Increasing faculty workloads, deactivating low-enrollment programs and delaying the start of other programs will keep layoffs to a minimum in Northern Arizona University’s Academic Affairs division, President John Haeger announced today.

In an effort to meet a $6.3 million reduction to the Academic Affairs budget, about four staff and about five non-tenure-track faculty will be laid off or non-renewed for the next fiscal year.

In addition, four staff members will see partial layoffs, meaning hours and salary will be trimmed. Unrelated to the NAU’s budget reductions but tied to Arizona’s budget problems, about 15 grant-funded positions, which use external funding for specific projects, also are ending.

“The process has been extremely difficult, but with careful planning we are able to maintain our educational objectives with few effects on the students,” Haeger said. “The support and input from faculty and staff are helping to maintain the university’s high standards despite the reductions.”

NAU has been wrestling with a $21.3 million cut to its FY09 budget and a potentially worsening FY10 budget. On March 26, NAU announced reductions and layoffs in the university’s other divisions.

Liz Grobsmith, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs, announced the plan to the NAU Faculty Senate on Monday. The division works on a different timeline because of course scheduling.

“Our plan is the result of the hard work of faculty, chairs, deans and administrators,” said Grobsmith.
“We made difficult decisions but have minimized the impact to the university’s core mission.”

Much of the decrease came from a hiring freeze established last year. Academic Affairs is saving nearly
$3 million by eliminating more than 50 already-empty positions throughout the university’s six colleges.
In total, NAU eliminated more than 100 empty positions.

Full-time faculty will see increased workloads by absorbing courses that otherwise would be taught by the unfilled positions or part-time faculty. About 300 course sections taught by part-time faculty will be absorbed.

Students may see some larger class sizes, but Grobsmith pointed out that many of these courses now will be taught by more experienced, tenured professors. 

Additionally, several programs and departments were combined and some low-enrollment programs were eliminated, including the art minor in secondary education and the French education and German education minors. The bachelor’s degree in theater education also is being eliminated, and the bachelor’s degree in theater studies will become an emphasis within the B.A. in theater.

Few students are in the programs—for example, theater studies has only 15—and any remaining students will be allowed to finish.

The bachelor’s degrees in art history, religious studies and humanities are combining into a single bachelor’s degree in comparative studies.

The university also stopped development of its occupational therapy and physician’s assistant programs.

The provost is establishing minimum enrollment for certain courses. Undergraduate courses have a minimum target of 15 students while graduate courses have a minimum target of eight.  

Some departments have been reorganized for greater efficiency and money savings. The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering will combine with Construction Management, and Electrical Engineering will combine with Computer Science. All of these departments are within the College of Engineering, Forestry and Natural Sciences.

In the same college, Geology and the Center for Sustainable Environments will combine into the School of Earth Sciences and Sustainable Environments.

In the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, the Institute for Future Work Force Development and the Gerontology Institute will merge into the Community Resource Institute.

And as announced in January, the Social Research Lab has closed.

The university is nearing completion of its cost-cutting measures for FY09 that will roll into FY10. Haeger has cautioned that depending upon the budget situation, further cuts and layoffs may be necessary.