MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — On the March episode of “Out of the Blue,” Middle Tennessee State University’s television magazine program, College of Behavioral and Health Sciences Dean Peter Grandjean details a sweeping reorganization that officially takes effect July 1.

Grandjean talks with show host Andrew Oppmann, vice president of marketing and communications, about the changes designed to better align academic programs, strengthen workforce connections and position students for long-term success.

Watch the segment:

“We had one department composed of degree programs that had worked really well together, but those disciplines had evolved such that they were going in divergent directions,” Grandjean said. “We had another department that had over eight different degree programs, and so they were competing for really scarce resources, and these were quite diverse programs, as well.”

Rather than eliminate programs, a collaborative team comprised of administrators and faculty chose to realign them.

“We’re not doing away with any degree programs,” Grandjean said. “What they’ll do is move into separate, smaller departments to be better aligned.”

The first new unit is the Department of Kinesiology and Sports Medicine, bringing together exercise science and physical education for undergraduate degrees, exercise physiology and athletic training for master’s programs, and a doctoral pathway in human performance.

A second new unit, the Department of Health Sciences, will house undergraduate programs in nutrition and food science and speech-language pathology and audiology, with public health offering bachelor’s and master’s degrees.  

The third department, Sport and Hospitality Management, will combine leisure and sport management, tourism and hospitality management, and the master’s program in leisure, sport and tourism.

Several units remain unchanged, including the School of Nursing, and the departments of Psychology, Criminal Justice and Social Work. The Physician Assistant Studies and Fashion Studies, formerly named the Textiles, Merchandising and Design program, will directly report to the dean’s office.

The reorganization also includes strategic moves beyond the college. The Interior Architecture program will join the School of Construction and Concrete Management in the College of Basic and Applied Sciences, while the Human Development and Family Science program will transition to the College of Education.

“We’re thinking about workforce. We’re thinking about career development. We’re thinking about our relationships with our external partners, and we’re really thinking about how do we set up Middle Tennessee State University to serve our students and our citizenry better?” Grandjean noted.

To watch, listen

• “Out of the Blue” is available anytime on the university’s YouTube channel, the True Blue TV channel, Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV.

• It also airs on Murfreesboro cable Channel 9 daily at 6 a.m., 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.; NewsChannel5+ at 6:30 p.m. Sundays; WKRN+ at 7 p.m. Thursdays and noon Sundays; and streamed on the MTSU Jazz Network through WMOT.org at 7 a.m. on the first Sunday of each month; and on other cable outlets in Middle Tennessee, so check local listings.

• It is also available as a podcast on iTunes and Google Play and as individual interview segments on Spotify athttps://spoti.fi/453hxg3.

Watch previous episodes of “Out of the Blue” athttps://mtsunews.com/out-of-the-blue.

— Nancy DeGennaro (Nancy.DeGennaro@mtsu.edu)