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Here are some more details on cuts. We should know more before the end of the month. It will be interesting to see exactly what Dr. Reneau means by this:
“There will be certain things that will be reduced in scope or eliminated,” he said. “I would think this kind of reduction would call for factors affecting personnel. I think it’s going to touch a lot of people in all walks of campus life.”
http://www.rustonleader.com/news.php?id=5115
Here's the News-Star's version.
http://www.thenewsstar.com/article/2...NTPAGECAROUSEL
I think he's just giving people a heads up that more personnel cuts are coming. He REALLY hates firing people. It is also possible that they may be looking at axing some programs, but I'm not sure.Originally Posted by LT
I bet he is KICKING himself for not announcing his retirement approximately one week after announcing the new Enterprise Park.
I guess we have to wait another week for details.
http://www.rustonleader.com/news.php?id=5165
Heard in a speech by an administrator on Tuesday that many of the administrators will be back in the classroom next year. We were told DR will be teaching an engineering class.
Louisiana Tech University
Flagship of the University of Louisiana System
At least one of them already is.
Jordan Mills on choosing Tech:
“It’s a great experience seeing them play. It was a good atmosphere. The fans stood up the whole game and never sat down. They have a great fan base.”
Here are a few more details:
http://www.rustonleader.com/news.php?id=5195
It looks like 4 untenured faculty members and about 60 staff members will be dismissed. In addition, at least 25 unfilled faculty positions and 8 unfilled staff positions will be cut. The vast majority of the faculty will also receive furloughs (I think this means they will be required to take unpaid leave for some unspecified time period).
Athletics is cut by $250,000 and the library by $500,000. Student services will be cut by more than $1,000,000 and "research" by $1,340,000.
I'm wondering what the specific cuts in research will be. Since Reneau has hitched his wagon to patent royalties for the third leg of funding (state, donations, royalties) instead of having an honest-to-goodness capital campaign to increase endowments, then letting the royalties be icing on that cake, I'm concerned that ANY cut in already thin research budgets could have long-term negative consequences.
In case I haven't mentioned it before, Tech CANNOT depend on state funding to help us grow--maybe not even to keep the doors open. We need significant funding from outside sources if we are going to be anything other than an also-ran in the bottom of the non-lsu pool.
The long-term value of our degrees as Tech graduates depends in large part on our willingness to support our alma mater with a portion of our incomes.
I am very, very thankful that my research is in no danger, due to external funding through various agencies. I have colleagues, however, that are not so fortunate.
Its pretty brutal, guys.
This sucks. And it is also a shame since we never will have a better opportunity to shut-down underperforming schools.
Jordan Mills on choosing Tech:
“It’s a great experience seeing them play. It was a good atmosphere. The fans stood up the whole game and never sat down. They have a great fan base.”
Yeah, that's just not going to happen. Louisiana is NEVER going to get it's act together with regard to higher education.
Since Reneau still, after all this time, seems to have no interest in capital drives to increase endowments, I REALLY hope Tech's next president makes this a priority. We need to pursue external funding with the desperation of a private school.
Totally agree with your post.
What does it look like for the other schools in Louisiana? ulm, ull, and even lsu?
It's bad all around. Of course, lsu has more of a cushion, but it will still hurt. nlulm, well, they weren't exactly lighting world on fire anyway, so who can say what effect it will have?
These cuts could be REALLY BAD for Tech, but only time will tell. The biggest problem I have with Tech is that there is a tendency to do "just enough" to get by. So the areas in which we excel (i.e., get good press), we do so by razor-thin margins. We've had several houses of cards that have been barely standing, and I'm not sure how well they can weather this.
If we already had good endowments in place, then we would just be looking at slowing our growth. As we don't have good endowments, and in fact have been barely getting by, we could have serious setbacks. Several of the areas being cut--especially the library and research--are key metrics in many of the ratings that are done of universities (e.g., the US News rankings). These cuts could have a big impact on things like that.
I guess we shouldn't be surprised with Jindal's public policy since he did practically nothing to solve the problems at ULM and GSU during his tenure as head of the ULS. Now instead of pushing the legislature to lessen duplication though consolidation and closing schools he just goes for an across the board cut. I wonder why Dr. Reneau doesn't discontinue a few academic programs of lesser strategic importance so he dosen't have to slice a little out of every program.
On a more specific note. Will Teresa be allowed to hire an assistant?
There is a chance that this could change.(cuts not as bad) Probably slim though.
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