BYU TAKES SCISSORS TO TEXTILES

One Brigham Young University department is being eliminated and three others are being renamed or reorganized, the university announced Tuesday.

The actions are the first university-wide changes the LDS Church's Board of Trustees have taken following a BYU self-study released almost one year ago.The department of clothing and textiles is being eliminated.

The Marriott School of Management will consolidate six departments into four larger units: the business management department, the public management department, the organizational leadership and strategy department and the School of Accountancy and Information Systems.

The department of music in the College of Fine Arts and Communications will become the School of Music.

The College of Education is being reorganized as the David O. McKay School of Education.

Academic Vice President Alan L. Wilkins said these are the first decisions to come from the board following the self-study. However, much of what was recommended in the study, which suggested a number of changes in various university departments, has already been implemented by department chairs and professors, said Wilkins.

"These decisions represent two years of careful self-analysis by departments, colleges, the Self Study/Strategic Planning Committee and the administration," said Wilkins.

Students with declared majors in clothing and textiles will have time to finish getting their degrees, said officials, with the phase-out to take place over the next several years. The six full-time faculty members will be reassigned within the university if they wish. Resources freed up will be channeled back into improving the programs in home management and women's advisement.

"While the department has done commendable work with limited resources, the university desires to focus more specifically now on home management, women's advisement and minors for women," Wilkins said.

Department Chair Charlene Lind said the faculty members are saddened to see the department eliminated but will work hard to see student's programs within the department are finished satisfactorily.

K. Fred Skousen, dean of the Marriott School of Management, said he and his faculty initiated the pending changes affecting the business program as a result of their own self-diagnosis.

The new David O. McKay School of Education will have five departments, as did the old college, but they will be reorganized into the department of teacher education, the department of counseling and special education, the department of audiology and speech/language pathology, the department of educational leadership and foundations and the department of instructional psychology and technology.

In addition, the new school will include a center for improving teacher education. The Early Childhood/Preschool program will move from the department of family sciences to the School of Education.