The College of Education could be transitioned to the “School of Education,” after a proposal was presented at a University Academic Senate meeting Monday.
The proposal was approved by UAS and will now be sent to Acting Provost Sarah Feldner, University President Kimo Ah Yun and the Board of Trustees.
The School of Education would fall under the College of Arts & Sciences. Instead of having their own dean, there would be a director of the school, and the director would report to the dean of the College of Arts & Sciences.
Currently, the College of Education offers undergraduate majors in elementary education and secondary education and educational studies. All three would continue to be offered after the transition.
The following graduate programs would also be transitioned into the school of education: master’s in educational leadership, student affairs in higher education, public service and Ph.D in education.
In December of 2023, when the proposal was still a concept paper, Leigh Van Kieboom, associate dean of the College of Education, gave the following statement to the Marquette Wire about rationale for the change:
“I feel like we’ve been working on this for a long time thinking about our structure, thinking about areas in our programs that are growing and areas like teacher education, it’s in decline across the country. We’ve just been thinking about ways to be more efficient, and then capitalize on the many relationships that we have across campus. We’ve probably been working at it since 2019.”
The choice to transition into the College of Arts & Sciences was intentional, as all undergraduate education majors are required to double major, and Keiboom said 91% of those second majors are in the College of Arts & Sciences.
This would not be a new structure for Marquette’s education programs. From 1971 to 2008, education was a school instead of a college. The school had its own dean at the time, but the students received a bachelor’s degree from the College of Arts & Sciences.
According to the proposal, going back to this organization would align with the Marquette 2031: Securing Our Future Plan’s goal to reduce Marquette’s spending by $31 million by 2031 and reinvest 40% back into the university, but the proposal for the school was in the works before the implementation of any cuts or modifications to programs.
The goal for this academic year was to get the proposal reviewed and approved, then during the 2025-26 academic year, if the proposal is approved, the transition will begin so that by 2026-27 the change can be completed.
This story was written by Sophia Tiedge. She can be reached at sophia.tiedge@marquette.edu.
