THE ECONOMICS and sociology departments have been relegated from university-wide to college level in a major reorganization at the Faculty of Arts and Letters (AB) that covered most of its programs.
Effective Aug. 1, the status of the two departments was changed from university-wide to college-level, meaning their courses would no longer be regularly offered to other colleges. A university-wide department services all programs in UST.
The decision to relegate some AB programs from university to college-level status was approved by the Manpower Committee of the Office of the Vice Rector, AB Dean Prof. Melanie Turingan said.
“This was based on the decision of the higher authorities on how they would restructure it. Because what we only wrote or requested was that there would [no longer] be coordinators,” Turingan told The Flame on Monday, Aug. 5.
“The first thing I intend to do is to change the system, but not to downgrade anything or anyone but to just give equal footing to all since it is [unfair] that there is a coordinator and a chair but they do the same thing,” the AB dean said.
Chairpersons are in charge of coordinating with the dean in supervising the courses of their respective disciplines. Chairpersons of university-wide departments “ensure the standardization and implementation of the departmental course offerings within the general education curriculum,” according to the UST General Statutes. Meanwhile, chairpersons of college-wide departments are tasked to oversee the academic aspects of their field “in an advisory or consultative capacity.”
Being a department chair, Turingan said, entails fixed teaching hours where the faculty could coordinate with them efficiently.
Six new departments
The AB restructuring also saw six of its programs, namely, Behavioral Science, Legal Management, Creative Writing, Journalism, Communication and Asian Studies elevated to department level. All of them were previously housed under now-defunct departments.
Turingan said the restructuring was meant to give “equal footing” to all the heads of each department since they handle the programs equally. According to her, the promotion of former program coordinators to chairperson positions seeks to empower academic officials to “work even more.”
“If we look at it, it’s only AB that has been left out. All [the other colleges] have departments already. I guess this restructurement is a good move for AB,” Turingan said.
The now-dissolved Department of Interdisciplinary Studies previously consisted of the Asian Studies, Behavioral Science and Legal Management programs. The Journalism and Communication programs used to belong to the now-defunct Department of Communication and Media Studies, while the Literature department previously housed the Creative Writing program.
Turingan said the appointment to new positions was officially released by the Manpower Committee on July 5. AB is still waiting for the other college-wide chairs to sign the document before the UST Communication Bureau formally announces it to the Thomasian community. F — Trisha Tamio
