Dear students, faculty and staff,
I am writing to let you know that the university administration is currently considering some changes to better align disciplines and professions within our colleges in order to foster collaboration and minimize fragmentation; solidify our expertise in the arts, humanities, sciences, and social sciences as well as the professions; and to infuse the modern land-grant mission of engagement throughout the university. Toward that end, there will some changes in the configurations and names of our colleges and schools and in the reporting lines of several academic units on campus. These changes are the result of extensive study and evaluation by the administration and several top faculty members at LSU.
I want to assure our students that these changes will not affect their degree programs or their progress toward graduation. Instead, the changes will help to strengthen academics at LSU and will harmonize our organization with the national Flagship Agenda to attain academic excellence in a time of performance accountability and fiscal constraint. I also want to let you know that these potential changes have been in the works for quite some time and are not a reaction to possible budget cuts.
Although you may begin hearing rumors about these changes, I would like to stress that nothing is official at this time. A proposal for the changes has recently gone before the University Planning Council and I am now awaiting feedback from that prestigious group of top faculty. In addition, I am speaking with other LSU faculty groups and with several deans to hear their feedback and ideas regarding these plans. As soon as the details of the changes become official, I will share those with all of you. But for now, I just wanted to alert you that these changes are being discussed and assure you that the goal is to strengthen and improve LSU and to continue to make it the outstanding university that the people of Louisiana deserve.
Sincerely,
Astrid Merget
LSU Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor
