March 19, 2014 - The Laurentian University Senate approved a new Faculty structure, re-organizing and aligning many of the University’s schools and departments.
The existing Faculty of Professional Schools will be replaced by a Faculty of Health and a Faculty of Education. The existing Faculty of Science and Engineering will be renamed the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Architecture. The Faculty of Social Sciences and Faculty of Humanities will be merged into a Faculty of Arts. The School of Graduate Studies becomes a Faculty of Graduate Studies.
“This re-alignment of some of our academic programs will help to promote interdisciplinary studies, and the development of new programs and new program options in the future,” said Vice-President, Academic and Provost, Dr. Robert Kerr.
The creation of a Faculty of Health is one of the outcomes identified in the University’s 2012-2017 Strategic Plan, which called for professional health programs to be united into one Faculty to position Laurentian as a leader in inter-professional health education and research. Today’s decisions followed extensive consultations within the University community since early 2012.
The new Faculty of Health will include the School of Human Kinetics, the School of Indigenous Relations, the School of Nursing, the School of Rural and Northern Health, the School of Social Work, the Midwifery program, the Orthophonie program (Speech Pathology in French) and Huntington University’s Department of Gerontology.
The renamed Faculty of Science, Engineering and Architecture will feature the departments of Biology, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Earth Sciences, Forensic Science, Mathematics and Computer Science, Physics, the Bharti School of Engineering endowed in October 2011, the new School of Architecture which welcomed its charter class of 70 students in September 2013 and the new School of Environment created earlier this year.
The new Faculty of Education will feature the English School of Education and the École des sciences de l’éducation.
The new Faculty of Arts will feature the departments of Economics, English, Études françaises, Geography, History, Law and Justice, Modern Languages and Literatures, Music, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology and Sociology, the new School of Northern and Community Studies, the M.A. program in Interdisciplinary Humanities, the PhD program in Human Studies as well as most departments from Laurentian’s federated and affiliated universities (Classical Studies, Communication publique, Communication Studies, Folklore et ethnologie, Indigenous Studies, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Theatre Arts, Women’s Studies).
The new Faculty of Graduate Studies reflects the growing importance of the University’s 38 master’s and PhD programs. Applications to graduate programs are up 60% for Fall 2014. Two new master’s programs are being introduced this fall: a M.A. in Indigenous Relations and a Maîtrise en sciences infirmières (M.Sc. Nursing in French).
No changes have been made to the Faculty of Management, the Faculty of Medicine (Northern Ontario School of Medicine) and the Goodman School of Mines.
The Faculty of Management will continue to feature the School of Commerce and Administration and the School of Sports Administration.
The Faculty of Medicine (Northern Ontario School of Medicine) continues to offer the undergraduate medical education program, postgraduate residency programs, continuing education and professional development, and interprofessional education programs.
The Goodman School of Mines launched in 2013 aims at expanding interdisciplinary majors and minors to enhance the skills of future professionals in mineral exploration and mining, and drive the creation of world-class executive programs in the five key areas of the mining cycle: from mineral exploration to project feasibility, mine development, mine closure and monitoring.