Oct 13, 2022

FHSU provost: No faculty cuts planned in light of college reorganization

Posted Oct 13, 2022 11:01 AM

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

Fort Hays State University sent a reorganization plan for its College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences to the Kansas Board of Regents on Monday.

The plan consolidates the college's departments from 11 to five in response to declines in enrollment and as a preemptive measure to likely consolidation and program cuts that will be recommended to the regents by a consulting company at the end of the year.

The recommendation would create the following departments and schools:
• Department of English and Modern Languages
Department of History and Philosophy
Department of Communication Studies, Law and Political Science
School of Criminal Justice, Leadership and Sociology
School of Visual and Performing Arts (Art and design, music and theater)

The university chose to identify schools as those consolidated programs with 150 majors or more.

The consolidation process was announced in the spring with students and faculty packing at least two meetings expressing concerns about the proposal.

At that time, administrators said they planned to slow the process. Although some changes have been made to the original recommendations made in the spring, the main tenets of the restructuring remain the same.

Jill Arensdorf, FHSU provost and vice president for academic affairs, presented a more sparsely attended audience the final plan to faculty Monday.

Arensdorf said the university had no plans to fire any staff or faculty — a concern after Emporia State University in September suspended tenure and laid off 33 professors.

Although some faculty had expressed excitement about the possibility for collaboration under the restructuring, Arensdorf said some faculty said nothing about the reorganization excited them.

Some of the concerns expressed in weeks leading up to the announcement of the final proposal Monday were proposed name changes for the departments and schools, marketing concerns, timing and speed of the change, loss of department identity, loss of resources and positions, and potential conflicts within departments, according to official feedback to the administration.

Arensdorf said the university is evaluating budgets, leadership and the number of support staff that will be needed under the consolidation, which the is scheduled to be implemented by June 2023.

The plan will not cut cost immediately but could do so over time, Arensdorf said.

"While this is a concern from some of you, there have been no actions to cut positions or to cut resources based on this reorganization," Arensdorf said.

The university has already left two administrative assistant positions in the college vacant as a result of resignations. The university could also reap salary savings over time with the changes in leadership, Arensdorf said.

"What is not clear yet is how many administrative assistants are going to be needed for each of these units," Arensdorf said. "That is an example of another thing that we will be working through over the next few months —  to think through what kind of [full-time equivalent] support that we need in these new units as well as how do we staff the programs appropriately.

"Just like we do when faculty resign, right now we are vetting those positions very clearly and making sure we are making good fiscal decisions as well as human decisions for the institution."

Arensdorf presented recommended leadership and administrative assistant staff levels in her presentation Monday — a point of concern for many student and faculty early in the planning process.

The university has recommended:
• Department of English and Modern Languages have a chair and program coordinator with one administrative assistant.
• Department of History and Philosophy have a chair and program coordinator with one or two administrative assistants.
• Department of Communication Studies, Law and Political Science have a chair and program coordinator with one to 1.5 administrative assistants.
• School of Criminal Justice, Leadership and Sociology be co-chaired with two to three administrative assistants
• School of Visual and Performing Arts be co-chaired with two administrative assistants.

Only department structures and names will be presented to the regents. Staffing and leadership decisions are left to the discretion of the university.

Arensdorf said FHSU is not following the lead of Emporia State University.

"This plan does not have anyone being fired," she said. "This plan might have people's roles and responsibilities changing, but it doesn't have anyone being fired."

The university's reorganization plan will go through two other regents subgroups before being considered by the regents likely in December. This is same meeting that consultant rpk is scheduled to present its findings to the regents.

Arensdorf said university administrators decided to propose the program changes before the rpk report is unveiled, because it looks proactive and is less risky than waiting to make changes after the report.