Drexel University is consolidating schools and asking several deans to step down

Drexel University has asked several deans to step down as part of a consolidation of two colleges and one of its schools into a new entity, according to multiple sources.

The move comes amid a budget crunch and as the West Philadelphia university prepares to move from a quarter system to a semester system, which is part of a larger academic restructuring.

No timeline has been provided on when the changes will take effect.

Affected are the College of Engineering and the College of Computing and Informatics, as well as the School of Biomedical Engineering, Science, and Health Systems.

“We stand at a defining moment in Drexel’s history when we must boldly take steps to forge the university’s future,” Paul E. Jensen, Drexel provost, said in a message to the university community Wednesday. “Paramount to our future is our ability to evolve from the ‘comprehensive’ research university we have grown into over the last 25 years into the ‘comprehensively integrated’ powerhouse we have the opportunity to become.”

Sharon L. Walker, dean of engineering, discussed the changes during a call with her faculty and staff Tuesday. The dean of the School of Biomedical Engineering, Sciences, and Health Systems will retain his leadership role but have a different title. The school will be embedded within the newly created college but retain its identity, the university said. The deans affected did not return emails requesting comment.

It was not clear whether there would be faculty or staff cuts as part of the academic moves.

Drexel also said that its School of Education would be merged into its College of Arts and Sciences, a move that is already underway.

Other colleges in the region have made similar changes as student enrollment falls and competition increases. La Salle University announced earlier this year that some academic departments within its schools of arts and sciences, business, and nursing and health care would be combined.

The move comes as Drexel president John A. Fry is preparing to leave the school after 14 years and become president of Temple University. He leaves Drexel on Sept. 30 and starts at Temple on Nov. 1.

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Drexel’s move to a semester system is expected to occur over the next three years. The university’s signature co-op program will stay intact.

“Students will retain their ability to take up to three, six-month co-ops, and the process will be structured to maintain students’ expected time to graduation,” Jensen said in the memo.

But he acknowledged that the restructuring would be challenging and said he would be seeking the faculty senate’s approval for the work. Faculty senate chair Kevin G. Owens, an associate professor of chemistry, did not respond to an email for comment.

“Changes of this magnitude understandably bring a range of emotions and questions, and they will impact each member of our University community in different ways,” Jensen wrote.

In an interview last month, Fry and interim president Denis P. O’Brien acknowledged budget challenges ahead.

“Higher education is somewhat challenged now,” O’Brien said at the time, pointing to recent college closures locally, including University of the Arts and Cabrini University. “Drexel is going to have some of the same challenges. And it’s going to have some financial challenges that we’re going to have to really work through to make sure our revenue structure and cost structure are in the right place.”

Enrollment stood at 21,700 last school year, down 10% from 2017. Drexel has not yet released its enrollment numbers for this fall. With a quarter system, classes are not scheduled to start until Sept. 23. Fry acknowledged enrollment challenges this year, given ongoing problems nationally with federal financial aid forms.

Drexel also has faced a reduction in net tuition revenue. In 2023, it stood at $610 million — $17 million less than it was in 2015. Fry said last month that medical malpractice settlements also were a strain.

» READ MORE: La Salle University’s enrollment dropped 28% since 2019. What is the school doing to cope?

“Because we were involved at Hahnemann Hospital, those are trailing lawsuits,” he said at the time. “They follow us to this very day. … Some of these cases are over 10 years old.”

Hahnemann was the teaching hospital for Drexel’s School of Medicine. It closed in 2019.

Fry said in the August interview that Drexel finished fiscal year 2023 with a positive operating margin, but he declined to release results for this year, explaining that the numbers were in auditing and would not be available until October.