Eastern Michigan University’s College of Arts and Sciences is expected to combine its 18 unique departments into only eight at the start of 2027.
The reorganization, which has been in the planning stages for four years, will redistribute funding currently used to pay for 18 different department heads back into the program. According to Carol Bishop Mills, who has served as the CAS dean for seven months, the change will bring more opportunities to students.
Alongside this, according to Mills, the proposed restructuring doesn't eliminate or combine individual areas. As of now, the College of Arts and Sciences is made up of 18 individual departments and schools, with an administrator at the head of each. Under the new structure, CAS would instead be made up of eight departments with eight administrators. However, no individual majors are set to be removed from the college.
"People are talking about consolidating, but what we're really doing is eliminating these administrators that are very expensive," Mills said. "We can take that money and put it back into student success or staff lines to get the work done that we need done. Really, the whole thing was designed around enhancing the student experience, and showing students all the ways that the areas intersect."
With the number of individual departments decreasing, majors that previously may not have connected could now fall under the same department, with students and staff encouraged to explore how some majors may relate to one another.
"They will have one actual administrator who's going to be responsible for saying, hey, if a student is majoring in DMCJ, because that isn't going away, are there ways that we can offer ways to show students how they can collaborate with people in English, or collaborate with people in world languages, and can it open up opportunities," Mills said.
With the additional funding, the college also plans to fund more events like the Student Media Day, which took place in the fall 2025 semester and offered career development advice to media and journalism-focused students.
Alongside the restructuring and added funding, the change will also promote the eighth new department, which will be represented by interdisciplinary studies and will explore new options for pre-packaged double majors for students.
"What are some of the degrees that we don't even have yet in the university that we should have ... and what are the ways that schools can work together," Mills said. "Could we package the sciences with the art majors ... they would be responsible for looking and seeing what would be the best options to help interdisciplinary thrive."
Students can expect new major options to start emerging once the restructure has taken place. Currently, the earliest date for the change is Jan. 1, 2027.
While the 18 administrator positions will be reduced to eight, all of the administrators will still have the right to return to faculty since they are all tenured. Since the schools are newly formed, interim positions will also be opening, and all faculty members within a department will be welcome to apply for those.
"Absolutely nobody in this reorganization is losing a job. Nobody," Mills said. "The [administrators] may come out with a different title, and there are faculty members that may apply to be a director ... the good thing is that once you go into administration, you always have rights to return to faculty."
The reorganization is also looking to eliminate occurrences where key classes are cancelled due to a loss of a staff member or low enrollment. With fewer administrators and less financial strain on the college, the CAS hopes to be able to run more smaller classes to ensure students can graduate in an efficient manner.
Currently, the estimate for how much money will be added to the college's funding due to the restructure is around $500,000. As of now, the college has drafted a proposal for what majors will fall under which newly formed departments, as well as placeholder names. Due to EMU's status as a unionized university, decisions like the restructuring cannot be made without faculty input. Faculty within the CAS have until mid-March to submit their input regarding the restructuring.
"The faculty get a chance to really think about what they want that identity to be and how they [fit] those pieces within their school," Mills said.
According to Mills, all details regarding the restructuring are still subject to change.
Another change that students can expect is the new placement of the College of Arts and Sciences Advising Center. Currently, it's located in Room 120 in the Student Center. The CAS hopes to soon move its location to Pray-Harrold.
"I understand why people are nervous; change is hard," Mills said. "Change is never easy, but I think the one place where we are all united is we want progress. We know we are capable of putting out something that rivals every single institution out there, and we just need to figure out how to best showcase that. I think that in this reorganization, as faculty start really collaborating and working together and crossing some of these boundaries and silos, and we stop thinking of ourselves as only being in one area and holding tight to that area, we can start to think a lot more generally and openly about how all of us contribute to giving the best possible education and experience to students."
