YSU academic restructuring ‘rolled out quickly’ to save $1M in FY 2021
[EDITOR'S NOTE: This story was edited to reflect that pay cuts for employees excluded from union membership will be temporary.]
YOUNGSTOWN — Students returning to Youngstown State University in the fall may not feel the changes to academic programs, except that their classes and advisers may be housed in different locations.
In the face of financial challenges created by the coronavirus pandemic, YSU announced Thursday a restructuring plan which reduces the number of academic colleges from six to five.
Specifically, the plan combines the Beeghly College of Education and the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences.
The plan will be discussed at the Board of Trustees meeting next week. Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Brien Smith told Mahoning Matters he had to come up with a plan before July 1 to ensure the university would benefit from cuts in fiscal year 2021.
"The plan was rolled out quickly," said Smith. "There was not the ability to fully vet ideas like I had hoped. ... My hope is we'll still come out of this with a little latitude to work out some of the kinks."
According to Smith's memo, the following programs will move to different colleges:
- Forensic Sciences to College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics
- Journalism to Education/Liberal Arts
- Early Childhood Associate's/Pre-K to Education/Liberal Arts
- Economics to Williamson College of Business Administration
- Communication to Williamson College of Business Administration
- Center for Human Service Development to Bitonte College of Health and Human Services
- Gerontology/Long Term Care Administration to Bitonte College of Health and Human Services
The changes are expected to save the university $1 million annually.
About 18 departmental chairs will return to the classroom, a demotion associated with a pay cut of about $17,000 each, Smith said.
"I do want to point out that programs were not affected," said Smtih. "Faculty didn't lose jobs. Faculty were not furloughed. I want that to be clear that these were addressing administrative changes within academic affairs."
Restructuring of academic programs is part of a university-wide response to financial challenges resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. On May 27, The university announced $2 million in operational budget cuts and the elimination of 22 coaching and administrative positions.
In addition, the university and two of its employee unions have agreed to a plan that calls for furloughs, resulting in a 10 percent pay cut and a lack-of-work layoff of 69 workers, a savings of at least $2.8 million, the university said in a news release.
"It is so difficult in this environment to forecast our financial future with any certainty whatsoever," Neal McNally, vice president for Finance and Business Operations, said in the news release. "What we do know, however, is that the challenges are large."
Less than three weeks ago, Tressel announced he was taking a 15 percent salary reduction and that more than 100 other employees excluded from union membership will have their pay cut temporarily by as much as 10 percent, a projected savings of nearly $700,000.
"This is not something that you enjoy doing," said Smith. "We're doing our very best to find ways of preserving people's jobs where we can."
Earlier Thursday, the university announced plans for the incremental return of employees to campus through the summer in anticipation of students returning for the fall semester in August.
President Jim Tressel said the university is developing plans with the intention to fully open campus as scheduled on Aug. 17, acknowledging that those plans are dependent on the COVID-19 pandemic.
This story was originally published May 29, 2020 at 4:11 AM with the headline "YSU academic restructuring ‘rolled out quickly’ to save $1M in FY 2021."