By Sarah Metcalf
This article is the second in a six-part series examining each college’s financial plans for the upcoming budget.
The College of Criminal Justice is looking to expand its faculty and lower the student-to-faculty ratio with its portion of the 2004-05 budget, said Dean Jack Greene.
“We need faculty resources first and foremost,” Greene said. “Having a sufficient number of full-time faculty members allows us to offer quality programs. We have many quality faculty members now, but we need more.”
With many new students coming in every year, Greene said the space in the college is becoming cramped. He also said, however, that the quality of the faculty should come before the quality of the buildings.
“We are extremely cramped, and we’re working with the university to find additional space. It’s always a struggle with the visible space constraints. But, at the end of the day, it’s always the quality of the academic programs that attracts students,” Greene said. “We don’t want to forget that the central business of the university is to provide a good education. ”
Greene said the university should make a financial investment in faculty, citing that in the long run, students will remember the university for the caliber of education they received rather than the physical aspects of the school.
“There are definitely enough faculty,” said Colleen O’Brien, a sophomore criminal justice major. “There’s a really small number of students for the number of teachers. I don’t think the student-to-faculty ratio needs to be lowered at all.”
Greene expects the College of Criminal Justice to add about five or six professors, which would bring the total number of full-time, tenure-track professors to about 25. The college would then also have about a dozen supporting personnel for these full-time professors. If additional professor’s are added to the college this year, the financial burden for staffers will not be alleviated immediatly. Greene said the college will have to budget for each additional professors salary as well as technical resources they may require in the classroom and supporting staff members.
Despite the climbing tuition and improvements other colleges are calling for, Greene considers adding faculty members a feasible task.
“Our college has a high national visibility and is a center for excellence and efficiency,” Greene said. “The prior and current provost have supported new programs, including our new Ph.D. program starting next fall. However, we are underfunded for a financially productive college. We need to trade our efficiency for long-term investments.”
Although one might think the money going to the faculty could leave something to be desired in terms of cramped space or outdated equipment, O’Brien doesn’t believe that’s a problem either.
“The buildings are really nice and there’s nothing that I think really needs to desperately be improved,” O’Brien said. “In general, I just think it’s a great program.”
