Three schools from the College of Fine and Professional Arts will combine with three departments from the College and Graduate School of Education on July 1.

The New College and Graduate School of Education, Health and Human Services will integrate the Fine and Professional Arts schools of Exercise, Leisure and Sport; Family and Consumer Studies; and Speech Pathology and Audiology with the Education departments of Adult Counseling, Health and Vocational Education; Educational Foundations and Special Services; and Teaching, Leadership and Curriculum Studies.

The faculty and administration are working to make the transition as seamless as possible, Education Dean David England said. In the first year of the transition, changes will only be made in administration and management.

There will be no curriculum changes. Student advising and student records will remain in place until August 2006. All offices and departments will remain in their current buildings.

“Students won’t notice many changes when they come back in the fall,” said Tim Chandler, interim dean of Fine and Professional Arts. “We want to move this process along gently over the course of time, so we can keep students fully informed.”

The goal of the new department is to integrate health education and traditional education, England said.

“It is in the public interest for health education to be emphasized,” he said. “There is a need for more education on sexual health and more emphasis on the importance of exercise.”

The creation of the new school was a natural process, Chandler said.

“It seems like a natural fit because there was so much cooperation between the schools,” he said. “The autism program in Speech Path and Special Education have always worked together across department lines. Now the programs will have a chance to work even more closely together.”

The original proposal for the new college was made in November 2004, and approval for the new college moved quickly through administrative channels, England said.

“This process moved along very rapidly for higher education,” England said. “We made significant progress very quickly, and we had support at every level. We received some good guiding counsel and advice that will help this very significant change be implemented.”

Contact on campus reporter Amanda Garrett at [email protected].