The Department of Psychology and the Department of Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences plan to come together in more ways than just sharing the proposed Mind Brain Behavior Building. By July 2010, the two departments will become one.
The idea has been discussed for quite some time, given the overlap that exists between the two departments. "We've had psychologists on campus in more than one department," said Rajiv Vohra P'07, dean of the faculty.
"We count on related departments being able to interact," Vohra said, but he noted that students aren't always aware that there are courses "very close to their interests" listed in other departments. The current organization isn't as effective as it could be - having one administration supervising all of these courses would prove a "structural advantage," he said.
When the new cognitive sciences building was proposed, administrators decided this would be the "opportunity for aligning intellectual interests with physical space," Vohra said. "It highlighted for (the) administration the benefits of integrated faculty, curriculum, physical space."
"It happened all at the same time," said William Heindel, associate professor of psychology and department chair. This is an "exciting moment" for both departments and an opportunity to "make this area visible," he said.
"We are literally combining two departments," he added, which he said will create an "increase in size and more courses offered across the board."
Students have expressed concern regarding how the merge will impact their specialized areas and "just going from a small department to a large department and how that changes things," said Ana Beth Van Gulick '09, head of the Cognitive Science and Cognitive Neuroscience Department Undergraduate Group.
"There is a certain ethos in the cognitive sciences department, and I don't know if it will be preserved in a larger department," she added.
But both Heindel and William Warren, professor of cognitive and linguistic sciences and department chair, stressed that neither department nor their concentrations will be compromised in the process. "We are building a new entity to preserve and enhance both departments," Warren said.
Individualized attention will not suffer either, they said. Five new faculty positions are being created, which will ultimately improve the faculty-student ratio and create new research opportunities. One new professor has already been hired to start teaching courses in both departments this January, acting as the first "bridge person," Warren said.
Because of the new faculty additions, the two chairs are confident that they will maintain the highly nuanced aspects of both departments, in addition to focusing on new areas. The new department will be "greater than the sum of the two," Heindel said.
The enlarged department will have "the capacity to excel in research, better serve students," Vohra said.
The departments will not formally unite until 2010, but planning is already underway as they begin to rationalize curriculum and reduce overlap.
The departments' concentrations will not change - "they each have different focuses," Warren said, and the re-examination of the curriculum should clarify their emphases.
Even though Brown is smaller than many of its peer institutions, uniting the departments "will make the whole area more competitive," Warren said. "There will be more faculty doing related research, (and) it will be easier to attract the best graduate students," Heindel added.
Heindel also said he thinks more students will concentrate in the department as time goes on.
"These changes are not unique to Brown," Vohra said, noting that psychology and cognitive science are evolving fields. Other institutions are having "similar experiences with reorganization," he said.
"Now is the time to plan and consider its impact," Warren said, emphasizing that it will have a "very important impact on the University, on concentrators, on grad students."
"It's rare that there's this much coordination and growth in a department," Heindel added.
"As long as it's done carefully, we can always benefit from having more faculty and resources," Van Gulick said.
