Proposed Academic Restructuring

New Structure, Same Mission

The College of St. Catherine is a complex institution — "the nation's largest college for women," as our tagline says, and so much more.

Running parallel to the process of deciding whether to rename ourselves a university has been an equally in-depth examination of the institution’s curricular structure. Under the leadership of Senior Vice President Colleen Hegranes, the academic deans and some members of the faculty have been working on a curricular realignment that aims to achieve these goals:

• Articulate a vision for St. Catherine’s as an integrated institution that reflects our mission.
• Distinguish each of St. Catherine’s disciplinary entities.
• Create greater visibility for the institution’s core communities, such as the women’s college.

The Master Academic Plan, or MAP, as it is known internally, lays out a vision that restructures the institution into three colleges: the College of St. Catherine for women-only undergraduate study; the College of Graduate Studies; and the College of Applied Studies and Continuing Education.

"Currently we have a maze of majors, minors, tracks and concentrations,” Hegranes says. “A number of them lack external visibility in the market. Policies and procedures currently are 'one size fits all' for a very complex system."

The new structure would allow students to apply — to enter the institution’s front door — through any of the three colleges. "That will position our women’s college to remain as strong as it is," Hegranes says. The new structure also would raise visibility for St. Kate's 11 programs of graduate study and allow for innovation outside of traditional academic programs.

Intersecting each of the three colleges would be up to five schools, including St. Catherine’s recently announced School of Health and the School of Social Work. The schools would allow the institution more flexibility to:

• Position some disciplines nationally.
• Integrate disciplines within schools — such as French, Spanish, Latin and classics, and geography, for example.
• Align disciplines with practical applications in the community beyond St. Kate’s.

More information about the proposed Master Academic Plan will be available later this fall.