In the late 1980s, in response to national and state calls for reforms to higher education in the areas of science and technology, JMU, under the direction of President Ronald Carrier, developed a proposal for a new College of Applied Science and Technology (CAST), eventually to be renamed the College of Integrated Science and Technology (CISAT). The new college's flagship would be the titular Integrated Science and Technology (ISAT) program, but over the next few years, as the project's founding team, including Carrier, Roberds, and Dr. Lyle Wilcox (among others), began designing the school's campus and curriculum, the CISAT umbrella expanded to include Computer Science, Health and Human Services, and Geography. The development and implementation of CISAT also involved expanding the University across Interstate 81, a process that included the creation of a cross-highway bridge for motor and pedestrian traffic, as well as the construction of the academic buildings that now serve as the core of JMU's East Campus.

Though many students and faculty were enthusiastic about the new college, CISAT also drew criticism from those who believed that the new college was receiving special treatment from Carrier, and that the president had overreached in exempting CISAT's new curriculum from review by the entire university. No major changes to the college resulted from the controversy, however, and CISAT reached its peak freshman enrollment in the late 1990s. The university continued to enhance to its East Campus with new academic buildings, dorms, event centers, and dining halls throughout the early 2000s, and with the addition of an Engineering program in 2012, CISAT changed its name again, to the College of Integrated Science and Engineering (CISE). For a more detailed history of CISAT, see Roberds' book, A History of the Founding of The College of Integrated Science and Technology: A Venture in Education Reform (2005).