Panther Portraits 2
New York’s Historical Vote 3
NorthernIowan
the university of northern iowa’s student-produced newspaper since 1892
July 1, 2011
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Volume 107, Issue 58
FRIDAY
Cedar Falls, Iowa
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northern-iowan.org
Two UNI colleges to merge this week wisdom and experience in thinking about the merger issues,” said Haack. “We’ll be working to implement their ideas in the coming year.” Corey Cooling, a sophomore philosophy and physics double major, shared his thoughts on the merger.
By BLAKE FINDLEY Staff Writer
As of Friday, July 1, the University of Northern Iowa’s College of Natural Sciences and College of Humanities and Fine Arts will no longer exist. Instead, UNI will combine the two to form the College of Humanities, Arts and Sciences (CHAS). According to a press release, the consolidation was the result of recommendations made by Executive Vice-President and Provost Gloria Gibson. “The time was right to bring these colleges together with the goal of developing new, integrated programs that will serve the needs of our students and the state,” said Gibson. Joel Haack, the dean of both CNS and CHFA during the 2010-2011 academic year, will serve as the dean of CHAS during the 2011-2012 year as well. Haack expressed his support for the merger. “Many universities have a college of arts and sciences, so most faculty members have taught at or been educated at institutions where the humanities, arts and sciences are in a common college,” commented Haack. Haack continued by pointing out that the merger will provide the faculty and students with opportunities that would
“ Courtesy Photo/NI NEWS SERVICE
Left: Executive Vice-President and Provost Gloria Gibson, whose recommendation led to the merging of UNI’s College of Natural Sciences and College of Humanities and Fine Arts into the College of Humanities, Arts and Sciences (CHAS). Right: Joel Haack, who will serve as the dean of CHAS during the 2011-2012 year
not be possible otherwise. For example, the shared resources of the combined colleges will do more than either college could accomplish individually. Haack also addressed some potential minor problems that may arise and how they will be solved. “There’s certainly differences in the way things were or are done in the two colleges, but both emphasize the learning of the UNI students and working with them on scholarly activities,” said Haack, drawing on his experiences as dean of both colleges during the past academic
year. He believes there will be no major impediments as long as everyone keeps the goals of the university and college in mind. Haack also commented on some possible problems that could occur at the university level. “We will need a change in mindset regarding the distribution of resources to the colleges,” explained Haack. “In the past, we were able to consider all the colleges as roughly the same size when it came to dividing up resources, providing representation on committees in faculty governance, etc. The new
CHAS will teach over 40 percent of the credit hours at UNI and employ over 40 percent of the faculty members.” However, Haack said these challenges have been able to be addressed as they’ve arisen and has no doubt that they will continue to be resolved in the future. “During the course of the last year and a half, a college merger steering committee, chaired by professors Betty DeBerg and Cliff Chancey, led a colleges-wide series of merging and working groups that have shared their
Truly, there will be little impact directly on student in terms of their present major programs. Those are typically departmentally based, so should continue as before. I do think there will be increased opportunities for interand multi-disciplinary programs and courses. Joel Haack Dean of College of Humanities, Arts and Sciences
“I was kind of disappointed that my two majors used to be from separate colleges, but now are from the same college, though the only real difference is how they’d look on my wall, I guess,” said Cooling, the Noehren Hall senator in the Northern Iowa Student Government. “From what I underSee MERGE, page 4
Updates coming to UNI pedestrian bridge Safety concerns to be addressed
By KARI BRAUMANN Editorial Staff
A frequently used pedestrian bridge crossing Hudson Road on the University of Northern Iowa campus will get a face-lift over the next year. The bridge, which connects the Communication Arts Center and Kamerick
Art Building with the UNIDome and McLeod Center, has been the subject of safety concerns recently. “When we get snow and ice on that surface, it gets very slippery. So we’re looking at what we can put on the surface to address that slipperiness, that’s not going to (come) off the first time we shovel it,” said
Dean Shoars, the director of the UNI Physical Plant. “A few years back, we resurfaced the whole thing and it lasted for a short while, but it’s in need of repair again,” said Morris Mikkelsen, associate vice president of facilities planning. Shoars noted that excessive slipperiness is a prob-
lem even when the bridge is simply wet from rain and his department gets “a fair number of complaints” about the condition of the bridge in inclement weather. He said the university is looking to more proactively address accessibility problems across campus for those with physical disabilities.
“I sit on the coordinating committee for disability accommodations, so everybody helps me get perspective of what the issues are,” Shoars said. “We try to work really hard to get input and (the committee) has been a great organization to channel some input See BRIDGE, page 4