The College of Business at The Florida State University announces the merger of the Department of Management Information Systems (MIS) with the Department of Management. This merger was approved by the university's Board of Trustees, effective June 18, and is part of the College of Business' effort to decrease academic administrative costs in response to a 10-percent state funding reduction that totals $1.8 million within the college.

"As the smallest department in the college, the MIS department will easily transfer into the Department of Management, combining their strengths and resources and building on their academic similarities," said Caryn L. Beck-Dudley, dean of the College of Business.

The department merger will not reduce the college's academic offerings and will be seamless for current College of Business students. While the MIS major will continue, the technical track will be eliminated. The loss of the technical track will result in two faculty positions, one staff position and a department chair supplement being eliminated. The remaining five MIS professors will join 24 full-time faculty members in the Department of Management.

Like many of its peer academic units across campus, the college has been substantially affected by the 2009-10 budget cuts that emerged from the recent session of the Florida Legislature.

"Making cuts at this depth is extremely painful to all of us in the college, but we have no choice," said Beck Dudley. "No college can sustain the drastic budget cuts we have taken without reducing its faculty and staff. The employees in all these positions have served the college well and have been important members of the Florida State University family. But reducing personnel is the only way the college can absorb this type of budget reduction, coming on the heels of several previous cuts."

For the past two years, the college has made reductions in as many areas as possible, weathering a 4-percent reduction for 2007-08 and a 3.75-percent reduction for 2008-09.

The MIS department has been ranked in the top 10 based on research productivity, according to the Communications of the Association of Information Systems Journal. The Department of Management is ranked in the top 10 percent of the nation in terms of journal publications per faculty members by Academic Analytics. In addition, U.S. News and World Report ranked the department No. 14 among public universities and No. 19 in the nation.

About the Florida State University College of Business
Founded in 1950, the Florida State University College of Business is one of the nation's youngest business schools, yet it has become one of the 10 largest in the United States. It is the second largest academic unit on the Florida State campus with an enrollment of 6,107 students and boasts a distinguished full-time faculty of 108, including one Francis Eppes professorship, eight eminent scholar chairs, three university-named professorships and 30 endowed professorships. For more information, visit www.cob.fsu.edu.