Budget crisis forces academic reorganization

Dr. Ali Houshmand, provost and Senate president, has constructed a reorganization of the Division of Academic Affairs. The proposed plan was recently brought to the attention of Rowan’s faculty and staff at a university-wide meeting on April 9.

“This reorganization proposal is meant to impact the student body and faculty/staff in a positive way,” Houshmand said.

The proposal covers two priorities; the first is that the education experience is at the highest possible quality.

“The goal will be to go towards the teachers that will be teaching a specific number of classes, but their hours will be shortened on the time they spend on extra activities,” Houshmand said.

Houshmand said that if a professor teaches 24 credits in the entire year, they will be teaching those full credit hours and will spend less time doing extra activities, such as serving as department heads. This will benefit students because there will be more classes open for students to take with tenured professors.

The second priority is to cut the number of part-time faculty and staff members.

“We would like to enhance the quality of our academic programs by having more full-time professors – instead of adjuncts – teach the courses,” said Houshmand.

With this new proposal, over 10 tenured professors will be returning to the classroom. Rather than having department heads, a representative will be selected from each college and will meet routinely with the departments to insure that all voices are heard. Using this idea will save the university over $1 million.

Some professors are unsure of how this plan will impact the university. Writing arts professor Kelly Adams explained that since she does not know where this proposal will lead, she does not know where she stands.

“At this point whether or not this will have a positive or negative impact is hard to foresee,” Adams said. “But what it is doing is forcing us as departments to reevaluate what matters to us and what our true needs are.”

While some professors believe this idea could be a positive impact on the campus community, others do not.

“The proposal to replace department chairs with group administrators is ludicrous,” said theater professor Phillip Graneto. “If they attempt to implement this drastic reorganization for fall 2010, the disruption of classes and schedules will be monumental.”

Other professors, such as art professor Fred Adelson, believe that this discussion has pitted colleagues against colleagues.

“We are obviously going to endure some critical financial times for the near future,” Adelson said. “I don’t think we should take drastic action when we are in a crisis or fast approaching one.”

The campus community is still in debate over the proposal in order to make sure that everyone can provide constructive input as well as suggestions.

“We need to have fundamental discussions within each college and department,” Adelson said. “This is an important time for everyone to work together.”