Students, faculty, and alumni gathered Tuesday night to celebrate a new chapter in Middle Tennessee State University’s (MTSU) work in political and global studies.
The university announced it is merging the existing Political Science and Global Studies departments into one new Political and Global Affairs department at its Spring Alumni Showcase. The departments have had plenty of overlap over the years, sharing many of the same students and faculty and the merger is part of a plan to adapt to changes in the future.
“The changes that we’re making to merge political science, international relations with global studies, human geography, is so that we can continue to thrive,” said Political Science and International Relations Department Chair Dr. Amy Atchison. “What I really am most pleased about is that the university is not in reactive mode, it is planning for its future, and it’s doing so deliberately.”
Colleges across the nation are seeing a decline in enrollment in the post-COVID era and that tumultuous change has resulted in some institutions downsizing or shutting down humanities, liberal arts, and social science departments.
While MTSU hasn’t seen that decline in enrollment, the university is combining these two departments as part of a plan to stay on top of those changes and ensure students can still pursue their passions.
“MTSU’s enrollment is strong. Which is what’s putting us in a good position to serve our students well and continue to do so into the future,” said Atchison. “I am really pleased with our administration. I think that they’re trying to plan for the future and preserve social sciences and humanities, because they know these are good options for our students. They value these majors that may not have as many people in them, but they’re getting good jobs and they’re doing what they love doing.”
One of the programs COVID hit the hardest was the one enabling students to study abroad.
MTSU’s program has been bouncing back and MTSU faculty members hope the merger will make it easier for students to incorporate study abroad into their degrees.
“Global studies has a study abroad component as a requirement and so my hope is that more political science students will study abroad. And so, it makes sense, you think ‘it’s logical,’ international relations students will study abroad, but political scientists also need the benefit of living abroad, of understanding different social contexts and cultural contexts to be more effective in their work. So, I think this is a really good opportunity for there to be a lot of synergies, and a lot of connections that the students get benefits from,” said College of Liberal Arts Dean Dr. Leah T. Lyons.
The announcement of the merger came as a surprise to some students. There were also initially concerns that the merger would mean eliminating some majors, but department administration has stressed that won’t be a concern.
Junior Laney Denton and Senior Alandra McMillan are among those who are excited for the potential opportunities the merger will bring.
“I’m very excited that they decided to bring together the Political Science department and Global (Studies) department and kind of merge culture and politics because I feel like they definitely do go hand and hand together, so I’m very excited to see maybe new classes that come out of it and just the collaboration of the two departments,” said Denton.
“It’s a great department and I think the merger is going to honestly help a lot in getting more students involved because I think it will be more open,” said McMillan.
The merger is also finding support from alumni of both departments who say it’s an important step forward.
“I think it makes sense and I would be curious to see the overlap between who’s taking the international relation classes and also the global studies classes,” said alumnus Patrick Morrison. “I think it’s exciting, it shows growth and I think anytime the university kind of shakes things up, it’s in a path to move forward.”
Some have even called it a full circle moment.
“I think this merger is a really great opportunity for these students to have access to a lot more learning and internship opportunities,” said alumna Whitney Flatt. “For me, to be here today and see the merger of the Global Studies department and the PoliSci department is just a full circle moment for me.”
MTSU plans to complete the merger in mid-May. Atchison will oversee the new department as its chair.
