On Wednesday, the Faculty Senate voted 30 to 3 in favor of the proposal to restructure the College of Arts and Sciences into three distinct colleges. The vote signals strong support for enabling those programs to respond more effectively to new opportunities and challenges through the new structure.

“We are modernizing our academic structures to meet the demands of today’s world,” said University Provost Stephen Director. “The Faculty Senate’s concurrence is an important milestone. It means that, as Northeastern has always done, the University is innovating and changing with the times.”

Under the plan—developed following10 months of study and discussion—the College of Arts and Sciences will be restructured into a College of Science, a College of Social Sciences and Humanities, and a College of Arts, Media and Design. The College of Criminal Justice will become a school within the College of Social Sciences and Humanities.

“It was important for the Faculty Senate to vote on this, and it was important that the senate supported it,” said Senate Agenda Committee chair Steven Morrison, chair and professor in the economics department. “I’m looking forward to moving ahead with the restructuring process.”

The University’s goal is to complete the reorganization by July 1, 2010.

Director noted that the college restructuring would present a stronger approach as Northeasternmoves into a hybrid management and budgeting system. The new structures, he said, will “better align academic departments that share educational and research goals and approaches, giving them more power to advocate for resources and project a clearer identity to the outside world.”

The proposed realignment of the academic disciplines includes the following:

• In the College of Science: the departments of Biology, Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Earth and Environmental Science, Mathematics, Physics, Psychology; and interdisciplinary programs in Behavioral Neuroscience, Biochemistry, and Environmental Studies.

• In the College of Arts, Media and Design: the School of Architecture and the School of Journalism; the departments of Art + Design, Music, and Theatre; and interdisciplinary programs in Interactive Media and Cinema Studies.

• In the College of Social Science and Humanities: the departments of African American Studies, American Sign Language, Economics, English, History, Languages, Literatures and Cultures, Philosophy and Religion, Political Science, and Sociology and Anthropology; the School of Criminal Justice and the School of Public Policy And Urban Affairs; and interdisciplinary programs In Human Services, International Affairs, Law, Policy and Society, and Linguistics.

This marks the third college or school restructuring at Northeastern in the past twelve years. In 1997, the College of Nursing was integrated as a school into the Bouvé College of Health Sciences. One year ago, the School of Technological Entrepreneurship was integrated into the College of Business Administration.

To learn more about the restructuring of the College of Arts and Sciences, please visit: http://www.northeastern.edu/collegestructure/pdfs/FAQ.pdf