Dean of Faculty gives update on curriculum at open information session

At the information session on the curriculum on Dec. 17, Dean of the Faculty Jon Chenette and Associate Dean of the Faculty Marianne Begemann gave a handout with a detailed table on the changes in the number of courses sections within each department and program to the very small number of students in attendance.

The handout provides the specific number of courses that will be offered by each department next year and compared them with the number of course sections offered this year as well as with the maximum and minimum number of sections offered in the years between 2003 and 2009. It lists the number of course sections as sections rather than as full-time equivalents (FTEs) or as credits. So, a half-credit course section counts on the table in the same way as a full-credit, and a course that is team-taught counts the same as a course taught by one professor, though it would represent twice the number of FTE's. Lab sections were not counted as individual course sections because they are normally required as a co-requisite with hard science courses.

Though previously estimating that the 2010-2011 curriculum would have ten fewer course sections than this year's curriculum, the Office of the Dean of the Faculty now estimates that the curriculum will actually grow by about 24 sections. While 1,168 sections are being offered this year, Chenette now expects that 1,192 will be offered next year.

However, he added that this number is still subject to change because a few departments are still responding to his office's responses to staffing plans, and some professors may still receive grants or fellowships and request unpaid leaves for next semester or next year. Begemann added that she did not expect these leaves to affect the curriculum by two-dozen sections, but it could result in the loss of about 12 at most.

The number of course sections that the College expected to cut from the current number offered has decreased steadily over this semester from about 70 as projected by the economy web site early in the semester, to 30-40 as Chenette estimated in an all-campus e-mail on Nov. 15, to 10 more recently until the currently estimated increase in course sections. The unexpectedly large number of courses to be offered next year came from a combination of reducing course releases for service to the College outside of teaching, such as for directing a program, serving as department chair, serving on a committee or filling an administrative role, and from an unexpectedly low number of faculty on leave next year.

By reducing course releases the College saved seven FTE's, which amounts to about 36 course sections, and the College saved about 8 FTEs—about 40 course sections—because fewer faculty are expected to go on leave next semester.

Though the reduction in course releases was intentional, the unexpectedly low number of leaves was not and may not last beyond next year. According to a note on the handout, the number of faculty members taking leaves next year is well below the number who are taking leave this year, "This results in a larger curriculum than we might otherwise expect and suggests that the impacts of reductions will be felt more strongly in 2011-2012."

According to Chenette, by many comparisons to other colleges, Vassar gave more course releases than was normal in previous years, though he added that these comparisons could be problematic because Vassar has a five-course teaching load for faculty members in comparison to four at many peer colleges. According to Chenette, some of these changes may be painful for faculty who are asked to teach one more course than usual and may even be painful for the students whom they teach.

The comparisons of current and expected numbers to those of the past seven years showed that most departments will still be offering a number of courses within normal range, with a few exceptions. Overall, departments requested an aggregate 1,213 course sections, 1,192 were approved. This gap between the number proposed and the number approved is actually smaller for 2010-2011 than it was for the 2009-2010 academic year. While some departments cannot offer all of the sections that they proposed, a few have actually been asked to offer one or two more after the reduction in course releases.

Despite the unexpected increase in the number of course sections to be offered next year, the College has still saved about $1.6 million on the faculty salary budget and still expects some changes such as an increase in the number of requests for unpaid leaves, which could bring the figure up to $1.8 million.

In Chenette's all-campus e-mail on Dec. 15, he wrote that the number of current non-tenured faculty with contracts recommended for renewal that will not be renewed will be less than his previous estimate of 14. The College has also retained savings from these cuts because the smaller number is the result of reorganized staffing plans that still achieve the amount of savings that the Office of the Dean of the Faculty determined.

"My current best estimate of the number of non-tenure-track faculty contracts proposed for renewal but not likely to be renewed is 11," Chenette wrote later in an e-mailed statement. "This results from departments coming up with appropriate alternatives to our initial responses to their staffing requests. An example is a department deciding on a slight reduction in several contracts rather than the non-renewal of one."

Chenette and Begemann also answered a question about retirement incentives, which became a focal point of a debate in Vassar Student Association Council in recent weeks as the Council decided whether or not to endorse the letter written by Adjunct Associate Professor of English Judith Nichols and other faculty members, presented to Council by students from the Campus Solidarity Working Group as well as in the following week's discussion of a memorandum clarifying the Council's position regarding the letter.

While the letter alleged that the College pressured some faculty into retirement, members of the Executive Board refuted this notion because the College cannot legally do so. However, other members of Council suggested that even if the pressure was not explicit, some faculty might have felt pressured to leave in order to keep newer faculty from being cut.

At the information session, Chenette explained that retirement incentives were offered across all areas of employment at the College—faculty, administrative positions and staff. While the College notified all eligible employees of the incentive, Chenette said that their decision to take advantage of the incentive or not was completely voluntary. In fact, those who did take a retirement incentive signed contracts stating that they accepted it by their own choice. According to Chenette the incentives were about, "trying to help people who wanted to retire be able to afford retirement in a tough economy," and Begemann said that most of the employees who took the incentive had already been considering retirement.

Eligibility was determined based on age plus years of service. An employee would be eligible when those two factors added up to 80, so a 60-year-old faculty member with 20 years of service to the College would be eligible for a retirement incentive. Employees had to commit to a retirement incentive by Sept. 1, though they had seven days to change their mind after accepting the incentive.

Faculty members who chose to take the retirement incentive will take a paid research leave in the fall 2010 and then write a report on their semester of research. Their official retirement will begin on Feb. 1, 2011 at which point they will be paid a separation payment equivalent to full year's salary. According to Begemann and Chenette, 10 faculty members took retirement incentives, including six tenured faculty members and four long-term, non-tenured faculty. Though, they added that the non-tenured faculty's retirement package does not include the research leave.

Chenette also plans on holding an information session on the 2010-2011 curriculum early in the spring semester when more students will be able to attend.