According to a recent email sent within the past 2 hours to students in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Kathryn Boor, who became the new dean of the school this past August, has decided to begin the slow elimination of Cornell’s education department in the interest of budget preservation. This is apparently the result of, in Boor’s own words, “several years of discussion”, likely beginning with Cornell’s financial crisis. Rather than go into all of the other details myself, here is the actual email I received:
| Dear CALS Community, |
| It has been little more than three months since I assumed the position of Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. In this short time, I have had multiple opportunities to celebrate the excellence that defines CALS, along with the need to make some challenging decisions. Today, I am writing you about the latter. |
| After a thorough review of the options, I have made the very difficult decision to close the Department of Education in a planned phase-out. This decision is made after several years of discussion regarding the future of the department. |
| Over the course of the next few years, faculty members in the department will be transitioned to other academic homes closely aligned with their areas of academic expertise while staff will be relocated to other positions. All current students, graduate and undergraduate, will be able to finish their degree programs as planned. We do not expect layoffs from this move. |
| Senior Associate Dean Max Pfeffer is handling the department phase-out, which is part of the college’s ongoing strategic effort as laid out in Reimagining CALS. The visionary plan, which was developed with extensive faculty and staff input, calls for the college to target resources in core areas of academic strength and leadership. A key part of the strategy envisions us streamlining from 26 departments down to a more nimble, manageable size. Over the summer, we merged eight sister departments on our Geneva and Ithaca campuses into four, kicking off our college’s strategic reorganization. |
| Today’s announcement continues our college’s critical restructuring. In coming months, Max will be working with individual faculty to make decisions about their transfers to new departments. The departments that eventually become homes to the education faculty will be strengthened by their presence. Max will also seek department input about the future of the graduate program and important extension programming. |
| We are committed to retaining departmental programs that have historically been an important component of our land grant college’s educational offerings. We are actively exploring alternative ways to provide STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and agricultural science teacher accreditation opportunities for Cornell students by partnering with sister SUNY institutions. We also remain committed to providing opportunities for students to obtain BS degrees in agricultural science, a popular program, particularly with double majors in education. Many students enter this program through articulation agreements with SUNY agriculture and technical colleges. |
| The economic reality is such that we will need to continue to make difficult and sometimes unpopular decisions in coming years. Still, we have a bright future ahead of us. The college is a world leader and we will ensure it remains so while building capacity to meet our long-range goals. Recent developments — including the university’s new faculty hiring initiative, the naming of the Dyson School, the realignments of some CALS departments into stronger, collaborative units – are exciting and inspiring events. |
| I believe the decision to close the Department of Education, though made with regret, will help to position the college for the future. |
Sincerely, Kathryn J. Boor, PhD The Ronald P. Lynch Dean |
More on this to come.
