Along the same lines, another interviewee noted that structure follows strategy. If BGSU s mission and strategy are redefined not as awarding degrees and promoting disciplines, but as cultivating a competitive community or region in the Knowledge Economy, then its structure should be organized around community or regional or constituent needs. As discussed earlier, this implies that the structure of an economically engaged university facilitates multidisciplinary activities and is flexible enough to accommodate changing needs. Almost without exceptions, US universities organize academic work along disciplinary lines. Departments are organized by discipline, and departments offer degrees.
Departments are the locus of faculty appointment, rank, and tenure, and of space and budget control.
And departments are the biggest impediment to multidisciplinary activities and to flexibility. Like many universities, BGSU has developed some institutes and centers. Population and Society Research Center Reading Center Social Philosophy and Policy Center Statistical Consulting Center. The consultants have not reviewed the structure or focus of these centers and institutes. Although it is likely that the listed centers and institutes for BGSU fall in a wide range of unit types, not all at the same level of structure and presence, perusal of the list does not reveal a strong multidisciplinary focus.