Nonchalant
Hail, Hail To Thee...
http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20110329/FAMU/103290316/FAMU-to-lay-off-200
March 29, 2011
Florida A&M University to layoff 200
By Doug Blackburn
Tallahassee Democrat
The painful reality of restructuring — or downsizing — at Florida A&M University is beginning to come into focus. About 200 FAMU employees will be losing their jobs on June 30, when the fiscal year ends.
President James H. Ammons, addressing some 400 members of the university community during a Monday afternoon forum at the Lawson Center, said 86 filled positions will be eliminated in addition to the about 110 employees being paid by short-term stimulus funds.
"Over the past four years we have protected people, but we no longer have that option," Ammons said. "We have placed the teaching of our students as the highest priority at the university."
Stressing that FAMU's restructuring plan must be approved by the university's Board of Trustees, which meets next week, Ammons touched on some of the plan's highlights.
He is recommending closing 21 academic programs and terminating or merging three others. The majority of those programs are housed in the College of Education (nine programs) and College of Arts & Sciences (seven), and Ammons noted that many have no faculty and no staff.
The majority of the people being let go — there are actually 113 positions being eliminated, but 47 are vacant — are support personnel. Only 10 faculty are among the 86 targeted for termination.
The FAMU president's plan, for example, would close the French and Spanish programs, saying there have been few majors or degrees produced in either major but that the university would continue to offer courses in both languages.
But his rationale baffles Barbara Johnson, who is pursuing a major in Spanish and already has a master's in guidance and counseling from FAMU.
"It's just amazing. Phasing out a person being able to get a degree in Spanish is a huge mistake," Johnson said. "Everybody should know Spanish. I think I can make more money being bilingual."
Monday's President's Forum was the third such event Ammons has held since December. For more than two years his administration has been gathering data and determining a methodology for evaluating every one of the university's 59 degree-granting programs.
Ammons noted that the Legislature, grappling with a $3.75 billion deficit, is a long way from passing a budget. Additional reductions in state appropriations are coming, he said.
"This has been a very stressful process. It's not going on just at FAMU," Ammons said. "It's going on all across America."
FAMU Provost Cynthia Hughes Harris, vice president for academic affairs, said it's hard to put into words how difficult the restructuring process has been.
"It's the toughest of tough. It's nothing we can minimize in any way," Hughes Harris said. "It's painfully tough."
March 29, 2011
Florida A&M University to layoff 200
By Doug Blackburn
Tallahassee Democrat
The painful reality of restructuring — or downsizing — at Florida A&M University is beginning to come into focus. About 200 FAMU employees will be losing their jobs on June 30, when the fiscal year ends.
President James H. Ammons, addressing some 400 members of the university community during a Monday afternoon forum at the Lawson Center, said 86 filled positions will be eliminated in addition to the about 110 employees being paid by short-term stimulus funds.
"Over the past four years we have protected people, but we no longer have that option," Ammons said. "We have placed the teaching of our students as the highest priority at the university."
Stressing that FAMU's restructuring plan must be approved by the university's Board of Trustees, which meets next week, Ammons touched on some of the plan's highlights.
He is recommending closing 21 academic programs and terminating or merging three others. The majority of those programs are housed in the College of Education (nine programs) and College of Arts & Sciences (seven), and Ammons noted that many have no faculty and no staff.
The majority of the people being let go — there are actually 113 positions being eliminated, but 47 are vacant — are support personnel. Only 10 faculty are among the 86 targeted for termination.
The FAMU president's plan, for example, would close the French and Spanish programs, saying there have been few majors or degrees produced in either major but that the university would continue to offer courses in both languages.
But his rationale baffles Barbara Johnson, who is pursuing a major in Spanish and already has a master's in guidance and counseling from FAMU.
"It's just amazing. Phasing out a person being able to get a degree in Spanish is a huge mistake," Johnson said. "Everybody should know Spanish. I think I can make more money being bilingual."
Monday's President's Forum was the third such event Ammons has held since December. For more than two years his administration has been gathering data and determining a methodology for evaluating every one of the university's 59 degree-granting programs.
Ammons noted that the Legislature, grappling with a $3.75 billion deficit, is a long way from passing a budget. Additional reductions in state appropriations are coming, he said.
"This has been a very stressful process. It's not going on just at FAMU," Ammons said. "It's going on all across America."
FAMU Provost Cynthia Hughes Harris, vice president for academic affairs, said it's hard to put into words how difficult the restructuring process has been.
"It's the toughest of tough. It's nothing we can minimize in any way," Hughes Harris said. "It's painfully tough."
