THE University-wide Department of Social Sciences is set to transfer four disciplines to a number of colleges, to promote specialization and strengthen faculty affiliation.
General psychology will be under the Department of Psychology in the College of Science and will be headed by Claudette Agnes, while socio-anthropology will be transferred to the Department of Sociology of the Faculty of Arts and Letters (Artlets) and will be headed by Josephine Placido.Economics, taxation, and agrarian reform as well as Philippine government and Constitution will also be moved to the Artlets-based departments of Economics and Political Science, respectively.
This means that the departments will be under the respective deans, instead of the vice rector for academic affairs. This setup follows the organizational structure of universities abroad.
It’s possible the social sciences department will soon be abolished after all disciplines are transferred to their respective college-based departments, said Arlene Calara, department head.
“What’s important is to build specific departments focused on the faculty who are specializing in those fields,” Calara said in an interview.Placido said the opening of an Artlets-based sociology department would be a “booster” to academic reputation, adding that the realignment was part of the “internationalization” efforts of the University.
The Varsitarian earlier reported that the departments of philosophy, English, literature and the humanities, history, foreign languages, and social sciences will be under Artlets, while the College of Education will absorb the Filipino department. Offices, however, will remain at the Main Building.
The Academic Senate, the Board of Regents, and the Board of Trustees have approved the realignment scheme.
Calara said the realignment would have a “dry-run” beginning the second semester, while full implementation will take place next academic year. Jerome P. Villanueva
