UNM's hiring freeze is putting pressure on departments such as English, Psychology, and Communications and Journalism, where faculty must cope with empty administrative positions that won't be filled anytime soon.
The English Department recently lost its department administrator, who was promoted to another position.
English chairman Scott Sanders said in an e-mail that the department hasn't been able to choose a replacement for the position because of the hiring freeze.
"This action requires our department staff to work outside of their normal areas of responsibility to cover the workload, and it also requires that I act as the direct supervisor of staff employees, which is not a usual situation," Sanders said.
Sanders said English is better off than some smaller departments whose administrators have left.
"In other Arts and Sciences departments with fewer staff members, the loss of a department administrator or any staff member means that significant work simply does not get done," he said.
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Psychology chairwoman Jane Ellen Smith said the department's student adviser left for personal reasons and that the department is struggling to meet students' needs. To make up for the loss, department administrator Patricia Aragon-Mascarenas has taken on some of the student-adviser responsibilities, Smith said.
"It's really been hard on her, but we also have one of our graduate students who we trained to help out, putting in about two hours a day," she said. "Some of the faculty are trying to help out.... We are trying to train the receptionist to do some of the work."
Smith said registering students for their classes has been difficult because of issues with Banner, UNM's online system.
"(Aragon-Mascarenas) was on the computer trying to approve requests from 11 different students, and sometimes it is 20 minutes a student," Smith said. "It's really been hard, but the administrators and the dean is working hard. Dean (Brenda) Claiborne is working hard to figure out what we can do."
Smith said the department is scrambling to handle students registering for classes this week as well as preparing to graduate in the spring.
"They are needing degree checks, but they need checks to be on the graduation lists," Smith said. "So, as you can imagine, they are very concerned."
Communications and Journalism chairman John Oetzel said that without a department administrator, there is more work for C&J staff.
"There's lots of personnel issues that need to be addressed; there is budgeting and accounting that needs to be addressed; there are supervisorly issues that need to be taken care of; there are forms and contracts that need to be completed, grants (that) need to be managed," he said.
Provost Suzanne Ortega said the hiring freeze is a necessary step for the University to cut back on its spending.
"Department chairs and college deans are now in the process of developing strategies for dealing with possible mid-year recisions and/or longer-term reductions in the funding the state provides to the University," Ortega said in an e-mail.
Ortega said UNM will look for other ways to reduce costs so that the University can proceed with high-priority hires in 2009.
In the meantime, she said, the University is sending help to departments in need.
"We have put together a group of staff from the Provost's Office and from that of Vice President Andrew Cullen ... who can sassist departments who currently lack an administrator, with high-priority and time-sensitive tasks," Ortega said.
Oetzel said students may be negatively affected by the absence of department administrators.
"The long-term implication on students could be bad in terms of if we are not able to get contracts processed - that means classes don't get taught," he said.
Ortega said the University's top priorities are to protect employees and to keep tuition affordable.
"We believe that by carefully adhering to cost-saving measures, such as the current pause-and-hold, we can minimize the impact on our current work force, including student employees and graduate assistants," she said.
