Faculty losses are affecting another department at UNM.
The chemistry department has seen a steep decline in full-time tenured faculty.
Only 12 full-time faculty members teach in the department, chemistry professor Patrick Mariano said.
"We are down significantly, with no hope in the near future that it will change," he said.
Mariano said that when he joined the department in 1997, there were 19 full-time faculty members and that the department has had major losses in faculty members over the last 10 years.
Mariano said the department was authorized to search for chemists last year and that after interviewing five people, they were ready to make one or two offers. However, the College of Arts and Sciences canceled the search, he said.
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"We had the approval, and then that search was terminated," he said. "In other words, we had gone through all of the interview process - inviting the people here, paying for their visits, talking to them - and then we were told there were no funds available to hire anybody."
Brenda Claiborne, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, said the college is searching for a new department chairperson who can help search for and hire additional faculty.
Claiborne said more faculty members can be added to the department after a chairperson is hired.
Mariano said the chemistry faculty was told hiring professors was a top priority in the College of Arts and Sciences. However, requests to hire three faculty members this year have been ignored, he said.
"If we were approved at this point in time to carry out a search, we would already be behind in the process. That would decrease our probability of finding a person who would be able to start in September of next year," Mariano said.
Claiborne said she plans to hire faculty immediately and that the search for professors will be done in time for next year.
"We're starting it right now," she said. "The University is hoping to add more faculty to the chemistry department over the next few years."
Claiborne said the number of faculty hasn't dropped significantly because, according to her numbers, there are 18 faculty members in the department, compared to 22 in 1998.
She said there are 15 full-time faculty members and three lecturers in the Chemistry Department.
Mariano said Claiborne's numbers are misleading because they include three tenure-track faculty members who also hold administrative positions at UNM. While these employees take care of their administrative duties, they have greatly reduced teaching loads, he said.
Claiborne confirmed the dual workloads but said the department isn't affected.
"Of course they would teach fewer classes," she said. "That is true, but the department would receive funds for them to hire an instructor to help out with the teaching in the department."
The instructors must have the same credentials as a professor, but they do no research and are not on tenure track, Claiborne said.
There are also 18 teaching assistants in the department to help teach classes the professors cannot, she said.
Mariano said a TA who teaches laboratory courses in the department could be either a graduate student or, more commonly, an undergraduate.
Student Anna Vestling said TAs must work in tandem with professors to be effective.
"I think you need to have the level of expertise that a professor can offer in addition to the support a TA can offer, and it's especially important in introduction classes so you're able to get engaged," she said. "Inadequate TAs can deter and prevent interest (in a subject) from developing."
Mariano said the department's reduced number of faculty means it offers fewer courses that would fill undergraduate requirements.
Graduate enrollment in the chemistry department has decreased, Mariano said. It's a national trend, he said, but it is a particular problem at UNM because the University doesn't have many faculty members doing research to train graduate students.
"We have brought the graduate courses down to a minimum," he said. "If you can't offer basic courses at the graduate level because you don't have enough faculty, then your graduates are really untrained."
Mariano said that if the University doesn't quickly hire more faculty members, the department's assistant professors and tenured associate professors will leave.
He said the problem is funding-related and that a quick solution is needed.
"As a faculty member in this University, when I see that money is being spent on things that are not related to hiring new faculty, it's upsetting," he said.
