. 

“So some of it is trying to transition it to what the market wants, what the market expects, not necessarily saying ‘this class doesn’t have student demand so we’re gonna close this class or this individual program,’” Allen said.