The Council on Academic Affairs talked about downsizing their group and voted to change the name of the health studies department to health promotion at its meeting Tuesday.

The CAA and other committees have been working with the same number of positions but have fewer faculty to fill them. This means everyone has to work harder to get the same amount of work done.

The group decided that a smaller CAA will make things easier for them as a whole. It will mean the number of members needed to make a quorum will be smaller, and fewer members will sit in on committees, which ask for CAA representation.

CAA Chair Marita Gronnvoll will need to be replaced on the council next semester as she will be on sabbatical.

Another replacement is needed for history professor Debra Reid.

Gronnvoll said a replacement was found for another member of the CAA who has not been able to serve all semester, but the new member now needs a replacement because of a conflict they have between their class and the CAA’s schedule.

“It is frustrating and it is a consequence of the reduction of faculty,” Gronnvoll said.

Gronnvoll said her concern if the CAA shrinks is that the workload will get harder for the remaining members because there is more work to spread out between fewer people.

However, she sees upsides to downsizing as well. Gronnvoll said there will be less hassle with the remaining members, and the members will not be as busy because they will have less meetings to be a part of.

CAA discussed changing its bylaws to add two more student positions on the board.

There will be a potential for three total positions, and one student position is already filled. The health studies department asked to change its name and major to health promotion to modernize the program. They cited the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health, who all now refer to health studies as health promotion. The vote passed unanimously.

The CAA also voted to make ensemble hours count for credit in the music department and to give a pair of economics classes an online option.

As the music department currently stands, only six ensemble hours are counted toward a music major’s degree, even if a student has more.

The music department wants all ensemble credit hours a student earns to count towards a student’s degree. This vote also passed unanimously.

The CAA also voted to have two classes, CMN 4751: Managerial Economics and CMN 4802: Intermediate Microeconomic Theory be allowed to have online options.

Samuel Nusbaum can be reached at 581-2812 or at scnusbaum@eiu.edu.