Low-interest majors and minors in the College of Arts and Sciences may be removed due to an upcoming 5 percent budget cut, the college dean said.
The classes the college’s students enroll in this spring could play a part in deciding which programs to remove from the curriculum, said Paul Bell, College of Arts and Sciences dean.
The $1.7 million cut for the 2012 fiscal year is the biggest cut the college has seen since Bell has been dean, he said.
To prepare, Bell said, students can expect the College of Arts and Sciences to:
• leave some vacant faculty positions unfilled;
• increase class sizes when feasible;
• eliminate classes with low-student demand;
• and offer more classes during the summer.
The college also is discussing moving more classes — possibly language classes — online. Hybrid courses are being looked into as well, Bell said.
Hybrid courses are classes with students attending a certain number of physical classes combined with online coursework, allowing instructors to teach more students without losing educational quality, Bell said.
Andrew Pruitt, University College freshman, hopes the courses moving online aren’t language courses. Pruitt is taking Spanish in the classroom.
“I go to my teacher almost every day and ask for help,” Pruitt said. “That’s the only reason I’m getting a good grade.”
Classes in her department will stay capped at 24 students, said Pamela Genova, department head of modern language and linguistics. However, there may be fewer specialty courses offered but more sections for major courses, she said.
During the last three years, the College of Arts and Sciences decreased its budget by 7.24 percent, according to a document prepared by Bell. The total losses for the college during that time equaled $2.490 million. When the 5 percent budget cut is applied in fiscal year 2012, the total will come to $4.199 million.
The college has not been greatly affected by these previous cuts, Bell said. Next year will be difficult because the federal money afforded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will be gone, Bell said.
For now, the College of Arts and Sciences has a plan in place to respond to the upcoming cuts but “may have tougher decisions down the road,” Bell said.
The College of Arts and Sciences isn’t the only one feeling the budget squeeze.
OU President David Boren addressed the Faculty Senate on Nov. 8 and told colleges to prepare for 5 percent budget cuts. Every college is required to put a plan together to shave money off its budget, Bell said.
Plans to save money
Short term:
» Save as much money as possible in FY11 and use the savings to replace some of the reallocated funds
» Leave some vacant faculty positions unfilled and use the funds to hire adjuncts to teach classes students need to graduate
» Permanent faculty to teach a full load (two classes per semester)
» Focus on offering classes students need to graduate
» Eliminate classes with low student demand
» Increase class sizes where feasible
» Offer more classes online where feasible
» Offer more classes in summer
Long term:
» Redesign classes to shift part of the instruction online to allow instructors to teach a larger number of students without sacrificing educational quality.
*Source: Document provided by College of Arts and Sciences Dean Paul Bell
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Rhology 1 year, 5 months ago
If they're smart, they'll cut the utterly worthless majors like Women's/Gender Studies.
isom5266 1 year, 5 months ago
Hah, and I'm sure you thought you were sounding really smart by saying that. Funny.
I really hope that language courses aren't moved online. It feels like tuition is going up every semester, and online courses are what I'm paying for? Maybe I'm getting a little hasty but how was OU able to afford a makeover of the gardens on campus this semester when they're trying to "cut back"? Or the new football memorabilia?
MissPeaSoup 1 year, 5 months ago
Wow, somebody has got an issue with women, eh? There's no chance it would be cut, those are some of the most popular classes.
cacremin 1 year, 5 months ago
Foreign languages are the last thing that they should resort to putting online. Any FL class without face-to-face interaction is a scam.
soonersenior 1 year, 5 months ago
Online foreign language classes are a joke.