52 new faculty members hired at UCCS, replace exiting faculty

September 26, 2016

Rachel Librach

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     UCCS hired 52 new faculty members after a two-year data collection process.

     Faculty members were hired in the College of Business, the College of Engineering and Applied Science, the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, the College of Education and the School of Public Affairs, as well as the Kraemer Family Library.

     Although enrollment has increased since 2014, hiring new faculty and staff does not occur alongside increased enrollment.

     Common reasons for a faculty member to leave UCCS include retirement or resignation. With about 260 tenure track and instructors in the College of LAS, it is not unexpected to have faculty leaving, according to Peter Braza, dean of LAS college.

     Faculty also leaves for better research opportunities, according to dean of the College of EAS, Dan Dandapani. Dandapani wants to increase the number of funded graduate students to give faculty more research opportunities.

     “There were huge red flags that went up when our four faculty resigned, because they developed their research capabilities and went to schools with better research capabilities,” said Dandapani.fac

“The more graduate students they have, the better they can work and that can compete with the other colleges.”

     The College of LAS generates around 63 percent of student credit hours on campus. With the increase of student enrollment over the years, new general education classes had to be added to accommodate the growing class sizes, Braza explained.

     “We hired three new faculty in the math department, and they each teach eight courses. We hired two new instructors in chemistry, because there was much demand in that department, and, in first-year English writing courses, we hired another two new instructors,” said Braza.

     Online classes have become a popular alternative among students, said Braza. New faculty members have been hired to teach those online courses as well.

     According Dandapani, dean of the College of EAS, enrollment in EAS has increased by 89 percent, while enrollment at UCCS in general has increased by 25 percent.

     “It is also not just the enrollment we need to consider; it is also the mission of the college. For example, performing externally funded research is a large part of our mission and what allows us to continue to maintain our research accreditations. In order to do that, we need more faculty,” said Dandapani.