Since the publication of this article, Jeff Hennessy has released a second draft of their restructuring proposal. This new draft contains several changes which make some of the information in this document outdated.

On Monday, April 6, 2026, Jeff Hennessy (President and Vice-Chancellor) and Ashlee Cunsolo (Provost and Vice President Academic) released an email to the Acadia community regarding proposed changes to how academic programs are structured. In this email, two documents were attached: the first being an introductory letter, titled ‘Dear Acadia Community,’ and the second being the draft proposal, titled ‘(Re)Building Acadia Strategic Academic Restructuring.’ The administration requested that members of the Acadia Community read these documents, as they hope to receive feedback and ideas as the proposal evolves.

Although I strongly recommend that you read these documents yourself, I will provide a breakdown of what I took away from these documents and some potential speculation as to what some of this means. I’ve done my best to clearly mark personal speculation, through explicitly saying so and using italics. I’ve also directly copied over the details for how students can provide input at the end of this article.

In the ‘Dear Acadia Community’ document, we are first provided with some context. In March 2026, the Board of Governors Executive Committee put forward a mandate for the senior administration to work with members of the Acadia Community to develop a plan for strategy and transformation. The first result from this plan was the layoffs across campus on March 11th, resulting in an immediate reduction of expenses. However, the document says that this plan goes further, citing the following changes that have been resolved by the Board Executive Committee for future budgets:

  1. A reduction in the number of independent faculties from three to two;

  2. An across-the-board reduction in the number of discrete units (academic and support units); and

  3. A strategic response to the government-mandated program review (Schedule H) that both secures provincial funding and responds to student needs through program renewal, pedagogical innovation, and curriculum transformation.

(Dear Acadia Community, page 1)

The document also notes that “great thought has gone into a proposed response to this mandate”, and that both Hennessy and Cunsolo have spent “substantial time listening to and learning from faculty, staff and students”. They acknowledge that the current Acadia University is “siloed and inefficient,” and claim that the next steps are “grounded in what we have learned from you.” They also make clear that they want “guidance in making this proposal stronger” and are committed to “transparency, compassion, and ongoing communication.”

Two College Model

The primary focus of both documents appears to be transitioning from the current Faculty model into a Two-College Model. Acadia University currently has three faculties: the Faculty of Arts, the Faculty of Pure and Applied Science, and the Faculty of Professional Studies. These three faculties are currently based on closely aligned disciplines (e.g., Sociology and Political Science are part of the Faculty of Arts, whereas Chemistry and Biology are part of the Faculty of Pure and Applied Science). Instead, this proposal introduces Colleges, which instead establish identity based on a common theme. The word ‘College’ in this context refers to a group of faculty, staff, and students who work together to advance the academic and educational mission of the College and Acadia. To be clear, Acadia University will remain a university; the term refers to specific subgroups of the institution, much like what our three faculties already do.

The proposed colleges at Acadia would have one emphasizing Health, Community, and Change and the other emphasizing Environment, Systems, and Society. Programs would be divided into these two groups, and “thematic clusters” would be developed within each college. Neither document referred to which programs specifically would be placed in each college, just the themes included in each one. The following chart (adapted from (Re)Building Acadia Strategic Academic Restructuring, page 6) illustrates the overall focus of the two proposed colleges.

   
College of Health, Community, and Change Programs and Research Strengths: Health sciences, mental health, community wellbeing, and development
  Integrates: Critical social sciences, humanities, and creative disciplines that can and must inform health and community policy and training.
College of Environment, Systems, and Society Programs and Research Strengths: Environmental, physical, and life sciences, technology, commerce and entrepreneurship, education, social structures, governance, and public policy
  Integrates: Critical social sciences and humanities disciplines that can and must inform environmental and social policy and training.

My assumption is that Acadia has yet to determine which programs would fall under each college, and regardless, all programs are currently subject to review through the government-mandated Schedule H Program Review (Though it should be noted that the letter does say that Schedule H will continue uninterrupted and parallel to this restructure).

The proposal says that colleges would allow similar programs to share resources, addressing some of the current financial challenges at Acadia. It also says that colleges would provide streamlined administrative structures to “increase opportunities for creativity, collaboration, and innovation in pursuit of the educational mission and to reduce inefficiencies”. I can only speculate, but a potential example could be Business and Economics. These programs are currently managed by separate faculties (Arts and Professional Studies) but have similar first-year course requirements.__

Administrative Structure

The upper organizational structure for the proposed colleges remains relatively similar to the current faculty model. This includes an Executive Assistant, Associate Deans, and a Manager of College Operations who report to the Dean. Below the senior branch, we see embedded supports, which follow a Dual-Reporting Model. These positions are “specialized roles that report up to the Dean while connecting to functional central university hubs.” These roles are broken into two branches: Student Success Supports and Specialized Embedded Liaisons. Positions such as Academic Advisors, Accessible Learning, and Career & Experiential Learning Coordinators fall under the ‘Student Success Supports’, with the second branch focusing on non student-focused tasks (e.g., Curriculum & Planning, Marketing & Communications, and Recruitment). Another speculation, but it sounds like this might help better allocate resources for student supports, especially considering some of the positions that Acadia laid off in March.

Another important note is the elimination of Departments and Schools. The reasoning for this is to provide “flexible and thematic clusters that better support new, existing, and re-imagined programs and academic operations.” This model also aims at increasing educational and research capacity and efficiency by reducing the amount of administrative units. By the sounds of this proposal, this would provide a more uniform structure, instead of the current chaos where some departments or schools house multiple degrees. Examples include the F.C. Manning School of Business, which offers six undergraduate majors (and a general BBA degree), or the Department of Earth and Environmental Science, which offers three undergraduate degrees alongside a few masters degrees.

Impact on Students

A notable part of the proposed College Model is the introduction of College Student Councils alongside the continuation of program-related student councils. This implies that the university will increase overall student involvement in how the colleges are run. The documents only referred to this twice but did not specify what they might look like.

The ‘Dear Acadia Community’ letter highlights that all current programs of study will continue through this process and that students will complete their degrees on time and without disruption. Acadia’s administration has also repeatedly made clear through various channels that any and all proposed changes to programs at Acadia will only affect future students. If accepted, the timeline for implementing the full College model would not be until July 1, 2027, and the proposed final plan is due to the Board in June of 2026.

Conclusion

The proposed ‘College Model’ aims to help tie together the three faculties into two colleges by combining resources and reducing inefficiencies. What remains to be seen is how this may affect our current programs. I think we should remain skeptical about how these changes may impact some programs, but also look forward to potential new opportunities to emerge. I would specifically love to see some potential collaboration between our arts and sciences, fields which currently are divided by structure and by landscape (BAC and Huggins).

Student Feedback

These student sessions will provide interactive opportunities to learn more about the structural changes, provide feedback, and share ideas.

   
April 13: 12:00-3:00pmLibrary Lobby drop-in sessions for information and feedback April 16: 1:00-3:00pmLibrary Lobby drop-in sessions for information and feedback

There is also an anonymous survey for Acadia Faculty, Staff, and Students, which can be accessed on page four of the ‘Dear Acadia Community’ document.

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