Departments left with lack of faculty
By Colleen Casey
Staff Reporter

After 18 years of disappointment, the art education program once again will not receive their first full-time faculty member, Ronald Watson, chairman of the art department said.

He is not alone in his disappointment.

Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs William Koehler said due to a lack of funding, the university will not meet the requests of each college in the 2002-03 budget year.

“We only have so much money, but maybe next year,” Koehler said.

Fourteen of the 25 requested faculty positions for the 2003 budget year were approved, according to the Provost’s office.

Koehler would not comment on how many positions each department requested, but administrators in the College of Communications and College of Fine Arts did.

“It’s really disappointing, especially because we offer a degree in something without even a full-time faculty member,” Watson said. “We can’t expand the program, and people can’t get into (the program) that want to.”

Despite the failed request for one full-time faculty member, Watson said they plan to request again next year.

“The development of the program is hampered,” Watson said. “We have really good students who themselves aren’t hampered, but their opportunities for more classes are.”

In response to departments who said they need more faculty, Koehler said he will work with each dean and explain that there is a lack of money.

The other position not approved for the fine arts department is music, specializing in voice, Fine Arts Dean Scott Sullivan said.

“We have a lot of students in music education and voice, and there is a need for faculty,” Sullivan said.

The journalism department also did not receive all its requested positions, Journalism Department Chairman Tommy Thomason said. The department sought five new faculty positions, and only received three, Thomason said.

Thomason said he realizes that every department can make a legitimate case for more faculty.

“I realize it’s a problem that spans across the university,” Thomason said. “It goes from those in dire need to those in significant need.”

Thomason said the journalism department has 25 part-time faculty and eight full-time faculty, which is the highest full-time faculty to student ratio for any accredited private university in the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.

“We obviously need more faculty,” Thomason said. “But other departments need them as well.”

According to reports previously published in the Skiff, about 10 faculty positions were added for the 2001-2002 budget year.

Colleen Casey
c.m.casey@student.tcu.edu

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