Carter Henman
chenman@uwyo.edu
Representatives from academic affairs addressed faculty senate on upcoming program reviews, including the potential for program termination in the face of mounting budgetary pressures, as well as the creation of a new practicing professor designation.
Vice President for Academic Affairs David Jones spoke on the former.
“As you’re all aware, we’ve gone through several rounds of budget cuts and are expecting more,” he said. “Due to those cuts, the university has lost its flexibility, from a fiscal standpoint.”
In order to help restore financial flexibility, the administration, working with the deans, plans to begin a systematic review of over 180 different programs of study at the university starting this semester.
“The deans and I had started to talk about this last fall: some of the new deans had come in and realized there are a lot of programs here for a university of our size,” Jones said.
According to the vice president’s report, the first round of reviews will target programs and degrees with low enrollment levels. Undergraduate programs that have produced 25 graduates or fewer over the past five years, for example, will likely be reviewed.
“We’re not gunning for any particular programs,” Jones said. “We’re just trying to get the lay of the land.”
The vice president’s report outlined a number of different options for taking action, starting in fall 2016, based on the review results: retaining the program due to critical need, retaining the program on the condition of further review, consolidating with another degree program or terminating the program.
The University Reappointment, Tenure and Promotion Committee, a standing committee of faculty senate, also introduced a bill to revise UW regulations to create a new non-tenure track faculty position: professor of practice.
According to Faculty Senate Bill 337, the position would be reserved for “persons who have had distinguished careers and have made substantial impact on fields and disciplines that are important to academic programs at the University of Wyoming.”
Tami Benham-Deal is the interim associate vice president for academic personnel and budgets at academic affairs.
“As a consequence of the Deans’ Council’s unanimous vote to move forward with the new designation, Senate Chair Readdy and I charged the URT&P committee with the task of review and recommendation,” she said.
Sandy Barstow, the chair of the committee, said the majority of committee members were in favor of the new designation, though there was some disagreement on what the designation should entail.
Secretary Donal O’Toole, representing the department of Veterinary Science, expressed concern about the rising number of non-tenure track faculty at UW.
“When I came here in 1990 it was 7.7 percent, it is now 21 percent,” O’Toole said. “It is a major threat to the people in this room; those folks who are non-tenure track have very tenuous appointments, little negotiating ability and limited freedom of speech.”
Faculty senate will continue discussion and vote on A Bill to Revise UW Regulation 5-1 at their next meeting, on March 28.
