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Interim President Puts University of Akron Reorganization Plan on Hold

The University of Akron is facing major challenges that interim president John Green says must be addressed.
The University of Akron is facing major challenges that interim president John Green says must be addressed.

The president of the faculty union at the University of Akron is relieved that interim president John Green has put on hold major changes in the organization of several colleges.

He had presented the plan to faculty senate last week.  

Lack of faculty support for UA reorganization plan

The plan called for restructuring two programs Akron is known for—engineering and polymers. But the faculty was concerned with what was missing, according to faculty union president Pamela Schulze, a professor of child and family development.

"There was no evidence or data or real rationale for the really dramatic reorganization that he was proposing," Schulze said. 

Akron is in the middle of a presidential search and Schulze thinks major changes should wait for permanent leadership. In his letter, Green said change can’t wait. Shulze acknowledges that.

"Addressing problems of enrollment and student success and increasing our graduation rate, absolutely we don’t have the luxury of time to do anything else but focus all our energies on that," she said. 

Green laid out goals in the letter that he said if not achieved in six months, would require revisiting the reorganization plan.   Copyright 2019 WKSU. To see more, visit WKSU.