Two departments - 4-H, FCS - to merge on July 1
The departments of 4-H Youth Development and Family and Consumer Sciences will become one department within N.C. State's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences on July 1.
The merger was announced in February by Dr. Jon Ort, director of North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service. Dr. Marshall Stewart, head of 4-H Youth Development, and Dr. Sandy Zaslow, head of Family and Consumer Sciences, announced the change to their staffs that morning.
Stewart and Zaslow said their faculty and staff members reacted well to the news. Stewart will head the new department, which will retain both department names. Zaslow, who also announced on Feb. 16 her plans to retire from the university in October, will serve as Extension's associate director of family and youth programs. When she retires, the title will be added to the title of department head and state program leader for the combined department.
"We began strategic dialogue about the future of CALS departments at the dean's retreat in October 2005," Ort said in his announcement to Extension. "When Dr. Sandy Zaslow notified me of her retirement this fall, it made sense strategically to think about how we might move ahead with bringing these two departments under one administrative umbrella."
Stewart read Ort's prepared statement aloud to his faculty and staff. "They were positive," he said. "This had been in some people's minds for a number years and so seeing it was not a total surprise."
Zaslow and Stewart praised Ort and Dean Johnny Wynne for their efforts to move the merger along and address concerns that employees would likely have, including leadership, department name and titles. Employees of both departments will retain their rank and titles. Both disciplines will also continue to have their distinct identities on campus and in county centers.
Zaslow said the merger news, coupled with the news of her retirement, came as a double surprise for campus and field faculty and staffs. She told them that "when they wake up on July 2, their world will seem very much like it was on July 1 - and that was the intent of both department heads."
Both programs have traditionally shared some programming initiatives. The Expanded Foods and Nutrition Education Program includes youth and adult components and has faculty in both the 4-H and FCS departments. With growing concern over the issue of child overweight/obesity, the two departments have discussed collaborating on the issue, bringing together their strengths in youth programming and nutrition education.
"This puts Extension, the College and the university in the strongest position to address families and youth," Stewart said. "Statewide, no one has the network of paid staff and volunteers focused on these issues that Extension has."
- Natalie Hampton
The merger was announced in February by Dr. Jon Ort, director of North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service. Dr. Marshall Stewart, head of 4-H Youth Development, and Dr. Sandy Zaslow, head of Family and Consumer Sciences, announced the change to their staffs that morning.
Stewart and Zaslow said their faculty and staff members reacted well to the news. Stewart will head the new department, which will retain both department names. Zaslow, who also announced on Feb. 16 her plans to retire from the university in October, will serve as Extension's associate director of family and youth programs. When she retires, the title will be added to the title of department head and state program leader for the combined department.
"We began strategic dialogue about the future of CALS departments at the dean's retreat in October 2005," Ort said in his announcement to Extension. "When Dr. Sandy Zaslow notified me of her retirement this fall, it made sense strategically to think about how we might move ahead with bringing these two departments under one administrative umbrella."
Stewart read Ort's prepared statement aloud to his faculty and staff. "They were positive," he said. "This had been in some people's minds for a number years and so seeing it was not a total surprise."
Zaslow and Stewart praised Ort and Dean Johnny Wynne for their efforts to move the merger along and address concerns that employees would likely have, including leadership, department name and titles. Employees of both departments will retain their rank and titles. Both disciplines will also continue to have their distinct identities on campus and in county centers.
Zaslow said the merger news, coupled with the news of her retirement, came as a double surprise for campus and field faculty and staffs. She told them that "when they wake up on July 2, their world will seem very much like it was on July 1 - and that was the intent of both department heads."
Both programs have traditionally shared some programming initiatives. The Expanded Foods and Nutrition Education Program includes youth and adult components and has faculty in both the 4-H and FCS departments. With growing concern over the issue of child overweight/obesity, the two departments have discussed collaborating on the issue, bringing together their strengths in youth programming and nutrition education.
"This puts Extension, the College and the university in the strongest position to address families and youth," Stewart said. "Statewide, no one has the network of paid staff and volunteers focused on these issues that Extension has."
- Natalie Hampton