In an effort to prepare for state budget cuts that will be enacted on July 1, the University of Wyoming has removed 42 non-academic staff positions and plans to open 12 faculty positions.
UW aims to make staff reductions over a period of two years. They have started before Gov. Matt Mead and the Wyoming State Legislature make their final decisions on UW’s budget, in order to avoid employee layoffs when budget cuts take effect.
Eliminated staff positions have been made in a variety of different campus departments including Academic Affairs, Administration and Finance, Athletics, Information Technology, the President’s Office, the Office of Research and Economic Development and Student Affairs.
According to UW Pres. Tom Buchanan, the university has taken careful action in eliminating positions. However, each position is a loss of UW’s capacity to accomplish its mission.
“The individual units that have lost these positions may feel the impacts sooner than others but, before long, every UW stakeholder will feel them,” Buchanan said.
Beginning in the fiscal year of 2013-14, Governor Mead has advised that the university cut its state operating funds by six percent. This is in an effort to prepare for the budget reductions asked by Mead of up to eight percent.
Specifically, the university developed a plan in response to these recommendations calls for a 14 percent cut in the non-personnel expenses and a 3.5 percent cut in personnel expenses. This 3.5 percent cut ultimately estimates to remove 100 non-academic positions and 24 faculty positions.
In the first of a series of quarterly meetings to select a careful removal of non-academic staff jobs, on Oct. 3, UW’s vice presidents looked over 84 vacant positions and selected 28 of those to hold open. On Jan. 10, the second quarterly meeting ended in a removal of 14 additional staff positions. Overall, the 42 non-academic positions will save an annual $1.24 million.
“By planning and acting ahead, and making careful choices about which positions to fill and which to eliminate over an extended period, we are trying to minimize the impact of these reductions on students and our core academic mission,” Buchanan said. “However, it’s impossible to make cuts of this magnitude without impacting our teaching, research, service and outreach.”
The third quarterly meeting will take place in early April of 2013. At this gathering, vice presidents plan to select the specific positions that will be removed in an effort to save 375,000 in non-academic salaries.
