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Smith’s current student-to-faculty ratio
is 9 to 1. A ratio of 10 to 1 is educationally sound, comparable to the colleges
with which Smith competes for applicants, and still upholds the core principles and
characteristics that define a residential liberal arts education. Increasing the
student faculty ratio at Smith to 10 to 1 requires reducing the size of the faculty
by approximately 30 faculty positions. Such a change will require careful academic
planning and time for implementation, eliminating tenure track positions as they
become empty through retirement or resignation. Until then, faculty searches and
temporary or replacement hiring will be severely limited, and the number of non-tenure
track positions will be reduced.
The Provost and Committee on Academic Priorities (CAP)
have outlined a number of strategies to mount the curriculum with reduced resources.
These include restricting the number of low-enrollment courses, avoiding duplication
and redundancy in the curriculum, defining the courses that are essential to majors
and to a robust liberal arts education, and limiting the number of course releases
and replacement hiring.
In most cases, retirements and resignations in the faculty
will not be replaced in the near term. While this opportunistic approach is not ideal,
it will be necessary in order to maximize progress toward our goal within the two-year
timeframe of the plan. CAP has expressed hope that departments will adopt creative
approaches to these reductions by reshaping their offerings and launching Five College
cooperative arrangements as soon as next year.
To maximize near-term savings in faculty positions,
the plan calls for:
- Reducing temporary faculty appointments by 50 percent
- Forgoing most replacement of tenure-track vacancies (resulting from resignations
and retirements) until the 10 to 1 student-to-faculty ratio is reached.
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Message from
the President
Introduction
Employee
Compensation
Student-to-Faculty
Ratio
Comprehensive
Fee
Revenue
Facilites & Utilities
Study
Abroad
Libraries &
Information
Technology
Services
Administrative,
Student & Academic Support
Revenue
Generation
Investment
Required
Appendix
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