In an effort to increase student enrollment and program efficiency, Binghamton University’s Graduate School of Education (GSE) will be merging with the College of Community and Public Affairs (CCPA).

The school will still be titled the College of Community and Public Affairs, and the GSE will become a department, the department of education, within CCPA.

The idea to explore combining these schools occurred among administrators approximately nine months ago, but the official decision was made on Tuesday, Feb. 21. The faculty senate voted unanimously to support the merger of these two schools, and Laura Bronstein, dean of CCPA, said that the GSE and CCPA have many resources they could potentially be sharing.

“There are lots of natural synergies between the Graduate School of Education and CCPA,” Bronstein said. “The hope is that by being together we can actually maximize those synergies and do better in terms of offering interdisciplinary opportunities for our students.”

Bronstein expressed interest in physically moving the GSE to the University Downtown Center (UDC), but said that this is more of a long-term plan due to limited space at the UDC.

“I think change is always both exciting and challenging,” Bronstein said. “I don’t think this will be an exception. I think it is a good move, but there are going to be details that need to be worked out and some of those will be challenging.”

Because both schools voted in support of the merger, Bronstein said she believes the faculty and staff involved will generally approach the situation with a positive attitude. Administrators are beginning to plan for the integration of the schools, but the project will officially begin on July 1 of this year. Caroline Millen, assistant to the dean of GSE, elaborated on the reasons behind the merger.

“Some of our faculty and some of CCPA’s faculty are already working together on community schools’ projects, so I think the hope is that there will be more of that interdisciplinary collaboration,” Millen said. “We have put strong leaders in place, and that is what is going to be key here to solving the potential issues.”

The GSE and CCPA union has implications for current and future students pursuing degrees in public service. Reginald Gardner, a second-year graduate student in CCPA, said he supports the merger and thinks faculty will benefit from the change.

“I greatly support the merger of GSE and CCPA,” Gardner said. “I think that what the departments have in common is their focus on helping professions. It is especially valuable to have teachers in the same building as public managers and nonprofit professionals, as well as student affairs professionals and human development students.”

He also stated that the University is working diligently to make the UDC more accommodating for students who drive back and forth.

“Academically and socially, there will likely be a positive impact on students in undergraduate and graduate programs at the [University] Downtown Center,” Gardner said. “I hope to see collaborative efforts between students and organizations, as well as with community members [to] bear amazing results.”