Changes apply to academic program leadership, dean and provost structure
BY: TANIA ROBIN
Staff writer
STLCC has announced an academic reorganization of the deans and department chairs at all four campuses. “We were trying to make the structures on campus similar so the students would have a predictable structure to go to if they needed to contact their department chairs,” English Professor Mike Burke, who served on the college’s districtwide committee to determine how to approach the reorganization.
Among the considerations were the drop in enrollment at all four STLCC campuses, said Burke. Enrollment has dropped 30 percent 
since 2011, ultimately reducing the amount of overhead needed for the college.
“We were guided by a couple of principles. First, trying to think of ways to make the campuses look a little more similar. Because we have around 3,000 students who are designated as multicampus which means they have more than one campus. Some students who are online students, may take another class at a different campus,” said Burke.
Meramec Provost Carol Lupardus said that the goal is to rejuvenate the campuses.
“The changes made to Meramec campus, are made in the best interest of Meramec’s future. And for the best interest of our faculty, staff, current and future students,” said Lupardus. “For instance, we didn’t necessarily eliminate programs, we regrouped and collaborated programs together under one division so it’s less confusing for anyone to locate all of the programs we offer. For example: nursing, surgical tech and dental are all under healthcare as one division or department. Instead of having multiple health care categories to select from, you can easily access all of them under one category for all the information,” said Lupardus. Some changes have already taken effect. STLCC presidents were replaced with provosts three years ago.
“Making these types of changes led to reorganizing the campus academic structure to create a better learning atmosphere for our students and teaching atmospheres for faculty,“ said Lupardus. “As Provost, I took on most responsibilities similar to the campus president but my title consisted of many different details.” In addition, the amount of programs and classes available at Meramec were “re-configured so that enrollment and the registration process would be more hassle free for current and new students,” said Burke.
The reorganization went through substantial revisions, especially after faculty and staff input, said Burke. “We heard from roughly 60-70 people at our meeting last year which was a great turnout for this meeting. When they presented the realities of what those kinds of reorganization would do, we as a committee then changed our game plan and came up with a more modest restructuring instead,” said Burke. One example is the Legal Studies program.
“The program is offered at two campuses – Florissant Valley and Meramec – which is taught mainly by part-time faculty,” said Burke
. “The idea was that instead of establishing another overhead structure at another campus we would administer it from here, so that Meramec was the head of the legal studies program instead of having two separate legal studies programs at both campuses.”
Another example of change within a department or division includes the CTE program. Currently the Career and Technical Education program has two department chairs – one at Meramec and
one at Forest Park.
“A bulk of the students are at Forest Park campus and we are trying to have the department chair placed under a dean at Forest Park campus and see how that works. Instead of having a second department chair here at Meramec, we would have a ‘Lead Faculty,’ someone who is head of that department here,” Burke said.
While the reorganization is not yet complete, campus administration continues to monitor results.
“We have to regard this whole thing as experimental. We have to really see if this works or not, and if the campuses really operate in a more efficient fashion and if they will still be able to service students in a way that students haven’t expected us to serve them,” said Burke.
Convenience is also a factor. “Change isn’t easy, but it’s in the best interest of everyone at St. Louis Community College. Everyone hopefully will understand the benefits of this reorganization,” said Burke. “Really, this reorganization is about creating convenience, saving time and making our academic information more accessible to everyone.”
Graphics By Gina Carr
