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| SERVING THE ON-LINE RPI COMMUNITY SINCE 1994 |
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| Current Issue: |
Volume 130, Number 1 |
July 14, 2009 |
Ed/Op
A Message from the Provost
Changes not affecting majors
Posted 04-06-2009 at 6:24PM
Robert Palazzo
Provost
The continued economic downturn has forced us to take a critical look at our academic offerings. In the midst of a turbulent financial climate, we must focus on our core strengths as an institution. Like many other colleges and universities, we are looking for alternative approaches to providing course offerings that are not critical components of our core academic strengths and needs, but are still important aspects of a well-rounded education. As a result of strategic decisions during this uncertain time, we will not renew the contracts for approximately 13 temporary faculty in positions across the Institute after this academic year. Temporary faculty includes both clinical and adjunct faculty whose contracts are renewed on an annual basis as funds are available. These funds are not available at this time. Although some of these temporary faculty have been rehired annually for a number of years, they are not permanent members of the tenured and tenure-track faculty. These faculty are not being laid off, nor are they being fired. However, their contracts will not be renewed at this time.
These changes will not affect our students’ major courses of study or change the time required to complete their degrees. The primary impact will be felt in the language minor, which currently has only two students who have declared minors. International languages remain an important addition to the Rensselaer educational experience, and we will continue to make language opportunities available to our students. In the short term, we are working with students currently involved in the language minor to ensure proper completion of their degrees. We understand that others would like to pursue similar opportunities, and we have set up a meeting with students in early April to learn more about their interests and how we can meet their needs in the future. We also are working to create options for students through a new portfolio of language study opportunities, which may be offered through partnerships with other local institutions that have expert language faculty.
Other offerings, such as creative writing and the study of literature will remain the responsibility of our tenured and tenure-track faculty in relevant departments at Rensselaer and these offerings will remain strong. The majority of teaching responsibility will be transitioned to tenured and tenure-track faculty members as needed. Like the staff who have taken on additional responsibilities as we weather the crisis, so too some of our tenured faculty will need to take on some courses to cover student needs in certain sectors of the university. Since the delivery of the curriculum is the responsibility of the tenured and tenure-track faculty, this means that we will be increasingly relying on the scholarship and expertise of the tenured faculty to assume greater responsibility for the academic offerings at Rensselaer during this time of need. | |
Posted 04-06-2009 at 6:24PM | |
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