As we work through the design stage of the transformation work, we are carefully considering the best way to organize the new university to deliver on its mission. Throughout this process we have tried to let the designs and processes recommended by the teams drive the structure and to avoid a top-down approach. Now that a new president has been hired and we have gotten initial approval to merge the institutions from the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE), we are close to making some decisions about the structure of the new university.
We expect to communicate more in the next several weeks, but it is important to remember that the transformation is a multi-year process. In the short-term, we have committed to NECHE that we will maintain our three separately accredited institutions until July 1st of 2023. Once the transition is complete, we will have a more streamlined and sustainable administrative structure for both the university and the system. In my last update, I shared the Substantive Change Request that was submitted to NECHE. The section on Standard 3 (beginning on page 10) provides a high-level overview of the proposed organization and governance structure, as well as some key milestones. While some of the details continue to evolve, this is the most complete and up-to-date explanation of our plans at this point.