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DiscussThe College of Human Ecology Task Force Report, while noting important changes for the college’s future, also extensively outlines past steps that have helped secure the college’s financial position.
Given the current economic conditions and the “Reimagining Cornell” initiative, many colleges are looking to combine departments, limit faculty growth and seek revenue enhancement schemes — all ideas that Human Ecology has implemented since the late 1990s, according to the report.
Since 2001, Human Ecology has had to cope with a decrease in its operating budget and a decrease in space as it financed renovations to the 1933 wing of Marth Van Rensselaer Hall.
“Some of the decisions we had to make because of [the construction projects] have been very significant from a strategic point of view,” Dean of Human Ecology Alan Mathios said. “A lot of the budget cuts that we’re facing have been softened by … getting used to living without over $2 million a year that we were putting into facilities,” Mathios added. Since the construction projects began, the human ecology college had to adapt to an operating budget reduced by $2 million. Mathios stated that the current budget cuts are not as much of an issue for Human Ecology as other colleges because the college has already been working with a reduced operating budget for almost a decade.
Mathios explained that he was hoping to grow the faculty within the college after completing the construction and renovation projects. However, given the economic climate, Human Ecology will not be able to hire more faculty members. Previously, the faculty number remained stagnant because of space constraints, but now the college cannot grow the faculty because they do not have the requisite funding.
Additionally, the college restructured itself in 1997, consolidating from six into five departments. After reviewing each department for the task force report, Mathios said he does not feel the need to further consolidate.
“We’ve also done a very careful, data-driven analysis of the cost of maintaining each department. Each department is thriving in all three elements: research, outreach and education,” Mathios said. “The cost of that production appears to be relatively evenly distributed regardless of the size of the department. … We feel that we no longer need to further consolidate.”
When looking at what to change or cut, Mathios explained that he and the task force constantly had an eye towards maintaining the quality of the “student experience.” He said that they were making sure not to cut courses and not to cut teaching assistants in order to best serve the student needs.
To avoid making cuts that would hamper the “student experience,” human ecology is looking to revenue-enhancing tactics. Rather than growing the undergraduate student body, the college is considering enlarging its graduate population with new programs, including a new master’s program in the area of policy analysis and management, a post-baccalaureate program in health and other new programs, according to Mathios.
In addition to bringing in more revenue with new graduate programs, the human ecology college is also seeking to retain as much revenue as it can. Currently, the college is losing a large portion of tuition when many of its juniors study abroad. Mathios said he favors an exchange program rather than a typical abroad program. By utilizing an exchange program, the college would be making up the revenue loss from students going abroad by taking in a foreign student.
Human ecology wants to maintain revenue and tuition dollars by “eliminating pro-rated tuition for students through their eighth semester, eliminating half tuition discount for off campus programs and reducing the number of A.P. and other pre-enrollment credits, thereby reducing early graduation,” according to the task force report.
The two main programs that the task force noted were in need of restructuring were the Capital Program in Albany, N.Y. and the Global Health minor.
The Capital Program enables participants to study and learn about public service in the New York state capital in Albany. According to Program Director Richard Canfield, “[Participants in the Capital Program] learn both academically as well as experientially about how policies are proposed and debated. … It provides them with an experience that I think leads to greater maturity about how our society works.
While Mathios and Canfield both asserted the value and the significance of the Capital Program, the task force report stated, “Enrollment in the capital semester program has been decreasing. Unless enrollment increases, this program will be restructured or eliminated.”
However, by promoting and advertising the program throughout the different colleges across the University, both Mathios and Canfield said they were confident the enrollment numbers will swell and the program will be able to continue.
“Every program and every department has to justify its value and its cost-effectiveness. And I think this is a valuable program and I don’t worry about it being eliminated just because I have confidence in the value of the program. … Like every program, this one needs to be scrutinized, needs to be evaluated [to ensure the prudent allocation of resources]. But I don’t have concerns about the value of the program and the fact that we’ll be able to increase enrollment,” Canfield said.
In regards to the Global Health minor, the task force report stated: “In this budget climate, the College does not foresee increasing funding levels, and the current level of support is also at risk. The College will ask the Global Health Program to develop a long-range plan that addresses the structure and funding of this program related to the undergraduate minor.”
Mathios stressed the need to get other colleges involved with the Global Health Program in order to sustain it.
“We want to make sure we have the support for the program [global health minor], so hopefully we can get others interested in supporting it, because it is administratively heavy to support such a program,” he said.
Mathios added that the human ecology task force report is a recommendation for changing the college, and those recommendations are always subject to change. “This is a continuous document. And any document a college puts forward will be a living document. … We should always be thinking, frankly, of how to stay mission-focused and evolve. I think our college has been a shining example of how we’ve done that well,” Mathios said.