Elizabethtown College is switching to a new academic structure in which departments and programs are grouped together underneath different “Schools.” Rather than have 19 departments, the College will now have six Schools. 

The six schools are Public Service; Sciences; Arts and Humanities; Engineering, Math and Computer Science; Human and Health Professionals; Business; and Continuing and Professional Studies. The schools are thematically grouped together based on similarities in the programs and the potential for collaboration. 

“When you think about what the programs [in the School of Public Service] do and the careers the students enter, a lot of our students are competing for the same jobs and internships,” Dean of the School of Public Service Dr. April Kelly-Woessner said. “The faculty were trained in the same ways, and there are these places of natural overlap that can drive people working and learning together.”

Although this change in structure may seem like a major change, it is not expected to directly impact the day-to-day lives of the students. The main differences in the future will be felt on the administrative and faculty sides of the college. 

“This allows for greater operational efficiencies and removes some of the barriers to collaboration,” Provost and Sr. Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Betty Rider said in an email interview. “It will help our Admissions and Marketing teams present a more streamlined and organized summary of our academic offerings to prospective students.”

Several of the new Deans are looking forward to the opportunity to work with faculty members across different departments. The new structure may make it easier to develop new interdisciplinary majors and minors, such as the possible Masters program in counseling psychology that is in development in the School of Sciences. 

“I’ve been really excited,” Dean of the School of Sciences Dr. Jodi Lancaster said. “I’ve enjoyed getting to know other faculty in a more professional capacity, and to learn about their teaching philosophies, scholarship and thoughts has been really fun.”

The Deans of the new Schools are taking on the roles that department heads used to hold. They will be working to support faculty and provide them with resources to succeed. The Deans are also seeking to grow the programs in their school. 

“These programs have really rich outcomes and people don’t always know about it,” Kelly-Woessner said. “I want to inform more people about the opportunities here at Etown.”

The other benefit of grouping departments and programs into larger schools is it gives students more access to faculty outside of their individual programs. Students will more easily be able to work with faculty outside of their department on honors projects, or to seek support and mentorship from faculty members. 

Currently, the Office of Marketing and Communications is working on creating websites for each of the individual schools that will be unveiled in the future, but in the meantime, people can find more information about the individual schools, including mission statements and included programs, by viewing the course catalog on the College’s website.