With looming budget cuts, FAMU’s administration might opt to reshape the institution’s college structure. The college reorganization effort that President James Ammons led at North Carolina Central University could serve as a model for a similar one at FAMU.When Ammons came to NCCU in 2001, the College of Arts & Sciences had two-thirds of the student population. Ammons restructured it into three separate colleges (see description on the left).
“Why should an institution do this?” NCCU Provost Beverly Washington Jones asked in the Durham Sun-Herald. “No. 1, a growing student population. And if your emphasis is on the quality of education and assuring you're looking at retention and graduation and the advising of these students, it's going to be important that you create a structure that will support and augment the support of our students.”
Currently, FAMU’s College of Arts & Sciences has more than half the university’s student population.
If FAMU pursued the restructuring path, it would not be the first State University System of Florida institution to take this step. Florida State University recently merged its colleges of Communication and Information into one: the College of Communication and Information. In the FSU College of Arts & Sciences, the geology department will be suspended as a separate department but could be merged with meteorology and oceanography into a new Earth & Atmospheric Sciences unit.
FSU is laying off tenured and tenure-track faculty members as it continues to restructure its colleges. If FAMU divided the College of Arts & Sciences into two or more separate schools, it would likely mean fewer adjunct instructors, tenured professors, and department chairpersons.
Here’s what became of NCCU’s former College of Arts & Sciences:
College of Liberal Arts: Aerospace studies, art, global studies, history, military science, modern foreign languages, music, and theatre/drama.
College of Behavioral & Social Sciences: Criminal justice, human sciences, physical education and recreation, political science, psychology, public administration, public health education, social work, and sociology.
College of Science & Technology: Biology, chemistry, environmental/earth/geospatial sciences, mathematics & computer science, and physics.
Source: NCCU Undergraduate Catalog, 2008-2011.
When will Ammons'adminstration gonna get with the program? Why do we not have more corporate entities to offset cost and utilize the talents of our students for what they are paying huge costs to outside companies to do the work students can do.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this proposition. Make it happe Ammons!
ReplyDelete1:50 a.m,
ReplyDeleteBecause many Corporations have already undergone layoffs and restructuring themselves. Why is FAMU the last to do this?
I think restructuring is a good idea.
ReplyDeleteThis idea has been discussed since the Castell Bryant days. A proposal was circulating then. You are right, it does seem to take a long time to make changes.
ReplyDeleteI'd rather this team did the restructuring than any restructure proposed by Castell.
ReplyDeleteRestructing is a great idea, and layoffs are probably inevitable, but is FAMU prepared to reduce the number of incoming freshmen admitted to the university. You can't have faculty layoffs without reducing the number of students. Increased class sizes are never productive environments.
ReplyDeleteOnce there was someone who tried to have accountability of Faculty and Staff. Trying to see where the money was going. If 70% of the budget is going toward salaries, then no wonder the school is falling apart and you do not have updated equipment. Why do you need Adjuncts to teach when the Full time professors do not have full loads. This restructuring will give everyone a chance to see exactly what they have. Resistance is Futile.
ReplyDeleteIf FAMU decreases its freshman enrollment, it will lose millions more in state funding (not to mention the losses in tuition dollars). That would just make the layoffs worse.
ReplyDeleteWhich would you rather have? A bigger average class size or a pink slip?
There seems to be some disdain for the faculty at Florida A&M University. First we must understanding that if we use the same standards that the ten other SUS schools use in evaluating their faculty, then FAMU's professors are being grossly overworked and underpaid! First FAMU is the only SUS school that requires their instructors to teach 4 classes, on top of academic advisement, scholarly research/presentation, community services, etc. Now, FAMU is the only school in the SUS where those professors have 300 plus students a semester, where the vast majority do not have any grading assistants in evaluating their students work. So the argument will be made that we should cut the number of adjuncts, increase the number of students in class, maybe even increase the number of classes the professors teach each semester without granting them an overload. However, there is no consideration to other cost savings measure that would lighten the load of an overworked, under appreciated group, such as removing office phones (a measure that FSU employed last year), mandating that all course syllabi be placed on blackboard rather than being printed at the beginning of the semester, even furloughs. We have all heard the saying that when America gets a cold black America gets the flu, well this is a prime example of what is going on at FAMU. The faculty is already overworked (4 plus classes), now we already know that more will be demanded of them if they want to keep their jobs! While those deeded go vastly unappreciated by the administration, staff, students and even some of us (the alums)!
ReplyDelete3:07,
ReplyDeleteActually, the school could afford to reduce freshman enrollment if it placed greater emphasis on community college transfers. If I'm not mistaken, the school receives more money from the state for upper division students than it does for freshman and sophmores.
You are correct, however, that larger class sizes are inevitable, but hopefully not at the expense of the quality of education.
The big issue is that high school seniors tend to be more interested in FAMU than CC transfers.
ReplyDeleteLast year, FAMU recruiters visited every CC in Florida three times (with the exception of Florida Keys CC due to the cost). While FAMU's CC transfers went up, high school seniors still expressed the most interest in FAMU and filled out the largest number of applications.
Some other revenue generating ideas that could offset costs and save faculty jobs are offering out of state fee waivers for certain students (ex. within 200 mile radius of Tallahassee) and tuition caps for credit hours that exceed 12 in a given semester. Students are being forced to take smaller course loads due to personal economic hardships, higher tuition costs, etc. So these ideas might serve as incentives for them to take more credits and/or increased new student enrollment, which results in revenue for the university.
ReplyDeleteJust throwing out some ideas because I'd rather see the university try to do the best it can before resorting to laying off people.
FSU has already implemented an 50% fee break for its out-of-state students and expects to bring in about $2M in revenue as a result of it.
ReplyDeleteFAMU is so far behind when it comes to those types of creative approaches.
12:13 PM,
ReplyDeleteWhile FAMU may have received more applications from incoming freshman, I wonder how many of those students eventually admitted would have been better served going to a CC to complete some basic courses. I know for a fact that FSU directs students who scored below a 1050 out of 1600 on the SAT to TCC. They encourage them to earn their AA and then apply. In some cases, they advise some students to produce a high GPA in 12 or 15 credit hours in certain gen. ed courses if they want to be considered for admissions after one semester. In our case, FAMU would accept some of those same students they redirect to CC. By creating that pipeline through community colleges, FSU, UF, and UCF are still promoting their brand; accepting more incoming freshman who most likely are prepared for the rigors of college, thereby increasing the chances of students matriculating to upper-division; and still encouraging those CC transfers to consider their school upon graduation.
1:17 PM
I like your suggestion of offering out of state fee waivers for students in certain radius of the city.
Families are experiencing some difficult economic hardships. However, it still amazes me when I see students at FAMU, FSU, and TCC come to class with the latest cell phones, designer clothes, etc. The price of most products and services have increased, yet these students (and many of my family members who cry broke) don't have a problem paying that high monthly bill, but yet complain about the price of education or lack of financial aid. I still believe students and families have to make better decisions in terms of how they are going to save and spend their money, especially today. A student recently complained that he was unable to attend class because of car trouble. I reminded him that students attending FAMU, FSU, and TCC ride the city bus for free. He looked at me as if I had insulted him. Okay, I did digress.
ReplyDelete1:17pm and 1:36pm, Out of state fee waivers or 50% fee breaks for out of state students are great revenue generating ideas. Has the CFO been approached about this before? Are these things they discuss at BOT meetings? I'd rather the university implement these short term policies to make money than cut corners by firing faculty to save money.
ReplyDelete1:59pm, How will students taking the bus or not buying cell phones save faculty jobs? They wont. Let's stay on subject here. This is about FAMU doing what's necessary to make money and save jobs; not about chestising this generation of kids with mixed up priorities.
12:53 AM,
ReplyDeleteYou're absolutely correct. While I attempted to respond to one point 1:17 PM said, I did digress quite a bit in my post.
1:59 PM