Trustees weigh faculty, university troubles
Monday’s Utah State University Board of Trustee meeting focused on the concerns of the faculty and how their situation might be improved.
Stan Albrecht, provost, said it would cost $9 million to bring USU’s faculty salary up to be equal with its peer institutions. And, 336 additional faculty would have to be hired to make the student to faculty comparable to peer institutions.
Caryn Beck-Dudley, professor of management and human resources, said recruitment was the most important thing.
“We risk our careers on bringing people here … they make a department nice or horrible,” she said.
She also said each search for a position costs about $4,500.
She also touched on dual-career accommodation, finding work for the spouse; the facilities available for research; and faculty salary, all issues which were repeated again and again during the meeting.
“It’s almost impossible to keep our stars because of salary compression,” she said
Phebe Jensen, professor of English, said she came to USU because of the quality of the people, the appeal of the policies and the reputation of the faculty working at USU.
The policies she said appealed to her were the ability to teach in her field, the tenure process, support for research and dual-career accommodation.
Tom Peterson, professor of human environments, said one of the biggest obstacles occurs when current faculty know that those just hired are making as much or more money than they are.
“The salaries are not competitive,” he said. And faculty are worried about where their careers will be headed after compact planning.
He said many of the administrators on the department and college level “are missing the opportunity to compliment and encourage that faculty.”
Daryll Dewald, professor of biology, spoke of the costs and benefits of running labs.
Noelle Cockett, professor of animal, dairy and veterinary sciences, said the expectations for faculty have been raised at USU.
“We don’t want adequate teaching, we want excellence in teaching,” she said. “We don’t expect just advising, we want them to be actively engaged.
“We have a whole campus of over achievers,” she said. “[And] they didn’t settle here because it was the only option. They actively chose [to come here].”
President Kermit L. Hall said, “[With the current situation], we know we will lose our best people.
“We need to stop being the Kmart of education,” he said.
He said more should be charged for services which means higher tuition and acting more like a private institution.
President Hall also said health insurance premiums would be increasing in the next five to six weeks.
“We are growing our way into poverty, he said.
He said USU needs to politically hook itself to the University of Utah in order to receive benefits.
“If we don’t push our standards up, we will go down to a standard we don’t want to be at,” President Hall said.
“Utah State is gathering itself together. We are not falling apart,” President Hall said. “We are an institution in transition.”
He said trying to please everyone was not the key to success.
The floor was then open to the trustees, and Gayle McKeachnie, chairman of the Board of Trustees, asked them how they could help.
Dennis Sessions, member of the Board of Trustees, said, “We have to expand the pool of alumni so we can contact them.”
Brent Nyman said the reputation of USU needs to be enhanced.
Steve Palmer, ASUSU president, said, “Tuition needs a long-term plan so we can earmark specific dollars.”
Dinesh Patel, member of the board of trustees, said the federal government should be used for money.
McKeachnie said, “As trustees, we need to come back and figure out how we can make an impact.”