Butler’s College of Education and College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences are renamed as College of Education and Human Development and College of Health Professions. Photo courtesy of Butler University.
LAUREN FISCHER | STAFF REPORTER | lrfischer@butler.edu
Effective June 1, 2026, the formerly known College of Education (COE) and College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (COPHS) will go by new names, with the goal of better representing the futures of each college.
COE will become the College of Education and Human Development, while the COPHS will become the College of Health Professions.
Brooke Kandel, the dean of the COE, explained that the addition to the current name highlights the college’s essential focus on supporting people in various ways, surpassing just K-12 education.
“I think the name change reflects both who we are, [and] who we will continue to become,” Kandel said. “[The college] wanted to think broadly about the areas that we could support, that we don’t even know need development and need educational opportunities.”
She explained that the expansion happened naturally, aligning with the direction that the college was moving towards. Last year, the college added a kinesiology undergraduate major to bring more opportunities for students interested in wellness and sports therapy. On campus, there is a human performance lab with state-of-the-art equipment for undergrad students to gain hands-on experience.
Junior kinesiology major Larianna Joseph noted the work to include non-education majors while also mentioning the natural detachment from the rest of the college that kinesiology majors face. As kinesiology majors often have classes at the Jordan Annex, Hinkle Fieldhouse and the Health and Recreation Center, they are rarely among other students in the college. Also, many kinesiology students only take education classes that are core requirements for the college, tying their major to the main COE in minimal ways.
“I appreciate the effort in connecting us with [the rest of the college],” Joseph said. “Being a kinesiology major in the College of [Education] is really hard because [kinesiology and education] don’t really correlate that much.”
Not only does this change work to recognize all current programs within the college, but it also brings in its increasing focus on human development.
The COE recently introduced a graduate program catered towards mental health counseling. It aims to respond to the growing need for mental health professionals in local and rural areas around the state.
Kandel noted that many students realize later on that their passion lies in counseling, so Butler wanted to accommodate that need from both aspiring graduate students and the public that they would serve.
“We’re going to continue responding to the needs of our community,” Kandel said. “The Higher [Education] and Student Affairs master’s program is coming online in August of this coming year, and that is a program focused on individuals who are interested in working in higher education and supporting students in those settings.”
As the COE slowly expands, this name change reflects its growing focus on human development without ignoring its roots in education.
For similar reasons, the COPHS name change stemmed from a need to better display the current and future offerings of the college. In 2020, the COPHS started a medical sciences program, which offered an online doctoral degree. The college realized that there was a large population of students who wanted to pursue pharmacy but were unable due to responsibilities elsewhere. This led them to add an online pathway for pharmacy.
This school year, the college added a nursing program after being approached by the Community Health Network (CHN), which noted a need for nurses. The college’s partnership with CHN made this addition possible and led to the approval for a Respiratory Therapy program and a master’s degree in nursing.
Robert Soltis, the dean of COPHS, said that in the future, the college will likely have a school of pharmacy and health sciences, a school for physician assistants and clinical sciences, and, eventually, a school of nursing to further focus on each of the college’s offerings.
“The name change is driven by the vision to grow and diversify the college and its portfolio of programs,” Soltis said. “Pharmacy has always been an important legacy program, and we don’t want to diminish that, but we also want to be more inclusive and recognize that health professions [are] more about interprofessional teams.”
Junior pharmacy major Jaycie Cole expressed concerns about the name change. She and her classmates have wondered if their white coats will be replaced and whether this change will divert attention from the highly regarded pharmacy program.
“[The College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences is] what we got admitted into,” Cole said. “I feel like it also shows off the pharmacy program, which is a big part of what Butler is known for.”
Soltis noted the unease from students in response to changing the name of a program that had been around for decades. Despite this, he believes that this will bring more recognition to all areas of study within COPHS. He also explained that their marketing and communications team is working with them on the rebrand and signage. This includes replacing white coats for those who received them before the name change.
“When we start to recruit more nursing and respiratory therapy students, the recruitment piece will not be directed at just nursing or just respiratory therapy; it will be directed at healthcare professions,” Soltis said.
The change might first appear as a simple rebrand, but these expansions are much more. These colleges are hoping to cater to their futures while still serving present communities.
