CPGE Organizational Changes

Sent: September 29, 2023

From: Vincent J. Del Casino, Jr., Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs

Dear Colleagues,

I am writing with an update on the organizational structure of College of Professional and Global Education (CPGE) in the Division of Academic Affairs. As many of you know, over the years, CPGE has grown to encompass both academic departments and professional and global education service departments. Last year, I asked a Working Group to come together to review the overall organizational structure of CPGE and make recommendations about how the college should be organized to optimally serve our students and university.

Following on the report/recommendations of the Working Group, I am pleased to announce that all the professional and global education service units currently included in Professional and Global Education (PGE) will move under an Associate Vice Provost for Professional and Continuing Education. Namrata "Nami" Shukla will be named to this position. AVP Shukla will report to Vice Provost Ron Rogers within Academic Innovation and Institutional Effectiveness. The academic departments -- the School of Information and the Department of Applied Data Science -- will remain in the College of Professional and Global Education under an Interim Dean, Mike Meth, who will also continue in his role as Dean of the SJSU King Library. These changes will be in effect October 1, 2023. I want to thank Nami for her leadership of CPGE over the last year.

This is just a first step in the reorganization process, as the academic college, which includes two academic departments, over 3,000 majors by headcount, and nearly 40 full-time equivalent faculty, will need to be renamed. I have tasked the Interim Dean with leading that effort. The Working Group also recommended that Global Education, writ large, be elevated into a separate area. We are going to examine this possibility as well, but, at this time, we will keep that area merged with professional and continuing education until we can better assess the long-term optimal organizational strategy. At the same time, I want to let everyone know that this reorganization does not impact the state-supported budget, and state dollars are not coming from other academic areas to make these changes possible. And, while a college with two departments is somewhat uncommon in the CSU, the reality is that SJSU has long been a leader in information and library science as well as applied data science and this college will help elevate this brand and aid our recruitment efforts of resident CA and non-resident students. A re-named college will further enhance our ability to tell the story about these unique campus strengths.

As with any such change, there are always a lot of questions. I will share what I have shared with everyone in the current CPGE: the work of every department in the current college is vital to the campus and to our strategic plan, including our enrollment efforts. This is not a cost-saving strategy in the face of budget changes. We need to invest in these areas if we are to meet our ambitious growth goals. That investment will have to come from non-state funds as much as possible and when appropriate. In the meantime, the Continuing and Professional Education and Global Education teams will continue to partner with the academic colleges to deliver outstanding degree completion undergraduate education, world-class professional and graduate education, and important programs for international students and study abroad programs to thousands more students each semester.

I want to thank the Working Group, which was co-chaired by Karthika Sasikumar and Sami Monsur and included Alan Wong, Sandy Hirsh, Simon Shim, Ruchi Mehta, Anthony Chow, Ron Rogers, and Sharon Wiley, for their valuable work. They made a number of recommendations but the final decisions outlined above rest with me, and I appreciate having such a robust review to guide those decisions.

As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,
Vin