ORGANIZING THE FACULTY WITHIN A COLLEGE 99 It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory. —W. Edwards Deming Understanding and Implementing Mandated Reorganizations 7 U nexpectedly, the college president calls and says that she would like to meet with you, the provost, and another dean. At the meeting, you learn the pres- ident wants to merge your college with the other college; the provost nods in agreement. The president leaves it up to you and the dean of the other college to “work out the details” and calls out as you leave: “The new college needs to be in place in six months!” If you are thinking: “This scenario would never happen!” or, “This kind of change is impossible to accomplish in that time frame,” you would be wrong. Mandates from the campus executive office to reshuffle academic colleges are more common than you might think. And such requests appear to be on the rise. Many of your decanal colleagues who have experienced this process were willing to share their tales with us for this book. This chapter describes situations where campus executives decide to split or to combine colleges, and where governing bodies split or combine entire campuses. Relevance to one or more of the Four Frames is noted in brackets. The reader will learn both good practices and explore missteps taken by deans in such situations. Even if you are fortunate enough to serve in a college that can determine its own organizational structure, after reading this chapter you will be better prepared to mentor or empathize with a decanal colleague whose college’s organizational struc- ture was selected for them. Is a Unified College of Arts and Sciences the Only Way to Go? AsdiscussedinChapter1,approximatelytwo-thirdsofthe500+CCASmembercolleges and universities organize their Arts and Sciences departments in a single college; the remaining third are organized under two or more colleges. However, just because most colleges are organized as a “combined unit” does not indicate that it is optimal.