05/20/2021
By Joseph Hartman

I’m writing to update you on some administrative changes UMass Lowell is making impacting several of our colleges and also to share some background on the university’s ongoing efforts to further strengthen programs and reduce administrative costs.

As you may know, College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Dean Luis Falcon has also been serving as interim dean of the College of Education since January. Moving forward, Education will remain a part of FAHSS, now as a school. This will further enhance current collaborations with Psychology, Music and Criminal Justice, while also reducing administrative costs.

The position of Dean of the Solomont School of Nursing position has been vacant for nearly a year and will not be filled. The Chair of Nursing will continue to report directly to the Dean of the Zuckerberg College of Health Sciences, as has been the case since last June.

Further, it is our plan for faculty leaders of the Schools of Education, Criminology and Justice Studies, and the Solomont School of Nursing to be retitled as school directors, subject to approval by the Faculty Union, to differentiate Departments and Schools within Colleges. The Manning School of Business will be an exception and continue to be led by a dean, consistent with the naming conventions of business schools across the nation.

These moves in Education and Nursing are aimed at avoiding duplicative academic administrative structures, such as a single Chair or School Director reporting to a single Dean or a Dean reporting to a Dean. The new structural framework comes from a year of analysis and discussions, and I look forward to continued collaboration and conversation as we work to implement these changes.

These moves are consistent with a UMass efficiency review underway across the system’s campuses of all academic programs. Furthermore, these moves in academic administration are in line with recent non-academic administrative changes aimed at increasing synergy and avoiding redundancy. Examples include combining (1) the Vice Chancellor positions for Academic Affairs and Student Affairs and (2) the Vice Chancellor of Finance and Operations and Associate Vice Chancellor of Financial Services positions.

UMass Lowell remains committed to streamlining the university administration and redirecting resources to fund increases in financial aid, academic support, mental health and other student support services which most directly impact students.