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March 20, 2003

UPB cuts 10 faculty, staff jobs

The Bradford campus has eliminated seven full-time and three part-time staff and faculty positions.

The move came in response to a 4 percent ($470,000) reduction in Bradford’s operating budget, according to Williams A. Shields, Bradford campus interim president. “These reductions are part of a University-wide response to reduced appropriations from the Commonwealth,” Shields said.

Since $8 million of Pitt-Bradford’s $12 million operating budget is earmarked for faculty and staff salaries and benefits, campus officials were forced to make reductions in these areas, he said.

“This was very difficult for us to do,” Shields said. “We didn’t want to see anyone lose his or her job, but unfortunately it was necessary in the current economic climate that has affected so many in every area of the economy, including higher education.”

Shields said the latest budget reductions included staff and faculty positions because UPB had already eliminated one-time costs to meet part of the budget cut imposed this fiscal year.

“We’ve attempted to make the personnel cuts fairly, correctly and humanely,” Shields said. “By fairly, we have decided the cuts should be made in both staff and faculty areas. By correctly, we are doing this according to established University policies and procedures. And by humanely, we will do everything we can to support those people whose jobs have been affected, including following up with references and helping them find other positions.”

Some of the affected positions were eliminated through attrition, Shields pointed out. He wouldn’t say how many of the positions were faculty and how many were staff.

According to a fact sheet posted on the Pitt-Bradford web site prior to the announced position eliminations, UPB has a total of 245 employees: 75 full-time faculty; 42 part-time faculty; 110 full-time staff, and 18 part-time staff.

Cuts also were made in non-personnel areas, including a 1 percent reduction in non-salary budgets.

Shields said the cuts will help to control tuition and protect the integrity of Bradford’s academic programs.

“We understand how much tuition affects students, prospective students and their families, and it’s our responsibility to maintain the quality of our academic programs and to operate as efficiently as possible in an effort to keep those tuition rates as affordable as possible.”

Shields said the cuts will not affect current construction projects, which are supported by central University appropriations, commonwealth funding and private donors.

Kimberly Murphey, president of the Bradford Staff Association, an elected group representing campus staff, said that Shields spoke to the campus community March 11, reiterating his reasons for the position eliminations and other budget-tightening measures.

“He was very forthcoming with all of us, which we greatly appreciate,” she said. She said the Staff Association has taken the position that the layoffs were necessary and that staff should work to keep up campus spirits. “At our last meeting, I addressed [the layoffs] myself,” Murphey said this week. “I said we needed to continue to do everything we could as staff to keep morale high under these trying circumstances.”

—Peter Hart


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