Last year's tentative plans to merge the departments of journalism and communication with another department have been altered to include the School of Information Resources and Library Science, instead of media arts.

Once merged, the three would create a new college, but lack of funds due to budget cuts has postponed plans for the merger.

Ed Donnerstein, dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Science, said this was an idea last year, and no discussions are in the works at the moment.

"At one point last year there was a discussion of forming with the College of Social and Behavioral Science a school that could include these three departments. They would still be three separate departments, but possibly under a common umbrella," Donnerstein said.

Provost George Davis said this has been a long-term concept Donnerstein has been considering.

Davis said the goal of the merger would be to form a new college. But this new "information school" would require a heavy endowment from outside sources, and nothing is being planned.

Jana Bradley, director of the School of Information Resources and Library Science, said she would support a merger between the three departments.

"The lines between our departments are blurring," Bradley said. "We are already engaged in joint research."

Bradley said the idea to merge the three departments was mentioned in the Focused Excellence plan as part of a long-term project. She said budget cuts have played a role in delaying the merger.

"I surmise that planning has been set back due to the budget," Bradley said.

Despite the fact the merger is not scheduled to happen any time in the near future, Bradley said she regularly meets with the journalism and communication department heads and that the faculties interact often.

The College of Social and Behavioral Science is one of the largest colleges at the UA. Including journalism, communication and SIRLS, the college has 23 separate departments.

The college of SBS has almost 5,000 undergraduate students, which is more than any other college at the UA. In addition, the college has the highest number of undergraduate degrees granted.

Chris Segrin, communication department head, said the idea has been discussed very little and is still in the early stages of development.

Segrin said the idea of the merger has "grown organically through the three departments," but has mostly been an idea that came from the administration.

Segrin said the department of communication is short on resources, and a change will not happen without all the details in order and only with an appropriate amount of resources such as staffing and money.

"There are a lot of students without a lot of faculty," Segrin said. "With all the budget cuts at the university, right now is not the best time to ask for resources."

If this change were to become a reality, Segrin said he would support it and thinks it could be beneficial for both the students and faculty.

"This could create a synergistic relationship between the departments, and a wider palette of options for the students," Segrin said.