Retired engineering dean opposes college merger
By Roy Ockert Jr.
May 16, 2015
Under the restructuring plan now under consideration for Arkansas State University, its College of Engineering would be merged with the College of Agriculture and Technology — again.
That’s right. For the university’s highly rated agriculture and engineering programs, the plan for the future is a plan of the past.
An agricultural engineering program became part of the College of Agriculture in the 1970s, but the programs were separated in 1989, when engineering became a standalone school offering general engineering. It remained that way until the College of Engineering was established in 2000, shortly after ag engineering ceased to exist.
However, for two other periods since then, engineering and agriculture have been headed by the same dean. On one occasion the same dean also headed the College of Sciences and Mathematics.
The latter arrangement ended in 2009, when ASU hired Dr. David Beasley away from North Carolina State University to be dean of the College of Engineering. But Beasley later served for a year as interim dean of agriculture, too.
Combining the two colleges again is part of a proposal that would reduce the number of ASU colleges from nine to six. Three colleges — Fine Arts, Media and Communication, and Humanities and Social Studies — would be merged. All others would remain the same — for now.
Beasley, who retired last July 1 after five years at ASU, is not a fan of the proposed restructuring, to say the least. In an interview last week he argued that the merger would result in a loss of identity for the engineering programs, which in turn could cause some faculty and students to leave.
Beasley said he retired after Dr. Lynita Cooksey, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs and research, made him aware that Chancellor Dr. Tim Hudson wanted a change in leadership for the college. Beasley, who grew up in St. Francis County, said he had disagreed with Hudson on various academic issues.
Nevertheless, Beasley is proud of his 5-year tenure. He cited a growing student enrollment, a 50 percent increase in college faculty, accreditation of all three engineering degree programs and the start of a master of science in engineering program. The number of engineering students climbed by 37 percent between the fall of 2008 and last fall, when the ASU System Factbook shows 377 undergraduates and 31 graduate students.
Over the past four years ASU-Jonesboro’s total enrollment has dropped by about 300 students.
Beasley’s teaching and administrative career began at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. After a short time there, he was hired by Purdue University, then moved to the University of Georgia. His last stop before coming to ASU was NC State, where he spent 18 years, the last seven and a half as a department head in a College of Engineering that had almost 10,000 students.
“I have watched other universities,” he said, “including some of the ones I was at, get involved in these downsizing, resizing, right-sizing — whatever you want to call it — musical chairs ... where they jam oftentimes unrelated academic areas together and expect good things to happen.”
He said he came here to help ASU College of Engineering reach a different level. “We got there, and now we have the fastest growing, most productive college at ASU,” he said. “We were able to get grant funds, and with the support of the previous administration we were able to hire some truly world-class faculty members ... people who would be on anybody’s list to hire.”
The College of Engineering still operates like a professional school, with no departments, but rather with each of its three degree programs led by a faculty member serving as program director.
The bottom line, Beasley insisted, is that the university really won’t save much, if an money with the restructuring. Even though he was ASU’s highest paid academic dean, with an annual salary of about $176,000, he said, “if they jam all these units together, they’re going to have to have a department head or associate dean because someone has to understand them” [the engineering programs].
As it happens, the dean of agriculture and technology, Dr. Timothy Burcham, is an agricultural engineer, but that won’t always be the case.
The restructuring plan is being sold, in part, as a means of breaking down interdepartmental barriers and increasing collaboration among the various programs to meet students’ academic needs for the present and future. But Beasley contends that’s a non-existent problem, at least in regard to the College of Engineering.
“One of the early arguments ... was that it would promote symbiosis, that somehow good things that weren’t happening would happen if we jammed everything together,” he said. “That’s B.S. In my career I have got over $10 million in research money so I’ve had to work with other areas. It’s easy at A-State to find partners.”
As for increasing efficiency, Beasley said the College of Engineering operates five programs — undergraduate degrees in electrical, civil and mechanical engineering and master’s programs in general engineering with a specialization in one of those fields and in engineering management — with fewer than 20 faculty members. “And the programs have in excess of 400 students and are growing at a very fast rate,” he said. “That’s a beautiful trajectory.”
Why go back to a structure that wasn’t as productive?
Roy Ockert is editor emeritus of The Jonesboro Sun. He may be reached by e-mail at royo@suddenlink.net.