Four of the five faculty committees that College Dean Robin Forman created in light of the September 2012 department changes have released their reports.
Forman tasked the five faculty committees to develop a multi-year plan focusing on: the study of contemporary china, digital studies and new media, interdisciplinary scholarship and teaching, neuroscience and the undergraduate science experience. Some of these areas were mentioned in Forman’s email announcement of the department closures in September 2012.
The department changes included eliminating the Journalism program, the Visual Arts department and the Educational Studies division, suspending admissions to the Economics and Spanish graduate programs and downsizing the Institute for Liberal Arts.
Many of the affected departments and programs have begun phasing out.
The undergraduate science experience report has yet to be released.
Other faculty task force committee reports include a process review report released in January that concluded that College Dean Robin Forman did not violate College bylaws in the department reallocation process. These reports and more can be found online.
Forman said he did not give the committees firm deadlines for the reports.
“It was much more important to get the right answer than to do it quickly,” Forman said.
He added that years of conversations with faculty members led to the chosen focus areas of the committees.
“I couldn’t imagine a future of Emory College without the investment in these areas,” he said.
Forman asked the committees to provide a “compelling story about why they are excited about this work” as well as guidance in how Emory should reinvest and reallocate funds.
“The reports are exactly what I was looking for,” he said, adding that the committee process works toward providing a collective vision for Emory’s growth areas, rather than isolated and disconnected progressions.
“There is never going to be a day when we will say ‘Mission accomplished,'” he said. “There is never going to be a day where we check off a box and say ‘New Media. We’ve done that.'”
– By Karishma Mehrotra
Updated on April 26, 2014 at 5:07 p.m. An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that the Russian Language Program was eliminated as part of the department changes. No such program exists, as Russian culture and language courses fall under REALC. Furthermore, Russian was never named in any announcements relating to the department changes announced in September 2012. At this time, Emory has decided to not renew the position of the only lecturer who taught Russian language. Additionally, the Wheel incorrectly reported that the Spanish and Economics graduate programs and the Institute for Liberal Arts (ILA) were being eliminated. The article should have stated that ILA’s Ph.D. program has been suspended and now correctly reads that the ILA will be downsized and that admissions to the Spanish and Economics graduate programs have been suspended.
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