Two prominent Boise State University programs will merge — at least in name — on July 1, but students and faculty won’t notice much difference.

Merging the College of Education and School of Public Service will take two years to unfold, says Andrew Finstuen, the interim dean of Boise State’s newly minted College of Education and Public Service. Since Boise State announced the change in March, when plans for the 2026-27 academic year were in place at both programs, things won’t change much this fall.

“It’s very important that … this is not going to disrupt student progress (and) workloads,” Finstuen said in an EdNews interview.

Finstuen — who was the education college’s interim dean pre-merger — says the programs are coming in on equal footing. The education program gets top billing simply because it comes first in the alphabet.

The merger will combine two of Boise State’s most public-facing academic disciplines. Graduates from the education programs go on to work in schools — and, most often, public schools. Public service graduates, in fields like criminal justice and political science, frequently land in the government sector.

“An animating characteristic of both colleges is public service,” Finstuen said.

Viewing public service as the common ground, faculty members in the two programs are already starting to make connections, he said.

But a merger isn’t simple. The merged college needs to work through a host of logistical issues — from a shared tenure and promotion policy to student advisory programs to basic messaging.

A summer planning committee has already met three times and will hold several more meetings before the fall semester. The committee is talking through merger mechanics, but it’s deliberately moving slowly. Until faculty and staff return in the fall, the committee is in an “information-gathering period,” Finstuen said. “We made a pledge to not really make a bunch of decisions.”

The education-public service merger is just one big structural shift at Boise State. The university is phasing out its College of Innovation and Design, an interdisciplinary program launched in 2015. Boise State is shifting 18 Innovation and Design programs back across the campus. One will land in the new College of Education and Public Service.

All Innovation and Design programs have been moved to other departments, Boise State spokeswoman Stephany Galbreaith said.

The education-public service merger and the Innovation and Design phaseout are occurring against a backdrop of fiscal uncertainty. Gov. Brad Little and the Legislature cut this year’s higher education budgets by 4%, with a 5% cut kicking in next fiscal year. The budget realities were a recurring theme at this week’s State Board of Education meeting on the Boise State campus — and a Wednesday question-and-answer session with David Hahn, the sole finalist for the Boise State presidential vacancy.

However, university officials have said the education-public service merger will have limited budget impact. The merger does eliminate a dean’s position. Former School of Public Service Dean Angie Bos is leaving Boise State for a job at Occidental College in Los Angeles.

Since the merged college doesn’t have to meet a hard bottom line — and find significant cost savings — Finstuen is taking a deliberate approach. “It’s way easier to speed up than slow down.”