A re-emphasis on Metro State's core mission of teaching has led to the closing of one community-related program and an organizational change in another.

The college will end its partnership with the Colorado State Division of Youth Corrections on June 30 and will no longer operate the Metro Academy at the Lookout Mountain Youth Detention Facility.

Bill Wiener, the academy's director since its inception in 1994, has been reassigned to a halftime position as coordinator of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education. Weiner is a faculty member in the Teacher Education Department. To read more about the NCATE accreditation go to http://www.mscd.edu/~collcom/@metro/tw@metro_vol2/ncate_twv2050405.htm

According to Joan Foster, interim vice president for Academic Affairs, part of the original goal of operating the lab school was to provide internships there for Metro State students. "But we haven't had a lot of students going up there as interns," Foster said, "and in this time of self-examination and staffing shortages, we have to consider how these programs are serving the teaching mission of the college."

The other program that has been re-examined is the Center for Visual Art, the college's gallery in LoDo. The CVA has been moved out of the Institutional Advancement division into the Department of Art to tie it more closely with the college's mission.

Foster said that this change has been under discussion for almost 18 months. "There are a little more than 1,000 art majors now," Foster said. "Putting the CVA in the Art Department will open up many more opportunities to serve these students." She added that the department has also hired a new art education faculty member, which will lead to even more student participation in the gallery.

As part of this reorganization, the CVA director's position has been reassigned to Art Department Chair Greg Watts and the administrative position, currently held by Kathy Andrews, becomes a faculty position effective July 1, with a resulting salary savings, Foster said.

Also, the gallery will be expected to raise the money needed to cover its own rent when its current lease at 1734 Wazee ends in April 2006.