We are in an interesting time.  Decreasing state revenues, decreasing funding for all state services, and SB389 which limits tuition increases.   I found the following article interesting in Inside Higher Education (http://www.insidehighered.com/home).  The article is from February 17 and is title “Slipping (Further) Off the Pedestal”.  The article reports on the latest public opinion survey related to higher education.

The college will be down up to 4-5 faculty members in the fall of 2010 due to the retirement incentives and the 2.14% college cuts.  We have learned in the last week that the cuts for FY11 could be bigger and therefore the president, provost and deans have agreed to freeze hiring for some positions that we had hoped to fill for fall 2010.  In fact I froze three positions in CNAS this past week – halted the searches.  These are not easy decisions to make and as a matter of fact they are not much fun either.  On the other hand FY12 with another 15% cut will be easier if we begin now.   How will we make these next cuts?  I will be holding as many positions open as possible.  Where we do have open positions I will be challenging departments to figure out how to proceed without or helping them short-term funds to hire per course instructors.  We have a number of retiring faculty who have chosen to return half-time next year.  I am so thrilled that students will have access to these outstanding faculty for another year.  I will be seeking your feedback through the CNAS faculty advisory group, department heads, faculty meetings and this blog.  We will need to be a team and weigh the pros and cons of all ideas.

The university’s new long-range planning committee , and specifically the academic priorities committee, may be looking to suspend enrollment in select programs in the near future that is a decision that will need to be made at the highest levels.  We will need to make strategic choices.  This does challenge each of us as a faculty member and a member of a department to truly prioritize the various things that we do in our programs – every thing from courses offered, to outreach activities, to research.  What are the most important things we do as a program or department?  What are the most essential courses that we teach in a given major?  What are the most important outreach activities that we do?  What about graduate education?   How important is research and writing grant proposals?  How much of a role do we each need to play in general education? 

Over the next 3-4 years most departments in the college will have fewer faculty/staff.  This is significant but it is not devastating.  We can struggle through this kicking and screaming or we can put all of the intelligent minds together in each department and in the college to prioritize and be stronger in FY16.  I am confident that we can be stronger as the economy turns around but it will take all of us putting our heads together.  It may mean that students have fewer choices but it absolutely should not mean that they have a low quality education.  As a matter of fact we might also consider how we improve the quality of our student’s education as we prioritize elements of our programs.  We must keep the students in mind.  It is my opinion that we should prioritize graduate education high for those programs that have a consistent enrollment.  We can provide that graduate education in southwest Missouri like no one else can.  I am proud of what we do in graduate education and I hope that we can (at some level) continue to serve students interested in earning graduate degrees.

What are some things that we might also consider?  For tenured faculty who have not been research active recently, it may be time for them to be assigned 12 hour loads.   What about faculty travel?  Should it be suspended for a period of time?  What about faculty sabbaticals?  Should they be suspended for a period of time?  We have several centers in the college?  Should they be forced to be self-sufficient?  If so, in what time period?  Teaching larger and larger and larger classes is absolutely not always the answer although it does save on faculty lines.  What are some ways that we can help faculty who teach these large sections?  I think that supplemental instructors have helped in some cases?  What are some other options?

I have visited with about half of the departments in the college in the past week and will continue to visit with you.  Please email or call if you have ideas or concerns.  I encourage you to give feedback to your department heads and to your faculty advisory committee members. 

I have enjoyed the past 3.5 years as I have been able to say yes more than no to many, many requests.  I hope that with your ideas for how we can do the most important things for students over the next 2-3 years that you will have the plans that we can all continue to say “yes” to.  Thank you for all you do!!!